School Committee votes on updated Saugus budget

SAUGUS-The School Committee answered the two questions asked by Town Meeting members when it officially voted its updated budget.In one of his last acts before his retirement, Superintendent Keith Manville asked the Committee Thursday to officially approve the $23,500,250 budget. He noted that the budget is one he put together with Business Manager Richard Weeks and Pupil Personal Director Judy Masucci. Manville and Masucci both officially step down today.”Mr. Langlois might come in Tuesday and say he’d like to change this, this and this,” he said referring to new superintendent Richard Langlois.Manville said while the budget is far from the $27.6 million budget initially approved by the committee, it does take reflect the changes voted by Town Meeting. It reflects the $3 million difference, but it also reflectsTown Meeting’s cote to give the schools an additional $75,000 to put reading teachers back into place. Manville said the funding was placed in the salary line of the budget. The plan is to actually hire three new teachers that would free up the reading teachers almost entirely to go back to dealing with remedial readers.Manville said the committee wouldn’t find the $300,000 for textbooks in the budget however because that is going to be bonded. He did say the middle and high school have put together their orders for new books.”Once we have solid numbers from the secondary schools we can start to give priority to the elementary schools,” he said.Initially, High School Principal Joseph Diorio estimated his books would cost upwards of $117,000 but Manville said now he thinks it might be a little less.He said he is hopeful that both Diorio’s needs along with the Belmonte Middle School’s would be fulfilled with enough left over to help out the elementary schools.School Committee member Rick Doucette said he would be pleased to vote the budget. Doucette said Town Meeting members asked two questions of committee – if it planned to vote the budget and if there would be a document explaining how the $23.5 million would be spent.”I feel this continues the positive direction we have with Town Meeting this year,” he said.The committee voted 4-0, with member Wendy Reed absent, to approve the budget.