Swampscott school board to present line budget

SWAMPSCOTT-School Committee member David Whelan is urging residents to attend tonight’s Committee meeting at which the line item budget will be presented.Whelan said this is the first time the School Committee has presented its budget in this much detail during the month of November. He said the budget will show that without additional revenue, school employees will be laid off at the start of the fiscal year.?We want to get the news out to people now,” he said. “That way there will be no surprises later on. The first step is to present line item projections for next year and give the town as much detail as possible.”According to information presented by Town Administrator Andrew Maylor when he gave the annual financial forecast, the school district is slated to receive $21.9 million out of the $47.67 million town budget.Maylor said in developing his forecast he assumed a 2.3 percent increase across the board with the exception of health insurance and fixed costs such as utilities. He said in his proposed budget $500,000 more is allocated for the schools than it received this year.According to Whelan, the $500,000 increase is woefully inadequate to meet the needs of the district, and community input is necessary during the budget process because cutbacks and layoffs could be necessary.?We want to engage the community and find out what kind of school system these folks want to have,” he said. “I don’t know what the appetite is for additional taxes and don’t know what we can expect from state. I do know we are in a bit of trouble. Right now we have a $1 million problem.”Superintendent Matthew Malone pointed out the district has been making cuts for four years. He added he was forced to close a school and layoff teachers this fiscal year due to budget constraints.Malone said without a drastic change in the state funding formula for school districts or more money from the town, the district would be forced to make drastic cuts in programs and services again next year.The meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium.