Northampton schools chief identifies cuts, sees need for more
BY KRISTINA TEDESCHI , STAFF WRITER, DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE
NORTHAMPTON - In efforts to pare down a $770,000 budget gap, the superintendent plans to cut staff across the board, use the majority of school choice surplus funds and hold off on purchasing new supplies in what most School Committee members agreed were painful but necessary measures.
The resulting savings would amount to $430,000, Superintendent Isabelina Rodriguez Babcock said at Thursday night's meeting, leaving exactly $340,303 that would still need to be slashed to meet the superintendent's $27.65 million budget proposal. Although the city received $60,000 more in Chapter 70 state aid than originally expected, the money will likely land in the city's coffers, said Vice Chairwoman Lucy Hartry. She said more money from the state is unlikely.
The superintendent said she is looking to cut staff in all city schools and in the district's central office. Letters of notice are set to go out to each school once April vacation is over the week after next, she said, noting that she hasn't yet decided who to cut and where. At-large member Pamela Hunter told the committee she hoped not only staff, but also programs within the district would be considered for cuts.
In a rare move, Rodriguez Babcock recommended that $200,000 of the district's $250,000 school choice fund surplus be used to help close the gap.
"We're not comfortable with it," said at-large member Katherine Foote Newman, who also belongs to the Budget and Property Subcommittee, which had heard the recommendations last week, "but we're not comfortable with the alternatives, either."
Also under consideration is eliminating all funding for social studies materials and halting funding to administer the IOWA tests for one year.
Rodriguez Babcock decided to pass on social studies materials because the curriculum is under revision in the district and will likely be revised by the state next year, resulting in changes, she said.
However, the $200,000 earmarked for the supplies is "one-time money," the superintendent said, and new supplies will eventually be needed.
"We're only putting off the inevitable," Rodriguez Babcock said.
"If we spend it now, we won't have it next year," cautioned Ward 6 representative Lisa Minnick. She said she would be disappointed if money is not available for social studies curriculum supplies after the district puts time and effort into revising it.
"This is yet again another disaster that's been served up to us," said Minnick, "and I don't know how to fix it."
"Our deficit is a lot bigger than any of us knows how to deal with," she added.
To move forward with revision, Rodriguez Babcock said, she plans to use Title I and II state funds - which haven't been reduced and are nearly the same as last year, she said - to pay teachers and staff to work on it. Ward 2 representative Lise Glading-DiLorenzo noted hiring a director of teaching and learning in February was a smart move.
"I feel like we've made an investment in a sense that actually saves us money," she said.
Foote Newman told the committee that other recommendations were also being considered among school administrators, such as the necessity of two vice principals at Northampton High School and the practicality of heating the swimming pool at JFK Middle School and other energy costs.
The district must have a budget in place by July 1, when the next fiscal year begins.
The superintendent requested on March 22 at a special School Committee meeting that $23.4 million of her $27.65 million budget proposal come from the city, a figure that represents a 5.5 percent increase over fiscal 2007's appropriation of $22 million. But the city can only afford a 2 percent increase, Mayor Clare Higgins told committee members, or about $2.24 million more.
