NORTH KINGSTOWN SCHOOL COMMITTEE

Monday, February 9, 2004

7:00 PM School Budget Worksession Meeting

Central Administration Building 100 Fairway Drive, North Kingstown

“Challenging Student Excellence”

Minutes

I. Pledge of Allegiance

II. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM.

Roll Call Present: Chairperson Don DeFedele, Carol Hueston, Barry Martasian, Bill Mudge, Kevin Mulvey

Absent: Vice Chairperson Dr. Denise Coppa and Cathy Kaiser, Jamestown Representative

Administration Present: James M. Halley, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools, William J. Daly, Director of Human Resources, Joseph F. Quinn, Jr., Director of Administrative Services, and Maureen Buck, Controller

Absent: Daniel J. McGregor, Ph.D., Director of Pupil Personnel Services, Barbara A.

Fitzsimmons, Ed.D, Curriculum Director

III. Open Forum

¨ Muriel Cammara stated her unhappiness with the budget as it is, and hopes that the School Committee will be able to find a way to make some cuts.

IV. Budget Discussion

¨ Dr. Halley asked everyone to look at the sheet that Maureen Buck provided entitled Last Year/This Year Comparison of FY 2004 Budget to FY 2005 Budget (appendix A). The major increase in this year’s budget is in health benefits which showed an 11.69% rise.

¨ Don DeFedele asked how many unbudgeted teachers would be paid in this year’s budget.

¨ Dr. Halley responded that all of them are paid for through breakage from last year, but must be carried over.

¨ Pat Watkins thanked Maureen for the comparison sheet and noticed that there were a great deal more negative increases.

¨ Bill Mudge was curious about the enrollment at the high school because of the addition of 7 new teachers this year. Pat Watkins reminded him that the addition of the teachers was because of course changes and not an enrollment issue.

¨ Mr. Mudge then asked about the cost of health care and if it would be possible to negotiate with other health plans. Mr. DeFedele told Mr. Mudge that the plan that is carried by the School Department is contractural and cannot be switched without union approval.

¨ Mr. Quinn added that the topic is two fold; the school department would have to agree not only with the union, but also with the municipality. The school department carries its health insurance with the town employees to obtain the lowest rate possible.

¨ Pat Watkins stated that this is the first year she has seen a budget come through with negative increases. “Department heads should be commended. I cannot see defending any major cuts to this budget.”

¨ Don DeFedele questioned the increase of $50,000.00 to curriculum development included on the comparison chart under “Other”.

¨ Dr. Halley responded that this was to enhance the Science Curriculum which is very expensive to fund. He then went on to go over the rest of paragraph of the comparison chart entitled “Other”:

o Staff Development: Grants for SmArt development are either running out or are going to NCLB.

o Classroom Technology: Imperative to invest in technology in the classrooms.

o Student Information System: School department needs to be switching to School Max which will be standard for the state, and to comply with NCLB – will receive ½ the funding from the state; 8 school districts in the state will be using the system out of 36 in the upcoming year; the system will make the transfer of data between schools much easier and has a special education component to help identify students requiring IEPs.

¨ Bill Mudge inquired if any programs were to be deleted. He had heard that foreign language at the middle school level was being discontinued.

¨ Dr. Halley responded that foreign language was not being discontinued but there was a discussion to consolidate the program from a two year course for one credit to a one year course for that same one credit. The change would also include a suggestion that all students take foreign language as opposed to the current program where higher achieving language arts students are recommended for the course.

¨ Bill Mudge then went on to mention email that he had sent to Dr. Halley regarding information he wanted which was required in the previous budget policy. He also stated that he disagrees with the Budget Process statement given in the 2004-2005 budget. He wanted to know what revenues had the school department given to the Town Manager since they are not listed in this budget.

¨ Mr. DeFedele stated that he recalled that question being answered at a Town Council Meeting.

¨ Don DeFedele queried Bill Daly regarding teacher retirements this year and if there is potential for utilizing breakage as a savings.

¨ Mr. Daly responded that there is a possibility that 7 or 8 employees may retire; he won’t have an exact number until the beginning of April.

¨ In returning to the comparison list, Mr. Martasian requested information about the increase in legal fees.

¨ Mr. Daly replied that grievances were being appealed to the highest level, and there were some that had been pending since 1996.

¨ Mrs. Watkins noticed that the school department had outspent its legal budget in the past 2 years.

¨ Mr. DeFedele replied that this was in part due to negotiations, and in part due to attorney fees incurred to explore numerous complaints against the school department and school committee sent to the attorney general’s office by Mr. Mudge.

¨ Kevin Mulvey questioned the technical clerical overtime mentioned on page 49 of the budget.

¨ Dr. Halley stated that, after review, it appeared that the overtime was seasonal, such as when school reopened. In the technical department, temporary employees would not be appropriate because they would not have the expertise necessary to help at the start up of school. The overage in overtime is not just due to clerical employees.

¨ Carol Hueston asked if Medicaid reimbursement is over the budgeted $800,000.00, can the funds be used.

¨ Dr. Halley responded that indeed additional Medicaid reimbursement can be used because it is a special revenue fund.

At this point in the meeting, at 8:43 pm, a break was taken. The meeting resumed at 8:50 pm.

¨ Bill Mudge, again, brought up the email he sent to Dr. Halley requesting the information outlined in the previous School Committee Budget Policy #DBC, and he stated that he expects a reply with the information he is seeking. He also stated that in reviewing the provided Asset Management minutes he noted that they did not recognize the school department’s list of school improvements/expenditures.

¨ Pat Watkins declared a “Point of Order” and stated that capital improvements are not part of this budget.

¨ Dr. Halley responded that as the entire School Committee is aware of the email Mr. Mudge sent him regarding the old budget policy, he will defer to their decision.

¨ Mr. DeFedele agreed, and asked the School Committee if there was a consensus of the committee for the superintendent to provide them with the information Mr. Mudge is requesting.

¨ The rest of the committee did not feel the need to have the information from the earlier policy, and therefore, Mr. Mudge’s request was denied.

V. Motion to Adjourn A motion was made by Pat Watkins/Barry Martasian, which passed by unanimous vote, to adjourn at 9:20 pm, cc 2:08:54:13.

Respectfully submitted,

_______________________________________

Konnie M. Mazur

School Committee Secretary