by Lisa Kocain
2/11/2017

Last night, February 2, 2017, Dr. Bradford Jackson, superintendent of schools, presented his recommended budget for the FY18 school year to the Holliston School Committee. Dr. Jackson is recommending an incremental 4%, or $1,285,000, to both 1) maintain level services and 2) reinstate some essential programs and staff to address growing concerns around class sizes, more affordable access to Kindergarten, enhanced social and emotional learning, and technology implementation challenges. Specifically, Dr. Jackson is requesting additional funds to address the following (although this list is not prioritized or comprehensive):

• Implementing a sliding fee scale for full-day Kindergarten tuition

• Restoring a single full-time psychologist to augment services in all schools

• Restoring the position of a district-wide Director of Technology and Digital Learning and adding a district-wide Technology Integration Specialist

• Restoring a full-time wellness professional and ½ time chorus/general music professional at the Robert Adams Middle School

• Restoring a small portion of funds for supplies at each building as well as investing in needed centralized curriculum resources

In addition, Dr. Jackson is recommending that a few items requested by the administration be funded through the May 2017 capital request at Town Meeting. They include:

• Purchasing Chromebooks for the incoming 9th grade class at the high school

• Groundskeeping equipment

• Replacement of the data system/student management system for managing and reporting on student growth and teacher evaluations (note: the current system does not conform to requirements for the Department of Education)

While these initiatives come with a meaningful price tag, they represent only 35% of the $1,936,462 requested by our administrators, and many are designed to address cutbacks that have had a significant impact over the last several years.

Dr. Jackson’s presentation is an important but early step in the district’s budget development process. The Budget Sub-Committee will take Dr. Jackson’s recommendation under advisement and return to the School Committee at large on February 16 with feedback.

Importantly, Dr. Jackson’s recommendation is developed with an eye toward ensuring that Holliston continues to deliver an outstanding level of education for all of its students as defined in the five-year Strategic Plan approved by the School Committee in 2016.

What Goes Into Developing the Superintendent’s Budget?

Dr. Jackson builds his proposed budget by:

• Examining what it will take to maintain level services;

• Evaluating improvements and restorations deemed necessary by our district-wide administrators to achieve the quality of education and strategic goals established by the district;

  • A summary of the proposed FY18 Strategic Improvement Initiatives was presented on Jan. 20 and can be found here.

• Considering the 1% budget increase guideline provided by the Holliston Finance Committee. Each town department has been advised by the Finance Committee that it will not recommend funds for appropriation in FY18 above a 1% increase to any department’s existing budget.

Important Facts and Key Assumptions

• The district’s current (FY17) operating budget is $31,883,737.

• To maintain our current level of service, the district would require an additional $605,726 or 1.9% in funding, based on estimated fixed costs of $32,489,463.

• Circuit breaker (special education) funding and other state and federal grants will remain level for FY18.

Next Steps

FY18 Budget* Development Calendar

*Fiscal year 2018 runs from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018.