Schools Budget Up Less, Capital Ask Triples

The BOE on Jan. 15. Weston Today photo

The Board of Education approved a budget request on Tuesday evening, shrinking an operating increase to 3.05 percent but tripling its ask for capital projects.

The proposed operating budget of $61,151,439 now goes to the Board of Selectmen for review, then on to the Board of Finance, and in one form or another to the Annual Town Budget Meeting and referendum.

The school board’s proposed capital budget, now totaling $3,336,000, also goes to the selectmen, where all, most, many, or some of its items will be consolidated with Town projects into one proposal for big ticket expenditures.

Much of the proposed operating budget is still dependent on health insurance rates, which Finance Director Phillip Cross said are not yet final.

In a budget workshop on January 27, Mr. Cross said only one company had responded so far to a request for quotes, offering a rate 40 percent higher than what the district currently pays. “All indications point to rejoining the State Partnership Plan,” said Mr. Cross. “The numbers we have now should be considered solid.”

Operating reductions

A three percent operating increase, said Superintendent Lisa Barbiero, was expressed as a target by “a subcommittee of the Board of Finance” earlier this year. In the January 27 workshop, she offered several smallish cuts that would get the increase close to exactly three percent.

Fractional reductions of full-time equivalent (FTE) positions were achieved by eliminating one instructional para professional at the elementary level, a “restructuring” of Project Challenge (a program for gifted and talented students), and a slice off world language programs in Spanish and Mandarin.

Cuts to high school cheerleading — where participation is apparently low — and fall drama were put on the table, but eventually withdrawn, “not worth the heartaches,” said Ms. Barbiero.

$25,000 was cut from the textbooks budget, and an amount to be determined will be saved by letting go of older instructional software.

The final budget proposal, said the superintendent, includes a reduction of seven full-time equivalents.

Capital ideas

In the initial budget presented on January 6, proposed capital projects added up to just over $1 million, but costs for several were marked “TBD.” Since then, prices for those items have been identified, at least in terms of firm estimates, and together they raised the total ask to $3,336,000, up by more than $2.3 million from the first draft.

Three quarters of the higher sum comes from one project, a replacement of the HVAC system at Hurlbutt Elementary’s North House, estimated to cost $1.75 million.

The need has been well known for a decade, said Mr. Cross, but “word always was to hold off” as decisions about school buildings lingered for years. In the interim, he said, “we have been trying to chip away at stuff.”

North House has long been plagued with heating, cooling, and humidity issues, with core equipment that dates back to the 1960s and portable units in classrooms that perform unevenly and are expensive to maintain. Mike DelMastro, the district’s director of facilities, told the school board on January 27 that design of an upgrade and replacement is expected by the end of the school year. He said the ideal solution would be a centralized system, depending on whether the structure can accommodate ductwork.

As estimated, the project cost — by itself half of last year’s entire town capital budget — tempted the board to consider splitting the amount between this fiscal year and next.

In the end, the board voted, with one dissent, “to go all in,” as member Peter Gordon put it. The project “has already been delayed 10 years. It shouldn’t be delayed again. It should be expedited.” Further delay, he said, “is not fair to pre-K and K kids.”

What about the middle school?

There are no items in the proposed capital budget for Weston Middle School, except its inclusion in district-wide improvements. Nothing previously proposed to address its condition is off the table, but nothing is on, at least not yet.

The district has issued a request for proposals to assess the building’s structural status. If a decision is eventually taken to renovate as new, as opposed to out-and-out replacement, engineers must confirm that it is a candidate for that approach.

The engineering analysis begins with a quick preliminary assessment of whether it makes sense to proceed with a comprehensive study.

If it does makes sense, the full study must certify with signed and sealed statements that, once renovated, the entire facility would be brought into compliance with building codes and the ADA, would incorporate educational technology, that its structural integrity has not been compromised, and that it would have the same useful life as a new building, greater than 50 years.

Superintendent Barbiero said she hopes the preliminary assessment will be done by April. A decision to proceed with the full study would be based on its findings and a vote by the Board of Education.