We approved the fees
(without change to those charged in FY15) as noted here:
- MHS Athletics: from 4/7 discussion
http://melrosecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=2600
“Copy of FY16 Athletic Fee Analysis”
http://melrosecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=2600 “Copy of FY16 Music Fee Analysis”
http://melrosecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=1795 “Fee Memo to School Committee”
Supt. Taymore spoke to her
balanced budget recommendation (see her memo at the bottom of this document: http://tinyurl.com/owz49vo). To our current staff, it adds two kindergarten teachers (at Lincoln and Roosevelt), a 4th
grade teacher (at Winthrop), a 5th grade teacher (at Lincoln), and
an Academic Interventionist at the Horace Mann School (where Title I funds that had paid for
this academic support position were not granted for the coming year by the federal government).
In order to add these positions, we were in a negative financial position of
$329K and made cuts to a variety of line items. Supt. Taymore indicated that
she favors budgeting conservatively, but has had to employ so much rainy-day
type funding that she knows she has very little wiggle room if there is
unexpected expense and this is cause for concern.
We voted salary and
non-salary items as two distinct parts of the balanced budget for FY16 for a
total amount of $28,125,696. (It can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/nubbqw9). We also
voted to draft and send a summary memo to the Board of Aldermen that recommends
this budget. In her memo, Supt. Taymore indicated: “At this point in the school
year, the balanced budget appears to enable us to preserve the current teaching
level we have and add prioritized classroom and direct service positions for
next year.”
Supt.
Taymore then spoke the growth budget, that includes the items she could
not fund in the balanced budget, including 12.5 educators (across all levels
and at Administration); and increases in technology (software and licenses),
special education, curriculum materials, and professional development totaling
$1.065M. The Committee voted that “Should money become available, it is
recommended for use as noted in the growth budget, as those items represent the
priorities considered necessary for the growth and improvement of teaching and
learning in the Melrose Public Schools.”
We
finished our meeting with an Executive Session to approve prior Executive
Session minutes and hear about on-going negotiations. When we came out of
Executive Session, it was reported that we had approved a three-year contract
with our special education transportation drivers.
Next
meeting is Tuesday, May 12th in the Aldermanic Chamber at 7:00.
We plan to discuss summer school, summer enrichment, and summer expectations;
the FY14 Audit Report; the 2016 school calendar; election of next year’s
student representatives; the ECC and Kindergarten placement report; Committee
goals for the coming year; and liaison reports.
