Superintendent of Schools Suzanne Scallion said one of the bigger costs to the district, after contractual obligations that account for the lion’s share of the budget, is the price tag that comes with upgrading the curriculum in all city schools.
Suzanne Scallion WESTFIELD – School officials are working to balance a $56 million budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year, and fear jobs may have to be cut.
Superintendent of Schools Suzanne Scallion said one of the bigger costs to the district, after contractual obligations that account for the lion’s share of the budget, is the price tag that comes with upgrading the curriculum in all city schools.
Educators are in the process of converting to a “common core” curriculum, a national standard adopted by the state and the foundation of what local instruction is based upon.
“Our responsibility as administrators is to present a budget that reflects how best to meet the needs of our students,” Scallion said. “The materials we have now are not aligned with the framework. The education of our children is the greatest predictor of our future.”
In order to meet the national standards upon which the state Department of Education has based its criteria for local municipalities, Westfield needs to spend $1 million alone on new teaching materials such as books and computer software, as well as up-to-date hardware in the form of new computers that can meet student needs.
“We need software licenses and books and have to catch up as a system,” Scallion said. “We have the mayor and council committed to this, and we’re working on a five-year capital plan.”
As Westfield experiences a city-wide revitalization with bricks and mortar projects, she added, so too must the schools revitalize themselves with an upgrade in teaching materials that meets state and federal standards.
“We have to start with the infrastructure, professional development for our teachers,” Scallion said.
Also threatening the budget is a reduction is state funding in the amount of $350,000.
Eighty-three percent of the schools spending plan is people, Scallion said, which means creating a balanced budget may mean cutting jobs.
“We are looking at every single position being vacated through retirements and resignations and will determine which of those are essential replacements,” she noted. “That’s where we start."
Scallion also said she is working closely with school principals to determine the most pressing needs in their buildings.
In all, with the reductions in state funding, combined with increasing needs, Scallion said school administrators are “closing in on nearly $1 million off our budget of needs.”
“We asked the principals to come up with a list of needs, and it would be a $4 million to fulfill them all,” she said. “That’s not realistic.”
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik, School Committee chairman, said school funding by the commonwealth is currently “somewhere between the state House (of Representatives) and the Senate.”
“It’s up in the air right now until we have the state aid numbers,” he added.
The budget for the current school year, Scallion said, is $54.4 million, a $1.6 million difference from the $56 million request for the 2013-2014 academic year.
“At the end of the day, we don’t know exactly where the numbers will land with fuel costs and the cost of substitute teachers, but we will land a balanced budget,” Scallion vowed.