School Committee approves budget

The Boston School Committee last night approved a $639.7 million fiscal year 2003 operating budget for the Boston Public Schools, as recommended by Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant. The School Committee is required by law to vote on an annual operating budget by the fourth Wednesday in March before transmittal to the Mayor and Boston City Council.

Superintendent Payzant noted that the budget proposal is designed to advance Boston's teaching and learning agenda as outlined in the "Focus On Children" reform plan within the constraints of the most challenging fiscal picture in recent years. Increasing fixed costs (including staff salaries and benefits) and decreasing revenues created a $41 million funding gap for next year. The Superintendent's recommendation closes the funding gap primarily through reductions to central office and non-classroom expenses in order to minimize the impact on student instruction.

Following a series of four public hearings, the Boston School Committee directed the Superintendent to revise his recommendation in order to restore funding to several key areas of concern cited by families and schools. In particular, the School Committee called for the following modifications, which were included in the final proposal:

• Restoration of MBTA passes for high school students.
• Reducing the number of teacher lay-offs by 65% to preserve the commitment to retaining teachers hired under the reform effort. Originally, a 2.8 percent overall reduction (136 teachers) in Boston's 4,800 teacher teaching force was proposed. The final budget restores 88 positions, resulting in an overall reduction of the teaching force by approximately 1 percent.
• Continued operation of after-school programs under the "Boston 2:00 to 6:00" After School Initiative by hiring more custodians to reduce need for custodian overtime.

In order to restore funding in these areas, the Superintendent proposed and the Committee approved the following further reductions:

• Facilities management: an additional reduction of $1.9 million for a total of $2.9 million;
• Central support: an additional reduction of $2.8 million, for a total of $11.3 million;
• Transportation costs: an additional reduction of $650,000 for a total of $4.1 million, and
• Deferring new priorities for one year, for a savings of $1.3 million.

Non-instructional resource reductions will account for a majority (58%) of the $41 million in needed reductions. Additional federal resources account for 24% of the savings needed. Each school's budget will be reduced by only 1.5 to 2 percent to account for the remaining 18% of the cost savings needed.

Dr. Payzant noted that several schools in the past have been allocated an additional 20 percent of resources over the enrollment-driven funding in order to reach their educational goals. These additional allocations will be reduced from 20% to approximately 10% over the standard formula.

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