Schools

Early Budget Proposal Includes World Languages Program

Current draft is close to $134 million.

An early tentative draft of the 2012-13 school budget contains the possible addition of a World Languages program for the first through fourth grades—but the board is currently divided on how to go about instituting it.

Superintendent of Schools Michael Schilder presented an initial draft of the budget Tuesday, saying that discussions are still continuing and a finalized budget is far from being ready.

“This is a very early tentative draft,” he said. “It’s still early. But I say this every year, I believe we are one of the few districts that brings out an early draft like this in December.”

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The currently proposed budget is for $133,817,689. This accounts for a 2 percent tax levy cap, an additional and an increase in fund balance money for the coming year.

The tax levy information will not be available until around February, Schilder said.

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“We have the 2 percent tax levy increase that we will adhere to or go less than like we have in the past,” he said.

According to business administrator Peter Starrs, if the district maintains the 2 percent tax levy cap, the district will have a $0 reduction or addition to the budget, based on receiving the same amount of state aid as last year.

The district has also calculated the amount of money to be cut from the budget if there is a 10 percent reduction in state aid—$677,000.

“There has been no word from the state department that the state aid will decrease by 10 percent, it’s just a speculative number,” Schilder said. “We’re projecting almost flat state aid.”

With the budget plans to maintain the 2 percent tax levy cap, Schilder said there are recommendations for items to be restored to the budget, as well as new ones to be added. None of these, he said, are definite, but all are being considered.

First, Schilder said, there is a 2 percent increase included in the budget for salaries, although are still ongoing with the .

“That 2 percent should not be construed to make any statement regarding negotiations,” he said. “It has everything to do with the tax levy cap being 2 percent.”

As for the restorations in the budget, the most controversial for the board at this time is a grades one through four World Languages program.

Currently, Schilder said, the district does not have a World Languages program for those young grades, but the state requires one.

“It is my strong recommendation that the board take serious consideration for putting something in with the World Languages program, not just because it’s the law, but it’s my personal feeling that it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

The outlined budget provides $240,000 for the program, which would reflect the salaries and benefits for hiring four teachers.

“That gets us back to what we had before the cuts two years ago,” he said. “It gives Spanish one time a week, maybe 40 minutes at a time.”

“But there has been discussion over whether that is effective,” he added. “One time a week is not enough.”

The budget discussion includes a span of $80,000 to $540,000, which outlines several different opportunities for the program. Schilder said he spoke with other districts, and there seem to be two different programs used among comparable school districts.

The first, Schilder said, is a program delivered through DVDs, workbooks and other similar methods. The classroom teacher gives out the information, he said, but does not have to speak the language.

“It is inexpensive,” he said. “But the disadvantage is that it is delivered by a classroom teacher who does not speak the language.”

The second kind of program is at the opposite end of the spectrum, Schilder said, which requires more teachers who speak the different languages.

“It enables us to do something very important, and it puts teachers based in every elementary building, rather than sharing them,” he said. “The students can get more than once a week of instruction. You get closer to immersion, and the ability is to deliver more of the language more of the time.”

Board of education member Jeffrey Brookner said he agrees that the old World Languages program was not enough.

“For a variety of reasons, we have the money to do it right now, and if we are going to do it, we should do it right,” he said. “I strongly support using more than the $240,000 to get the World Languages program done right.”

On the other hand, board of education member Cindy Cullen said she would prefer to see the district go the DVD route because there would be more languages for students to choose from, and it would be cheaper for the district.

“We wouldn’t have to standardize on a particular language, and the children could choose whatever they wanted,” she said. “I am adamantly against hiring any World Languages teachers, I think we need to try different approaches and be much more open.”

Board member Jill Gladstone said she would like to look into Rosetta Stone for students or other similar programs.

“Before we jump into using several thousands of dollars, maybe we can look into a pilot progam like that,” she said. “But how much time do we want to take from the core curriculum? I don’t see going full steam ahead with World Languages.”

Schilder said there are plenty of districts using these kinds of DVD programs, but none are actually happy with them.

“Most districts said they are not effective, and they only did it because of budget cuts,” he said. “But if they had to choose again, having a live interactive teacher with the children is far superior to any DVD program.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t look at those programs and we should,” he added.

Aside from the state mandate for World Languages in the early years, Schilder said, he believes it is beneficial.

“Most research says that if it is done right, the window for learning World Languages is for younger children,” he said. “I think it’s the right thing to do in terms of a good solid education.”

Also in consideration for restoration in the budget, is $796,000 for textbooks which have been put off in the past two years for budget cuts; $395,000 for special education staffing to account for an increasing number of students in the programs; $240,000 for class size reduction by adding about four teachers to take care of classes of 30 kids or more; $232,500 for deferred maintenance programs; and $60,000 for one music teacher to bring back the choral program in the elementary schools.

As for new additions in the budget, they include $80,000 to hire a second school resource officer for the high school and possibly the middle school; $7,000 for Rachel’s Challenge assemblies in the middle and high schools every year; $7,000 for an assistant football coach, which Schilder said has been requested for the past four years; $60,000 for a high school specialist to deal with new programs to help the district reach adequate yearly progress [AYP]; and $60,000 for another bilingual teacher to accommodate more students.

Schilder said the district is also looking to add $75,500 for enhancements to the kindergarten through sixth grade math programs to help with state core standards, and $33,000 for science coordinator stipends for quality science fairs.

The final addition to the budget, which the board was somewhat divided on, concerned an appropriation of $240,000 for wireless technology in the intermediate, middle and high schools.

According to Schilder, the goal is to make at least the middle and high schools completely wireless.

“Our belief is that the growth of personal devices is just going to continue to grow at a very rapid pace,” he said. “And the use of those devices to be used in the classrooms is part of education, and I believe it will be standard in most districts in a few years.”

Rather than purchasing the technologies—like iPads and other materials—for the individual students, Schilder said, the district is looking into making the buildings wireless so students can use their own dvices.

“We will eventually allow the students to bring the devices to school, so we just have to make sure they can connect,” he said. “We would certainly start with the high school and middle school as a prime place.”

Board of education member Arvind Mathur said he is concerned because not all students can afford to have those materials on their own.

“If the kids need multimedia, the school ought to provide that,” he said. “I don’t see a fifth grader taking an iPad to school, but to worry about them being distracted rather than concentrating on what’s going on in school, we have to have a clear understanding of where we are going with this before making this payment.”

“We don’t allow kids in the middle school to use phones, so are we opening ourselves up to something more than we are asking for?” he asked.

Schilder said these are all things the district has to look into before paying the fees, but it would be cheaper to set up the technology.

“We have no policy for phones in the classroom,” he said. “We’re just at the beginning stages of this discussion, and there is a lot of discussion that needs to take place. To set ourselves up with the infrastructure is cheaper than trying to provide the technology.”

A budget presentation is expected before the board Jan. 24, and the election will be held April 17.


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