Dear neighbors,

The School Board held the first of two budget hearings this past Tuesday.  About thirty members of the public listened to Superintendent Collins’ presentation of our budget proposal for 2007-8, and then provided us with comments and questions, mostly about funding for after school programs.  

Budget season is a tough time of year on the Board because it is when dreams and wish lists hit the wall.  Mandated and contractual expenses are increasing the budget nearly 6% for next year, and we are asking the voters to approve a bit more than that, for a total proposed budget increase of 7.85%.  Much of the non-mandated request is aimed at trying to preserve programs and services as federal and state grant funds end.  This is the category the Burlington after school program is in.  The Board voted by a narrow margin to add half ($112,500) of the after school grant funds ending next year ($225,000) to the local budget. Everyone should be aware that in the following two years it is likely if not inevitable that another $400,000 annual dollars in after school grant funds will end as well, so we will not be able to offer these programs for free anymore.  The key to sustaining our excellent after school programs is devising an income-sensitive sliding scale for fees that keeps our programs both affordable and attractive.  Another big ticket in the 7.85% rise is a substantial increase in funds (about $295,000) for preventative maintenance, which is long overdue.  Spending money on ceiling tiles and ventilation may not seem exciting, but if we don’t clean house now, we will pay a lot more in the long run. There also are modest additional funds in the budget to improve our curricula in math, science, and music (about $90,000. total).  
The Board recently approved a change in committee structure so that we soon will have a committee on policy and advocacy specifically charged with taking our concerns to the city, state, and federal governments.  Budget items such as health care (our 2007-8 budget includes $125,000. of additional expenses for the new Catamount program), increased, expensive, and unfunded mandates for testing and services, diminished grant funding, and insufficient compensation for the costs of educating students with high needs through the state’s “weighting” formulas, all are issues we can not solve in-house.  Burlington is not unique in having some complaints about school funding, but we are a large and important district and I hope that this committee will work closely with legislators at many levels to bring about the important external changes we need to preserve excellence without continuing to increase the local tax burden.   

If you have comments or questions, feel free to write to me or Fred Lane, chair of the Finance Committee (flane@bsdvt.org).  Our next budget hearing will be in the high school cafeteria at 7 p.m. on January 2nd.  The Board votes on the proposal that goes to the ballot on January 9th at the Ira Allen building, also at 7 p.m., and it is not unusual for there to be some changes at that meeting in response to public comment -- so your voice can make a difference on the 2nd.

Wishing you happy holidays,

Amy Werbel
awerbel@bsdvt.org
www.amywerbel.info