Winchester School Budget Up for Debate

It’s a task that the and the has been concerned about for the last few months. While Winchester principals would prefer a nine percent increase in its budget, the town has asked the district not to increase it by more than 4.05 percent.

And that number is proving difficult to hit.

Heading into the discussion, Superintendent William McAlduff explained that the budget continues to be driven by the town's increase in enrollment.

McAlduff is predicting elementary schools will see an increase of 43 students next year, while will have 77 more students.

is expected to see a drop of five students this year. But McAlduff believes this will be the last year there will be a decline at the high school, as enrollment is expected to gradually increase at the school over the next few years.

“Starting in FY’13 we’re going to see the high school enrollment rise,” McAlduff said. “And it’s going to rise thereafter for the next eight years.”

The budget is also based off of the department’s desire to maintain their current staff, while also hiring more employees to cope with the increase in enrollment. Next year’s budget is also assuming the department will level-fund all expenses, except Special Education tuitions, which are mandated by the state.

“There’s no question that this is one of the most challenging budgets we’ve had in years,” McAlduff said.

The proposed FY’12 budget is currently at $36,101,170, which is 4.09 percent higher than 2011, which is .04 percent higher than what the town would like it to be. That percentage increase is equivalent to $15,000, which the school department may need to cut.

“Honestly, as of now, I can’t find that $15,000,” McAlduff said. “This further underscores the challenges we have ahead.”

The department was helped out in the FY’12 budget by the decrease in Special Education tuition. The department was projecting to spend $364K, however, that number decreased to $164K as a handful of students aged-out of the special education program.

This budget also allows the department to fund all its special education needs, plus $30K on its Focus on the Future program. The department would also be adding two full-time sixth grade teachers (English and Social Studies) and a part-time physical education and technology teacher at McCall to help deal with the enrollment increase.

As of now, this budget does not include adding another year of Mandarin at the high school, or the last year of the library specialist. And it would not fund the request for clinical counselors at the elementary level, $10K for the Connect and Commit program or $15K for the Gifted and Talented Program.

The School Committee and McAlduff will present their budget at the Board of Selectmen’s meeting this Wednesday at 7 p.m.