WEST NEWBURY — The Pentucket Regional School Committee is nearly ready to adopt a budget for next year, after spending three hours Tuesday night attempting to reach consensus on how to fill an $896,000 gap in costs over this year.
The Pentucket board held off approving Superintendent Paul Livingston's proposed $32.5 million spending plan until next week, when hopefully all committee members will be present and they can review a clean copy that includes the numerous changes approved Tuesday night. Groveland's Doreen Blades was not present Tuesday.
The committee will meet Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the high school cafeteria.
The largest debate of the evening arose over Livingston's proposal to spend $274,000 districtwide for professional development — $100,000 of which would fund a Professional Learning Community summer academy for 100 Pentucket faculty.
With several staff reductions pending, Maria Grey of the Pentucket Association of Teachers said the expense might be "a luxury we can't afford."
However, the school building principals were all strongly in favor of Livingston's professional development goals.
"If we don't invest in professional development for our teachers, we're putting our students more at risk. I am totally invested in professional development," said Sweetsir Elementary School Principal Patricia Messina.
West Newbury's Tom Atwood thought the expenditure was more than reasonable, noting that the allocation equals $62 per student as compared to the state average of $227 per student.
Todd Treado of Merrimac proposed reducing the amount targeted for professional development to allow for the reinstatement of a history teacher and an additional $10,000 for supplies and materials at the high school — requests that Principal Renzo Binaghi indicated were a priority.
Assistant Superintendent Bill Hart strongly advised against the motion.
"You're talking about a paradigm shift. You're talking about a cultural shift. I strongly suggest this isn't something you skimp on," Hart told the school board.
"It's not an all or nothing proposition," Groveland's Joe D'Amore said. He proposed seeking corporate sponsorships or exploring the district's "in-house brain pool" to lead some professional development. "We need to get creative," D'Amore said.
Bagnall first-grade teacher Kristen Zamardi agreed.
"We have a talented staff that can lead this district, but we need the resources in our classrooms to do it," she said.
Livingston's budget proposal includes consolidations of under-enrolled classes and restructuring at the high school that would result in a reduction of 5.4 teachers, including four from core courses, for a savings of $274,000.
A majority of the board ultimately supported Treado's recommendation and agreed to reduce the high school cut to $164,000.
The committee also approved the superintendent's recommendation to limit Category 2 supply and material spending districtwide to $131,000. This year the district budgeted $196,000 for Category 2 items, but that included a large amount of technology, Livingston said.
Bus fees for students living closer than 1.5 miles from school will continue next year — resulting in $60,000 more in revenues.
Eliminating the K-12 health coordinator's position, the elementary school computer teachers and a proposed part-time Central Services secretary realized a savings of $174,500.
The board agreed to use $150,000 from the School Choice account as an offset. A proposed restructuring of Special Education services will save $25,500.
Up to $300,000 from the committee's Excesses and Deficiencies account will be used to reduce assessments to the three district towns.
Throughout the evening, Livingston repeatedly reminded the school board that the current budget includes $140,000 he hopes to gain from an adjustment in employee health care co-pay costs — an amount that has yet to be finalized with teachers.
"We still have a potential $140,000 problem," he warned.
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