FY 2003 Budget Recommendation

RE:   FY 2003 Budget Recommendation

I submit for your approval a recommended budget for the Boston Public Schools in the amount of $639,729,201 for FY 2003. This recommendation includes a series of revisions that have been made in order to address the most critical issues raised by Members of the Boston School Committee, the broader school community and the public during the course of our public budget hearings.

The assumptions that underlie the funding of this recommendation remain unchanged. Based on an assessment of the fiscal environment and the revenues that are likely to be available to support public education in the City of Boston during the coming year, my recommendation represents level funding in comparison to our FY 2002 total budget appropriation.

Adjustments to the preliminary budget recommendation have been made in order to strengthen our support in the following areas:

• Commitment to Students
• Commitment to Teachers
• Commitment to After School Programs
• Commitment to Fiscal Responsibility

Commitment to Students

This budget recommendation supports a full commitment to provide MBTA passes to our students that rely on public transportation to get to and from school. While we continue to explore alternative means for financing this, $850,000 has been restored for this service, which covers 50 percent of the actual cost.

Commitment to Teachers

We have worked hard and made significant investments to position the Boston Public Schools' recruitment of high quality teachers who are committed to our education reform efforts. In order for those investments to pay off we need to work just as hard to retain them. One of the goals of this budget development process has been to minimize the impact of budget cuts on good teachers that we might lose and could lose.

In response to the concerns expressed about the level of teacher reductions itemized in my preliminary recommendation, 48 teaching positions at a cost of $3.3 million have been restored to the general fund budget. An additional 40 vacancies are expected to result from senior teaching staff successfully applying for and accepting new coaching positions in support of transition programs and whole school improvement efforts. This allows for a minimum of 88 provisional teachers, otherwise scheduled for layoff, to be retained.

The context of this proposal needs to be put in perspective. Based on a series of strategies to reduce spending at the school level, a total of 184 positions funded through both the general fund and grants were identified for reduction. Of this total, 136 represented teaching positions. This budget proposal restores 88, or 65%, of the teaching positions scheduled for reduction.

I believe that through these measures, a conservative assumption on the number of coaching positions and the normal attrition of school staff, we will be able to retain the best and brightest of our teaching force.

Commitment to After-School Programs

The proposal to reduce overtime costs by 50% jeopardized the continuation of some of the after-school programs in our smaller schools. These programs, supported through the Mayor's 2:00 to 6:00 Initiative operate in sixty-nine of our schools, providing opportunities for extended day programs that support our instructional focus. Thirty-six of them are housed in small schools that rely on overtime expenditures for custodial staff to keep buildings open, provide custodial services, and appropriately secure the building when the program ends.

This budget recommendation restores $260,000 to support a more efficient and less costly model that will allow all current programs to continue.

Commitment to Fiscal Responsibility

This budget recommendation provides an additional $2.25 million in reductions to insure that all fixed costs have been funded at sufficient levels to support planned operations during the next fiscal year. Throughout the budget development process we have made many assumptions in budget planning that needed to be supported by an appropriate implementation strategy. In some instances, moving forward on the execution of these items proved to yield savings short of their target. These additional reductions fully close the $41 million gap between projected expenditures and anticipated revenue.

Reductions to Offset Costs

These proposals do not come without a price. The following reductions have been made to allow for funding of the items identified above:

• School Building Maintenance. Most school building maintenance projects that had been scheduled for FY 2003 will be deferred. Examples of these include interior painting, carpet replacement, auditorium seating, and fencing. In addition, contracts for labor and moving services have been reduced. The cost of these reductions equals $1.9 million. This proposal is in addition to a $1 million reduction reflected in the preliminary budget, for a total of $2.9 million.
• Transportation: Transportation will be reduced by an additional $650,000. These savings will be achieved through a more rigorous review of student assignments and routing; and a requirement for programs supported by external funds that rely on transportation services to contribute to the cost of those services. This proposal is in addition to the $3.5 million reduction reflected in the preliminary budget, for a total of $4.1 million.
• New Priorities: I have previously indicated my intent to fund a limited number of new initiatives within the FY 2003 budget. The current fiscal climate requires that two of those initiatives be delayed. As such, plans to open the new Tech Boston Academy will be deferred for one year. In addition, I also will defer the implementation of a much-needed Applicant Tracking System to support the recruitment and hiring of qualified staff for the Boston Public Schools. The total of these two items is $1,260,000.
• Central Support Services: An additional $2.8 million will be reduced from central (non-school) budgets in order to insure that this budget is balanced. These reductions include the identification of vacant positions that will be eliminated, and significant reductions in non-salary accounts. These reductions are over and above the 10% reduction in central staff, the 50% reduction in overtime and stipends and the 10% reduction in contracted service lines that were proposed in my preliminary recommendation.

In my preliminary budget recommendation, I was clear about two things: 1) FY03 would represent the most difficult budget challenge the Boston Public Schools has faced in my tenure as Superintendent, and 2) it will not deter us from our commitment to improving teaching and learning, and accelerating our progress on student achievement.

This budget process has been the most difficult of my tenure in Boston. It has required tough choices in difficult times that we all would prefer not to have to face. However, with the realignment of resources identified for you above, I am confident that we will succeed in our commitment to improved teaching and learning and accelerated student achievement.

I respectfully request your approval of the recommended budget.

Cc: M. Contompasis
J. McDonough
J. McIntyre