[B]URLINGTON- The Burlington School District is releasing its nearly $85 million budget for the coming fiscal year before town meeting on Mar. 6.
District Superintendent Yaw Obeng said it was a budget he was proud of. “It represents months of hard work and comprise and it balances the needs of our students with the reality that every financial decision we make impacts both our students and Burlington tax payers,” he said.
“While it doesn’t give us everything staff and the community requested during our public input process, it will allow us to make significant, strategic investments in areas that are key to our goals of reducing disparities and closing the achievement gap.”
School Commissioners David Kirk and Mark Porter voted against the proposal. Other board members have expressed support for the budget, saying it takes into account both student needs and taxpayers’ pocketbooks. Ultimately, voters have the final say next Tuesday.
The school board’s acting chair Stephanie Seguino defended the budget package earlier in February in a post on the community website Front Porch Forum. The budget is based on a projected 7.99 percent increase in education property taxes, which for a home valued at $250,000 would amount to $358 per year.
“I am not going to downplay the concerns folks have about rising property taxes. They are real, especially for those on a fixed income,” Seguino wrote. “The District has worked hard to spend tax dollars wisely while improving the quality of education for all of our students. This is a multi-year endeavor.”
Budget negotiations ran from the fall through early winter. Parents, city residents, teachers and staff were invited to comment on proposed reductions and cuts to programs and services.
The tax hike is driven in part by a $50 million gap in state education spending, leaving property tax payers to make up the difference, district officials said. And a decline of about 3 percent in Burlington’s Common Level of Appraisal had an impact on the tax rate, they said.
The board opted to retain teacher jobs and sports teams, and to support Obeng’s achievement gap program. Obeng and the district’s finance director Nathan Lavery initially proposed staffing reductions at Burlington High School and three of the city’s elementary schools, as well as cutting golf and alpine sports at Burlington High School. Parents and students objected, and the sports were saved.
The proposed budget does offer $787,000 in savings, primarily from non-instructional operations and administration. The savings will offset costs associated with new investment in programming. The changes led to a 0.80 percent increase in education spending per equalized pupil.
The proposed budget also includes $852,000 for strategic improvement priorities, including $20,000 for teachers who teach high school electives; $17,000 for PowerSchool module and $40,000 for Jolly Phonics curriculum.
The district included $40,000 each for restorative practices training and equity recruitment and hiring. A transition to in-house substitute teachers is anticipated in the budget as costing $20,000.
District officials included $540,000 in reductions to central administrative and operational functions, including a part-time principal substitute position, a painter, a grounds foreman and a senior administrative position.
The proposed budget includes $10 million in debt service on new borrowing on a $19 million capital bond. Already approved by voters, the bond will pay for improvements and renovations at a number of city schools, including Edmunds Elementary and Middle schools, Hunt Middle School and the Integrated Arts Academy.
The budget can be found on the district’s web site.
