Nahant schools to cut technology specialist

NAHANT – The school district will lay off a technology specialist to balance its budget for the upcoming fiscal year.Superintendent Joseph Lisi said his recommended budget for FY’10 was $3.2 million and the town is recommending allocating $2.89 million for the schools in the upcoming fiscal year.To achieve a zero-deficit budget, Lisi said he would eliminate the $56,000 technology specialist position and replace it with contracted services.”That will cut $22,500 from the budget,” he said. “We’re in the process of trying to reduce the operational budget. We’re trying to reduce spending on supplies and things so we don’t have to cut staff.”Lisi said based on the projected need for services, it appears he could cut two instructional aide positions because the aides are no longer needed to meet educational plans for students.Lisi said the town is allocating $62,000 less for the schools than it did last year but town officials said that is not entirely correct.Town Administrator Mark Cullinan explained it may appear funding for the schools has been cut but the cuts reflect the decrease in tuition being paid to Swampscott because fewer Nahant students are attending Swampscott schools next year.”The district is sending fewer students to Swampscott next year,” he said. “What we pay Swampscott depends on how many kids we’re sending there. The only decrease in the district budget is a decrease in the amount we pay to Swampscott.”Cullinan said his recommended budget allocates $194,000 more to the schools than the state requires under its net school spending formula.Cullinan said the amount of funding being provided by the town for Johnson School is actually increasing by .63 percent for FY’10, not decreasing.”The budget the district should be looking at is the Johnson School budget,” he said. “The Johnson School budget for this year is $1.5 million and next year it’s $1.52 million. Granted it’s not much of an increase but the school department is the only department in town receiving an increase. Total town appropriations is down 2.3 percent.”Cullinan added there are several school expenses that come out of the town budget, not the school district budget.”The town picks up the tab for transportation and that is $163,000,” he said. “The town also pays $540,000 a year in debt service for the school renovations and $75,000 to North Shore Vocational School.”