Budget woes continue to cast dark cloud over Saugus schools

SAUGUS – The School Committee has been holding public hearings on its budget talking about school improvement plans with district principals but it may all be for naught if Town Manager Andrew Bisignani’s budget is ultimately approved.Bisignani is proposing to level fund the school budget but that, in reality, is an expensive step back for the already struggling system. Due to contractual issues, as well as natural increases such as raising utility costs, level funding the budget actually means the school district would have to cut somewhere between $800,000 and $1.2 million from its current budget.Committee member Frederick Doucette wondered how the district was ever going to grow when it couldn’t even break even.Superintendent Richard Langlois told committee members Thursday that the budget process was well underway. He and committee members spent two days hearing snapshots of school improvement plans and wishlists from principals and other staff members. He said he would like the board to digest all the information, gather their thoughts and they would meet again to discuss priorities.”And hopefully by the next meeting I’ll have a formal proposal for you,” he said.Langlois said the biggest challenge he believes the district faces is closing the achievement gap. The Belmonte Middle School’s budget has been ravaged over the last three years and three schools have not made Adequate Yearly Progress in MCAS for two years running.Doucette pointed out that the Belmonte Middle School is in restructuring, which is a step beyond the warning stage, for failing to make AYP. He said he was also shocked to hear that the high school is not providing every student with the required 990 hours of education because there aren’t enough electives offered to fit everyone’s schedule.”That’s the most basic thing we do,” he said. “We don’t have enough and we might have to cut another $800,000 – it’s scary.”Doucette said he realizes that Bisignani is essentially level funding every department and that no one is getting off easy in fiscal 2010. In fact both the Police and Fire Department will face at least one layoff each.”We’re fighting over table scraps,” Doucette said.That said, Doucette added that the School Department has significant needs from the top down.”It is what it is,” he said. “We’ve had two days of budget meetings and I hate to say it but we’re not going to grow this year.”Langlois said he has no doubts the district could grow, but to do so the community at large was going to have to get on board or the schools would never move forward.