Tough School Budget Requires ‘Forced Choices’

Mustang News Update- School Committee Bounces Back on Budget

– Heidi Walsh, Mustang News

By forced choice, the Medford School Committee is walking a thin rope as they debate the budget distribution for the upcoming 2010-11 school year. The anticipated budget is very limited in funding, especially in the areas of programs and services, and there are several job cuts that affect Medford High School, including secretaries, a submaster, and a guidance counselor.

Despite a cut in local aid and a proposed school budget that is level-funded, School Superintendent Roy Belson said core educational services remain intact, although painful layoffs and cuts have been necessitated.

“This budget does not have enough money to accomplish everything we need to do,” said Superintendent Belson. “The proposed budget does maintain core services but reduces our capacity to expand programs and services to students and families. Also it limits our ability to make desirable improvements to educational materials, technology, and support services.”

Twenty-nine positions have been eliminated from the budget, twenty-two of which are lay-offs. The cuts at Medford High include a submaster, a guidance counselor, a guidance secretary, and a technology specialist.

Sixteen secretarial positions have been cut across the school district and the remaining thirty-seven secretaries will be reorganized to cover positions. The main office of the high school will keep two secretaries while the middle and elementary schools will have one secretary per school.

“I have every respect for Dr. Krueger in the world,” said one concerned parent. “But when you take away the guidance counselors and the people who support him you’ll find less of a quality job.”

The Kaplan SAT program and all other testing program funding has been cut for the upcoming school year. Superintendent Belson said other sources of funding will be explored but there are no guarantees the programs will be restored.

The Athletic Department is being forced to cut $50,000. Athletic Director Robert Maloney has had to come up with some painful proposals to bridge that gap, including cutting freshman sports and raising user fees, none of which were palatable to School Committee members.

Mayor Michael McGlynn said he could cut the $50,000 gap in half with money he has raised from golf tournaments he organized to raise funds for school sports.

The “Field of Dreams” project is still being completed on schedule but now lacks funding for supervision. Maintenance work and repair will be at minimal funding.

“I am very displeased with how we did with the budget,” said School Committee member George Scarpelli. “I know that managing this type of a budget is a hard job but, I wish that we could have more meetings to discuss these issues to put more ideas forward.”

There is still much dispute over foreign language classes and AP classes. Advanced Placement foreign language classes at the high school could be squeezed out and may face doubling up with other classes due to the low numbers of enrollment and the high cost of keeping the classes running.

High school students displeased by this news asked questions about college admission requirements and suggested possibilities to keep higher level classes open to those who wish to take them. However, the school administration said that the cuts are done by forced choice.

“We have until July 1st to put a final stance on the budget, but it needs to be balanced because next year will be the first year the state will decrease millions of dollars in funding [and] that will be felt by cities and towns,” said Mayor McGlynn.

The School Committee will meet again on Tuesday and Wednesday at 7PM at Medford High School to continue budget discussions. Both meetings will be broadcast live on Channel 15.