FM #44 - This week in Franklin, MA 07/26/09

This is #44 in the series of podcasts for Franklin Matters. Give me about ten minutes and I'll let you know what matters in Franklin, MA for the week ending July 26, 2009

Time: 11 minutes, 23 seconds



MP3 File

Session Notes:

Music intro
My intro
FM #44

This internet radio show or podcast for Franklin Matters is number 44 in the series.

You give me about ten minutes and I'll let you know what matters in Franklin, MA for the w/e 7/26.

We'll cover two items this week:

1. The School Committee final budget
2. The Summer Art Institute show

The School Committee meeting on June 23 left me with doom and gloom. The budget deficit had yet to be resolved. The budget was to be level funded. There was no hope of "found money". The numbers were still not balancing and yet tipping in the wrong direction.

How many teachers would end up going out the door?

It seemed likely that a minimum of 40 would. How many more would go was the question that remained. However, I returned from travel to find that of the 60 school personnel notified only 12 would not be returning.

How had this come about?

This was a question several readers here asked me to help explain. I did not have the answer initially. A recent newspaper article did not explain. Even the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, July 21, left me with questions unanswered.

What was the answer?

A conversation with Jeff Roy resulted in the answer. The level funded budget from the Town didn't change. What did change was that all the stimulus funds from either the Federal or State sources were added to the level funded Town budget. That made a big difference. To the tune of $1.1 million. (actually $1,133,953 according to the School Committee)

How did that help?

Instead of ending up with a level funded budget, we ended up with a level funded plus budget. So all the talk of a level funded budget is from the Town Council perspective. The Town did not provide the Schools with anything more than they School got for the prior fiscal year. The Schools benefited by adding the various Federal and State stimulus funds in to the mix to end up with level funded plus.

Is that wrong?

No. At least, I don't believe so. I just wish the discussion around this subject had been more clear. If I spend as much time as I do attending and participating in the various meetings and I get lost, then I can not fault the 'average' Franklin voter for getting lost.

How do we address this?

Better communication is not just a trite answer. The communications and discussions need to be focused with the end user in mind; in this case, the school parents and taxpayers. What will affect them?

What will parents see when they return to school in September?

The school class sizes will be available for one of the August School Committee meetings. Principals are working on the final details for their staffing now (in amongst their summer time off).

What will tax payers see when the next tax bill comes in?

No increase this year due to the level funding. Next year, the fiscal year 2011 will be a different story. Most, if not all of the additional stimulus items used to fund the budget this year are one time dollars. They will not be available next year.

What additional programs were cut?

I am not aware of additional programs that were cut.

Were any of the fees raised?

The fees for after school activities, sports and pay-to-ride remain at last year level.

How can the School Committee improve the discussion?

There is a general reluctance to share the spreadsheets. I understand that the numbers can change. They should be made available. Ensure that they are time stamped and clearly marked that as of this point in time, these are the dollars and this is the effect (i.e. number of positions lost). This would at least help us understand how we go from point A to point B. This will at least ensure that when numbers are bantered back and forth at the meeting, we all can attempt to follow the discussion.

What is the final level funded budget plus number?

You can click over to the School Committee blog to find the numbers there.

A couple of notes to help understand the spreadsheet on the School Committee page:

1. Attrition is the difference between what the 9 retirees were paid and what the replacement teachers will be paid. Hence a savings of $210,000.
2. While the number always talked of that each position reduced costs about $50,000, with 12 positions cut the 500,000 shown by this math should be 600,000.
3. All the dollars on the right column added to the budget are one time dollars.
   

If you still have any questions, please let me know. I'll do my best to explain.

Moving to the second item, the Summer Art Institute conducted as part of Lifelong Learning under the auspices of the Franklin Public Schools, held a brief half hour gathering to showcase the work of the student in the program.

I had published the pictures as part of a video on Saturday but I wasn't pleased with how the final product turned out. I re-did the posting with a slide show of the photos themselves. I think this gives a better view of the art that was produced by the students.

The Summer Art video - http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/07/summer-art-institute.html

The Summer Art slide show - http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/07/summer-art-institute-slide-show.html

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This podcast has been a public service provided to my fellow citizens of Franklin, MA

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The musical intro and closing is from the Podsafe Music Network
Jon Schmidt - Powerful Exhilarating Piano Music

When can a level funded budget increase?

The School Committee meeting on June 23 left me with doom and gloom. The budget deficit had yet to be resolved. The budget was to be level funded. There was no hope of "found money". The numbers were still not balancing and yet tipping in the wrong direction.

How many teachers would end up going out the door?

It seemed likely that a minimum of 40 would. How many more would go was the question that remained. However, I returned from travel to find that of the 60 school personnel notified only 12 would not be returning.

How had this come about?

This was a question several readers here asked me to help explain. I did not have the answer initially. A recent newspaper article did not explain. Even the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, July 21, left me with questions unanswered.

What was the answer?

A conversation with Jeff Roy resulted in the answer. The level funded budget from the Town didn't change. What did change was that all the stimulus funds from either the Federal or State sources were added to the level funded Town budget. That made a big difference. To the tune of $1.1 million. (actually $1,133,953 according to the School Committee)

How did that help?

Instead of ending up with a level funded budget, we ended up with a level funded plus budget. So all the talk of a level funded budget is from the Town Council perspective. The Town did not provide the Schools with anything more than they School got for the prior fiscal year. The Schools benefited by adding the various Federal and State stimulus funds in to the mix to end up with level funded plus.

Is that wrong?

No. At least, I don't believe so. I just wish the discussion around this subject had been more clear. If I spend as much time as I do attending and participating in the various meetings and I get lost, then I can not fault the 'average' Franklin voter for getting lost.

How do we address this?

Better communication is not just a trite answer. The communications and discussions need to be focused with the end user in mind; in this case, the school parents and taxpayers. What will affect them?

What will parents see when they return to school in September?

The school class sizes will be available for one of the August School Committee meetings. Principals are working on the final details for their staffing now (in amongst their summer time off).

What will tax payers see when the next tax bill comes in?

No increase this year due to the level funding. Next year, the fiscal year 2011 will be a different story. Most, if not all of the additional stimulus items used to fund the budget this year are one time dollars. They will not be available next year.

What additional programs were cut?

I am not aware of additional programs that were cut.

Were any of the fees raised?

The fees for after school activities, sports and pay-to-ride remain at last year level.

How can the School Committee improve the discussion?

There is a general reluctance to share the spreadsheets. I understand that the numbers can change. They should be made available. Ensure that they are time stamped and clearly marked that as of this point in time, these are the dollars and this is the effect (i.e. number of positions lost). This would at least help us understand how we go from point A to point B. This will at least ensure that when numbers are bantered back and forth at the meeting, we all can attempt to follow the discussion.

What is the final level funded budget plus number?

You can click over to the School Committee blog to find the numbers there.

A couple of notes to help understand the spreadsheet on the School Committee page:

1. Attrition is the difference between what the 9 retirees were paid and what the replacement teachers will be paid. Hence a savings of $210,000.
2. While the number always talked of that each position reduced costs about $50,000, with 12 positions cut the 500,000 shown by this math should be 600,000.
3. All the dollars on the right column added to the budget are one time dollars.

If you still have any questions, please let me know. I'll do my best to explain.

Franklin School Position Reductions

The total number of position reductions for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 from the Franklin School Dept through layoffs is 12 per the School Committee meeting on July 21, 2009. The total position reductions since FY 2003 is now 139.



If teachers retired and weren't replaced, would that count as a lost position also?

Live reporting - FY 2010 update

53 million was needed as level service, that number never changed.
The other number that never changed was the number we could expect from the Town Council. 50 million never changed.

Approx 3.5 million dollar gap. How we were bridging that gap? What savings or revenues were coming in were changing.

We couldn't predict how many were retiring, etc.

Sabolinski - some of the ways we bridged the gap also did not change. The teachers taking the wage freeze helped to save 23 positions. Some prepayment of special education tuitions ($200,000). Stabilization was cut significantly by the Governor, we got our final number last week ($219,000). Circuit breaker extraordinary relief.

We were able to bring 29 on July 2
We can bring back 21 more now but have not determined the final positions until we meet with the principals.

10 teaching positions, (5 PE/health and 5 librarians) are the total lost this year.
We did lose the one data analyst and the asst principal were lost as well.

Long term planning report

Did you ever review the Financial Planning Committee's report?

Did you miss the Information Forum held on April 27, 2009 in the Mercer Auditorium at Horace Mann?

There is no time like the present then to catch up to this important report. You can find the report in the details of my live reporting from the presentation and discussion on April 27th.

You can also view the 2 hour and 12 minute session on the Town website.

This topic is important to understand. The financial issues that Franklin faces will not go away anytime soon. The Town Council will finalize the FY 2010 budget either on July 15th or an August meeting. The Finance Committee has already approved the hotel and meals tax which will help Franklin obtain a new source of revenue. The revenue gained will not solve our problems. The revenue is estimated to be less than $500,000 per year but every bit helps.

The School Committee meeting on July 21st will finalize their budget for this year. What will be the final number of teachers cut this year?

Finance Committee archives

My notes from the Finance Committee meetings for the FY 2010 budget hearings can be found here

• Finance Comm 04/16/09
• Finance Comm 04/21/09
• Finance Comm 04/29/09
• Finance Comm 05/05/09

The video archive on the Town website has many meetings readily accessible here. You can pull up the meeting and choose to watch the whole meeting or skip to specific sections of the agenda.

"We need to let parents know, nothing is a done deal yet"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

Posted Jun 24, 2009 @ 12:28 AM

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FRANKLIN —

The school district will rehire 21 to 23 teachers who received pink slips this spring, said Assistant Superintendent Maureen Sabolinski, but another 40 jobs are still in limbo.

School leaders had been hoping to bring back more of the 60 educators who received notice of possibly being laid off this fall, but the state Legislature's budget threw a monkey wrench in that plan, said School Committee Chairman Jeffrey Roy.

Roy said the state has cut Franklin's Chapter 70 school aid by 2 percent, or by $574,000, and its stimulus funds by $219,000.

And on Monday, Sabolinski learned that the town's circuit breaker reimbursement is going to be reduced by $275,000, for a total loss of nearly $1.1 million, Roy said. Circuit breaker money is for extraordinary special education expenses.

School Committee member Cora Armenio said she is frustrated that information regarding local aid "is changing hourly."

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

Read all the live reporting from the School Committee meeting here

Live reporting - Audit actions, budget, FY 10

3. Discussion Only Items

• Town – School Agreement
• Budget to Actual
• FY10 Budget

Notes on #1

Goodman - review of the agreement between the Town and School to formalize and eliminate the forensic audit recommendation.

For example; custodial expenses by the Town for the schools behalf have been formalized to be charged appropriately. The Technology staff is paid initially by the Schools and charged across to the Town. Both sides should be reviewing this agreement on an annual basis.

The end of year report will be used to calculate the "net school spending" amount that the State uses to track how well we are doing. As referenced during the budget discussions, this amount is getting close to the State minimum required level.

Rohrbach - where does the Charter School fit in?
Goodman - it is a factor on the Town side for the "net school spending" calculation. Let me get a better analysis of how it fits. It is a pass through charge that we don't control.

Sabolinski - we think this is a fair representation of the operations and shared expenses between the Town and Schools.

Cafasso - You're coming up on a year?
Goodman - just over a year, we have a good healthy working relationship and I look to see it maintained.
Cafasso - Thank you, I feel more comfortable with the finances you have presented this past year.

Rohrbach - it is great to have this down and documented, it will be a good reference for future.

#3 - State level updates
Chapter 70 cut 2%
Stimulus funds were also cut
Town needs to determine how to split/absorb the cuts between the Town and Schools
Circuit breaker reduced from 60% to around 38-42% that's another $274,000 cut
Since these numbers are still fluid, the budget sub-committee needs to continue to review and await some unanswered questions before making final decisions

Cafasso - we need to see a kind of menu of items and associated dollars that could be considered.

Roy - with the Teachers agreement we were getting down to about 500,000

Sabolinski - it looks like we can add back about 23 positions based upon money that is confirmed and not changing.

Sherlock - I am a little confused. Is the 800,000 shortage Jeff Nutting had referenced now closer to the 1.1 million just discussed, or if this was in addition to the 800,000. If I understand it correctly, it is now closer to a 1.1 million short fall to the total Franklin budget. It remains to be see how it gets split between the Town and Schools.

Roy - good point, there were 60 notified, based on the numbers this far, approx 23 may be able to be returned leaving still 40-plus would be lost positions

My explanation added after the meeting: The School Committee and Administration were talking of adding teachers back based upon the consideration that 60 had been notified and were being cut. I had been working from a difference reference point. So if the School Committee had gotten their piece of the budget shortfall reduced to about 500,000 and the Town now needs to split the 1.1 million (up from the 800,000 previously discussed), then the School side could end up with another 550,000 to look to adjust the budget to cover. Coincidentally, that works out to be about 1 million to cover which could mean those teachers (that Sabolinski mentioned) aren't coming back. With such a fluid situation, all I can say is stay tuned in.

Armenio - parents should plan on program fees could still be increased and additional programs could still be cut until we have that final number.

Trahan - I agree we should keep things open until we have a final number, they should stay tuned.

"Am I concerned? Yes"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

Posted Jun 12, 2009 @ 12:38 AM

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FRANKLIN —

Town Council last night unanimously approved an $88.1 million budget for next fiscal year, which is $500,000 less than the current year's budget.

The only line item that was discussed last night was the Police Department budget, as Councilor Robert Vallee said he was "very concerned for deteriorating salaries" within the department.

He is worried that officers will lose a significant portion of their salary if the state eliminates the Quinn Bill (an educational incentive), and officers have fewer opportunities for detail work.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

You can read the collection of live reports from the same Town Council meeting here

Live reporting - FY 10 Budget

F. HEARINGS – FY 2010 Budget – Public Hearing

One hold on Police Salaries by Vallee
Questioning the overall salaries and the potential decline due to the Quinn Bill issue and details

Chief Williams - We always have a concern with the Officer's salary, without Quinn they could loose 3-7,000 a year. It does concern me. I hope the state government does resolve this.

I am proud of our education record here in the department. We have a number with degrees and those all pay benefits for us. A better educated officer is better for Franklin.

Motion to close the hearing, passed 6-0


J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION
Resolution 09-43: Adoption of FY 2010 Budget

Motion to accept - passed 6-0

Live reporting - FY 10 Budget continued

Nutting - thanks to all the town employees, department heads. They have done a great job. We can see it in the Town Common and the graduation. Thanks to all.

While we are talking about the FY 10 budget, the FY 11 budget is actually worse. The Financial Planning Committee has indicated the problem with their report as well.

Clerk reads the budget.
A copy of the budget can be found on the Town website in the Town Council meeting Agendas with documents

no holds were called - public hearing closed (second hearing is scheduled for Thursday 6/11/09)

Live reporting - School Budget - FY 10

From left to right across the table are School Committee Chair Jeff Roy, Supt Wayne Ogden, Asst Supt Maureen Sabolinski, and Business Manager Miriam Goodman





Roy: Budget out of balance by 1.5 million with the teachers decision on the deferment pending their vote this Monday June 15th. We have notified the necessary amount to account for all the contingencies.

Sabolinski: very frustrating budget cycle, have been trying to bring the transportation budget in line as a requirement per the Forensic Audit. In addition to teaching positions, there are two administrative positions at the high school, a data analyst at the central office. These positions would not be returned with any additional funds this year. Additional funds would bring teachers back.

The High School has changed their schedule to accommodate reasonable class sizes. The middle school and elementary schools will see larger class sizes.

The PE/Health requirement has been changed at the High School. It has been reduced to once per week to free up time for course classes.

Bartlett: What has happened to the fees?
Sabolinski: right now the fees are the same. We did look at increasing them and decided not to go that way this year.
Roy: we also looked at the potential revenue loss due to the increased fees.

Zollo: What reductions did we have last year? and the year before?
Ogden: Last year 45, of these 43 were teachers, the year before was 28 of which 8 were custodial and 2 were admin.

Whalen:
Ogden: we know of 6 retirements as of now, we suspect there are four more pending with no obligation for them to provide us notification until June 30th. These retirements will help us avoid some other reductions.
Sabolinski:

Whalen: music programs being cut?
Sabolinski: music programs at the middle school are being shared across the three buildings, the high school choral program teacher will not be maintain her position

Whalen: will other after school activities be cut?
Sabolinski: due to the stipend offered to teachers for the after school programs, there will be less offered. The late bus is also not funded next year which would affect participation.

Whalen:
Sabolinski: in K-8 we don't have other areas to cut, we are looking to protect the core requirements of instruction. They have been cutting for the last 3-4 years, they have no further place to make cuts.
Ogden: the perception that athletic programs are not cut is incorrect.

Bartlett: PE/Health will become an elective?
Ogden: no, it will still be required, the frequency of offering will be reduced to once per week.
Sabolinski: there will be an elective offered for other students to take

Zollo: so the retirements don't affect the 14 positions remaining if you have the 700,000 gap to cover?
Ogden: yes, we still have to get to the total salary requirement coverage of the 14 positions.

5 minute recess

Live reporting - FY 10 Budget hearing

Update on current status, the amount not balanced is about 800,000 off and is really only 1% of the total budget.

From left to right Susan Gagner, Jeff Nutting



11 Town positions lost for FY 2010

An adjustment will be required in the fall for unemployment costs.

Tax levy increased by 2.5%
State revenue has been reduced by 1.5 million (from various sources per the Governor's numbers).
Motor vehicle receipts down driving the total of Local receipts down over 940,000.

Public facilities did increase due to the total number of buildings covered (schools, etc.)

Public Schools are level funded
Regional school has a savings due to a decrease in enrollment and their own budget reduction efforts

Debt did increase, bonding for the Senior Center, Fire truck and a couple of other items drove this increase.

Norfolk County Assessment increased by 180,000

Q&A
Doak - if we have to make additional cuts, can you give any insights as to where they would be coming from?
Nutting - I think they would be split between Town and School. We haven't had that discussion yet. There are really only 5 Town budgets that could absorb any significant amounts. How much more peril do we want to put the Schools in? I'd rather not start making assumptions, it really depends upon what the amount is. If local option tax is coming around, that would be another Council discussion on how it would be used.

Bartlett - when you go to the Capital, are they aware of the impact with layoffs, etc?
Nutting - They know how important Chapter 70 and local aid is to the cities and towns. There is such a budget dilemma, they are trying to weigh all the possibilities. We managed to get co-pay increases this year, will that happen again, can't say.

Live reporting - FY 2010

No additional news, teachers union has scheduled a vote for June 15th.
We are scheduled to go forward with the public hearing at the Town Council tomorrow night (June 10th)

motion to close the budget hearing
passed 7-0

"I don't want to speculate"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

Posted Jun 08, 2009 @ 10:27 PM

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FRANKLIN —

Possibly facing a loss of $900,000 in state aid under the Senate budget, Town Administrator Jeffrey D. Nutting said he is going to make every attempt to keep his promise to unions that volunteered to freeze their wages for year.

"No matter what happens, my goal is not to have those layoffs," Nutting said.

Earlier in the budget season, the Franklin Police Association and Local 1298, which consists of the police and fire dispatchers unions, custodians union, administrative union (clerical), Department of Public Works union, and facilities (tradesmen) union, all voted to take a one-year deferral on their negotiated wage increases to save their colleagues' jobs and help out the town.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

School Committee Mtg 05/26/09

This is the collection of live reporting posts from the School Committee meeting of 5/26/09

• Live reporting - New business
• Live reporting - Superintendents report
• Live reporting - Action items
• Live reporting - Acceptable Use Policy
• Live reporting - Detailed Questions FY 2010
• Live reporting - FY 2010 Budget Q and A
• Live reporting - FY 2010
• Live reporting - FY 2010 Budget
• Live reporting - Cafeteria takes deferment
• live reporting - presentations
• Live reporting - School Committee 5/26/09

"There was no mention"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

Posted May 26, 2009 @ 11:12 PM

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FRANKLIN —

The School Committee last night voted to continue until June 9 its public hearing on the fiscal 2010 budget, wanting to give the public another opportunity to be heard.

School administrators are still waiting to hear from the state about how much local aid and other funding Franklin will receive, said Superintendent Wayne Ogden and Assistant Superintendent Maureen Sabolinski.

To provide the same level of services and teachers as last year, the district needs a budget of $53.8 million, but through reductions in expenses (such as health care premiums, wage freezes for administrators and non-union staff), the district needs $53.29 million, Ogden said.

Administrators expect the district will receive $1.5 million via circuit breaker aid (reimbursement for special education costs), state and federal stimulus funds, what is called "extraordinary relief" for special education costs, and funds for School Choice.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

Live reporting - FY 2010 Discussion

Salary a big chunk
Health care, Transportation, and Out of district tuition account for the bulk of the remaining amount.

Elementary level $210
Middle Schools $225
High School $355

This is the apportionment of the budget on a per pupil basis
Some of the budget line item changes can be directly attributed to these amounts flowing to the schools

Overall reducing 42-25 positions with this budget

High School
Asst Principal, Secretary, Librarian, and four teachers = total of seven positions

Class sizes can remain manageable with a change in the schedule from 7 period rotating to a 6 period schedule. 60 minute per period.

Middle Schools
2 grade 6 teachers
4 grade 7 teachers
4 grade 8 teachers
2 music
1 librarian
1 Math curriculum enhancement teacher

Class sizes remain significantly high

Elementary Schools
18.5 classroom teachers
2.5 librarians
1.2 specialists

Class size will be much increased, 21 of the 30 class groupings will exceed School Committee guidelines

User Activity Fees
As announced previously, the fees will increase over the next three years to bring the fee revenue into a 50/50 support level with the budget assumptions

Athletic fees, pay-to-ride, extracurricular fees are the three areas covered.
Page 9 depicts the fee schedule for the next three years

A calculation of the fees shows a "typical" family with students at the High School could amount to $3,000 per year. This would be about 60% of the average property tax amount.

The budget reduction targeted 3 million has come within 1,489,233.
The Senate budget differs significantly from the House and Governor's budget. That amount is not reflected in the numbers shown here.

Summary

• No late bus
• High school scheduling changes
• Split teams at the Middle Schools
• Larger elementary class sizes
• Programing changes (Music, library, PE/Health)
• Fewer extracurricular activities

Live reporting - FY 2010 Budget

This is the budget document from the packet for the meeting this evening

FY 2010 Budget 5/26/09

View more Microsoft Word documents from Steve Sherlock.

Live reporting - FY 2010 update

What happened today reduced $1.7 million from the Franklin budget for FY 2010.

The local revenue options were passed but the timing of obtaining that would prevent us from benefiting it for next year.

No indication that the budget will be adopted until late June

We'll need to use the Governor's number which is probably high to begin with.

Bartlett - Hw would we estimate the meals tax?
Nutting - The DOR estimated sometime ago for us. We haven't done anything yet as it isn't real. You couldn't use 100% in the first year to be fiscally prudent. There are all kinds of estimates. The Senate and the House have two different telecom versions which all leads to no definitive answer.

Picture won;t be clear on the Senate side until the end of this week, or next week.

Nutting - the telecom is pretty straight forward as it is a property tax, we have the data.