jackiedoherty.org

News, schools, and views from a uniquely Lowell perspective
30th May 2009

School budget hearings start today

posted in Education, Money Matters |

Beginning at 1 p.m. in Council Chambers, the Lowell School Committee will begin hearings for the FY 2010 budget.  The public is invited to attend and comment on the budget in general or on specific line items. You may also watch the proceedings live from LTC’s municipal channel 10. Due to increased costs to provide the same services and programs, a level service budget would require an increase of about $14 million. Taking into account a federal stimulus contribution of $4.7 million, a level-funded contribution from the state, and the city manager’s indication that he will be recommending the City Council reduce its appropriation by $5 million, there is a budget shortfall of over $9 million. Last year, the city appropriated about $19 million for the schools while the state contribution was about $118 million. The manager’s recommendation represents about a 28% cut in the city’s contribution to its schools. Today, the committee will begin making decisions to reduce staff and programs to bridge that shortfall. Please pay attention and be involved.

There are currently 2 responses to “School budget hearings start today”

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  1. 1 On June 2nd, 2009, lowellteacher said:

    I was at the budget meeting last night and two things jumped out at me:

    1)Any damage to the downtown economy caused by the evacuation of the Bon Marche building would be more than offset by allowing LHS teachers to go down there during our lunch and prep times. In the age of cellphones there is no compelling reason to not let us step out for 15 minutes to go and pick up lunch from the downtown area.

    2) In re: Mayor Caulfield’s grandstanding speech about the 3 million dollar raises. Again, as best as I can tell, the LFD agreed to forgo a 3% raise for next year. Contractually teachers are only getting a very small raise at the end of this year, which I imagine will eventually be on the table. A large portion of that 3mil is in the form of step raises to our mostly young teaching force. I am a 7th year teacher, my salary is slated to go from 56,000 to 63,000. This salary jump represents my “maxing out,” or the end of my unofficial probationary period. It will be the first year, in my opinion, that I am paid a reasonable professional salary for my skills and education. If this is somehow construed as a “raise,” and eliminated, I will be looking for another job come the fall. Since I am an ELL teacher certified in Math, History, and soon Physics, I doubt I will have much trouble.

    Many teachers I know are in this boat, either making that 7th to 8th year salary jump this year or the next. Again, I don’t consider this to be a raise, I’m not willing to give it up, and I think someone should have pointed this distinction out to our bloviating and, frankly, insulting, Mayor.

  2. 2 On June 2nd, 2009, Jackie said:

    I wasn’t aware that teachers weren’t allowed to leave LHS, which definitely seems worth a discussion. In regards to concessions, I understand your position that perhaps that is more than you want to give up. At this point, I’m looking to save jobs, and ways we can work together to do that make sense for the entire district.

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