Lynn schoolbudget almost ready

LYNN – Despite still not having a solid local aid number from the state, Superintendent Catherine Latham said Thursday that the department is close to completing its first draft of the Fiscal Year 2010 budget.Latham told the School Committee that she hoped to have an internal draft available for the committee to review by April 22, and anticipated discussion of the spending plan at the committee’s rescheduled April 29 meeting.Latham and her staff have taken a different approach than her predecessor Nicholas Kostan, tearing the budget down and rebuilding it line by line, from the bottom up.With the state budget in shambles and the economy in general struggling to stay afloat, Latham says she cannot avoid cuts, but has been working with principals to determine the best area in each school to trim fat.”We have had all of the principals in and we are working on all of their requests,” she said. “We have to go over it again on Monday, but we are close.”The city as a whole is still unsure of how much money will be coming in from the state next year, but judging from the House’s budget proposal released last week, that amount will be lower than anticipated.Another area shrouded in mystery is that of federal stimulus money, which has been promised to every community in the state. Although some numbers have been made public, Latham and Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. say they have not received any official word on how much money they will be getting, when they will get it and how they can use it.One thing Latham is sure of is that the department will be losing at least one state-funded grant and will not have the opportunity to apply for several more it had planned on obtaining for next year.Gov. Deval Patrick again sliced money from the state budget this week, which included completely eliminating all alternative grants, going as far as to shut down the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education board that handles such grants.Latham said the move would eliminate one active grant in the department, an alternative grant in its final year, and would prevent the department from sending in several grant requests it had been working on.Along with working on the budget, the administrative staff have been moving forward in an effort to align high school curriculum, which could bring some changes to Lynn Vocational Technical Institute.Latham said the changes could include adding more Spanish and history courses and re-vamping the schedule to offer more electives.”We want to try and add some entreprenureal courses and we are looking at the possibility of adding some virtual classrooms if stimulus money comes in,” she said. “I’m not really counting on the stimulus money, but if it does come in that is something that we are looking at.”