Revised School Budget for FY 2020

To: Franklin School Committee Members
From: Sara E. Ahern, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools 
Re: Revised FY 20 Budget
Date: September 20, 2019

As you are aware, the final FY20 budget approved by the State in late July was more favorable to Franklin than the initial budget figures from which we built a FY 20 budget. As often happens, additional allocations are made across Town departments and we anticipate an opportunity to receive an additional appropriation in October. This would add to the additional appropriation that was granted in August, in the sum of $102,500, to provide for two Kindergarten ESPs and the elimination of the parking fee.

The School Committee’s Budget Subcommittee met on September 16, 2019 and discussed revisions to FY 20. I recommend that additional appropriations, which may be received, be applied towards:

• Consultants to support an analysis of Davis Thayer Elementary School in the fields of demography/enrollment projections and adequacy of the facility.
• Restoration of supplies and services -- namely, classroom supplies and professional development -- which was reduced during the FY 20 budget development process.

At this time, I do not advocate for the restoration of positions. As the school year has started, it would be difficult to hire and bring back positions at this time. Furthermore, the favorable funding is a result of additional Charter tuition reimbursement which is scheduled to decrease in subsequent years (60% in FY 21 and 40% in FY 22). With this scheduled decline, I do not suggest restorations in the form of positions because of the instability this provides for those staff members. 

Analysis of Davis Thayer will assist the Committee in long-term planning.
Supporting classroom materials and professional development provides necessary resources to students in the classroom and the teachers who teach them.

I look forward to further discussion at the School Committee meeting on September 24, 2019. This will proceed to the Finance Committee and then Town Council in October.


This was shared from the Schools page
https://www.franklinps.net/district/meeting-packets/files/revised-budget

Other documents released for the School Committee meeting Tuesday can be found online
https://www.franklinps.net/district/meeting-packets/pages/september-24-2019-school-committee-packet

Revised School Budget for FY 2020