The first budget presentations for the 2010-2011 school year were heard by the Highland Board of Education in a well-attended meeting on February 2. Most departments proposed decreases in light of an expected $860,000 reduction state education aid, or 5.5% of the budget, the district will be facing next year.

Superintendent Deborah Haab began the presentation by saying that the district needs to make reductions, but hopes that the proposals from the leadership team would minimize the impact. She emphasized that literacy, a supportive learning environment, and academic intervention services remain priorities.

A rollover budget represents an increase of 2.6 percent or $907,741, Haab reported. Combined with a gap elimination adjustment of $1,767,741 from the state, the impact on the district tax levy would be an 8.6 percent increase if reductions in programs and staff are not implemented. Proposed reductions would bring the levy percentage increase down to 4.7 percent.

Some of the greatest proposed decreases are in the athletics budget, which includes elimination of the modified sports program in the seventh and eighth grades for a savings of $37,761. The operations and maintenance budget proposes a decrease of $15,900, while transportation proposes a slight increase of .5 percent to add a non-benefit mechanic to reduce overtime and a full-time clerical person to handle dispatch and routing.
In education, the draft budget proposes reducing special education teachers from 27 to 25.4, teaching assistants from 25 to 23, and teacher aides from 13.5 to 11.5. The .4 and .5 numbers represent a teacher or assistant who would be part time in the department.

In the elementary school, the proposed enrollment will be about the same as this year, leaving class sizes at a range of 21 to 26 students, which is slightly higher than surrounding districts. Another fifth grade teacher may need to be added because of the greater number of students expected in that grade next year. An additional literacy teacher is also needed to serve student needs. To balance these increases, the proposed budget includes a reduction in the music staff, which would mean eliminating band and chorus in the fourth grade. Putting the LEAP program on hiatus in grades three through six for one year would also save money. Other money-saving proposals include moving the after-school English-language arts, math, and English as a Second Language added instructional help into the morning, which would save $11,500 in extra transportation. The draft budget also includes a reduction in operating expenses from $161,310 to $146,000.

The middle school expects a reduction in enrollment next year, which would bring the average class size to 24. Proposed budget cuts include reducing the number of teachers from 40.85 to 36.2, which means losing one teacher in the sixth grade, a technology teacher, a Spanish teacher, one-half of a French teacher, a teaching assistant, a teacher aide, and putting the LEAP program on hiatus. Also proposed is the reduction of English-language arts instruction from two periods to one period per day, which decreases instruction time from 90 to 45 minutes. The elimination of seventh grade foreign language instruction is also proposed. In addition, operating expenses in the draft budget would be reduced from $78,550 to $67,725.

In the high school, enrollment is expected to remain the same. The proposed budget includes reducing art teachers from 2.4 to 2, French teachers from 1.2 to 1, Spanish teachers from 3 to 2, special education teachers from 6.9 to 5.9 because of program reallocation, and math teachers from 5.2 to 5. Music teachers would be increased from 1.8 to 2 and physical education teachers from .8 to 1. Proposed courses to be eliminated include Business, Theater 1 and 2, and Reading Literature and Media. The Current Events classes would be reduced from four to one. The proposed high school operating budget represents an increase from $98,964 to $115,992, which is still far below of the peak 2008-2009 budget of $176,864.
Even though the food service budget is not part of the district operating budget, that department reported no increases in their already bare-bones staff. A proposed purchase of a freezer also would save money as it would eliminate the expense of renting storage space from Kahn’s Foods in Milton to store food, which the district has done for the past seven years.

Superintendent Haab wrapped up the draft budget presentation by saying that the proposals represent a reduction of $800,000. She said that the current district budget is below the contingency cap the state sets and is $9.2 million less than the next closest school district, which has fewer students than Highland. She pointed out that the district fund balance is only $623,174, less than 2%, so the district cannot use the balance to absorb the reduction in aid.

Haab then turned over the proposed budget to the Board of Education to review and decide what to recommend. When questioned by Board members, Haab said that the recommendations to drop particular courses in the high school was because of low enrollment. Business instruction can be absorbed to a certain extent in math and social studies courses, while other student performance clubs and activities will take up the slack for the elimination of theater courses.

Board president Al Barone challenged the board to now think where they would like the tax levy to be, especially if they are not satisfied with the current proposed reductions. He pointed out that the tax levy increase was 5.7% last year and would be 4.6% this year if the proposals are accepted. A lower percentage will mean further reductions.

Barone said that since the presentation was the first time the Board had seen the draft budget, it would be difficult for the Board to answer public questions at this time so community members who were present were asked to write down their questions for the Board to consider. Barone did invite the public to comment. These comments included a challenge to the Board on two members who may have a conflict of interest when it comes to salary negotiations. Others who commented asked the board to hold the line on teacher salaries and several pleaded with the Board not to consider reducing full-day kindergarten to a half day. It was also recommended that the Board set up a place on the district web site to receive questions and comments from the public rather than relying on written comments on index cards.

Budget discussions will continue at the next meeting on Feb. 16.

By Teri Jones