The Lanesborough School Committee voted an array of moves to put the expected school choice into the budget to conform with the bottom-line number approved at the public hearing.

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The school choice revenue for 2016 is expected to come in lower than anticipated.

 

Principal Ellen Boshe said on Monday that the school is expecting $100,000 in school-choice revenues, which is $30,000 lower than anticipated in the budget. Each student to choice in from another district brings $5,000 of aid with him or her.

 

This year, 10 additional spots were opened and in crafting the budget, it was assumed six would be filled to give a $30,000 boost to the budget.

 

"We know we definitely have 20 students," Boshe said of the total projected school choice enrollment. "I don't think we'll be close to the 10."

 

The school-choice revenue was a focal point at the budget hearing in March. School Committee member Robert Barton, who has stopped attending meetings and is not running for re-election, motioned at that hearing to eliminate any projected year-end balance in school choice.

 

He then boosted the contingency fund to $60,000. In the end, the moving around cut an additional $60,000 from the budget by using all of the anticipated school choice revenue to fund it.

 

School officials were worried about budgeting that money just in case choice students didn't enroll. At this point there is still time for more to enroll, and Boshe said she is waiting on one more family that showed interest. But, Boshe doesn't think there will be many more after that.

 

"I'd be happy if we got two more," Boshe said. 

 

On Monday, the remaining two committee members — Regina DiLego and James Moriarty — voted in favor of moving a number of expenses from the appropriated budget (coming from tax revenues) to the unappropriated (other revenue sources) budget. A number of items that were eyed to be paid for by appropriations are now being paid for out of those school choice revenues, which needed to be moved in the budget documents, so the bottom line stays the same. 

 

To cover the newly projected shortfall, that $60,000 in the contingency was halved and placed into various areas of the budget. Town meeting still has the ultimate say over the budget so the final numbers aren't set. But what was eyed to be a $60,000 reserve is already looking to be only $30,000.

 

The town budget is also expected to include an additional $25,000 in reserves to help the school in need but that money is under the Finance Committee's control and not the School Committee. 

 

In other business, interim Superintendent Gordon Noseworthy said he is trying to align school improvement plans across the district, which starts with a uniformed format. 

 

"My goal this year was to try and bring uniformity to the schools," Noseworthy said. "This is a working document that comes out frequently. It gets reviewed monthly."

 

The plan is crafted by teachers and the school council. It sets up a timeline and measurable outcomes for five goals. Those goals are to continue closing the proficiency gap, align with Common Core standards, expand the science curriculum, develop a technology plan, and promote 21st century education. 

 

"We're not measuring teachers, we're measuring how well we are doing as a whole," Noseworthy said. 

 

He added that with a new superintendent and principal taking over, the document will also serve as a way to ease transition. In fact, Noseworthy said when he was determining a format he looked at the one the incoming superintendent has at his own district and found it was similar. 

 

Lastly on Monday, Noseworthy asked the School Committee to support raising the rate of substitute teachers by $5. He said he'd be going to all three schools and asking for degreed teachers be paid $80 a day to be a substitute.

 

"We're not competitive and we want the best teachers in our classrooms," Noseworthy said. 

 

The School Committee, however, didn't have that item on the agenda and couldn't vote on it. They'll meeting later in the week after posting an agenda but both members said they support it.