The Harwood Union School Board will finalize its proposed budget next week and is currently considering staffing cuts that would save $197,172 and offset other areas of the budget.
The board will meet next Wednesday at Harwood Union at 6 p.m. to discuss the proposed budget. The school board’s finance committee has worked through several versions of the proposed budget for the coming year.
The current budget for Harwood Union is $12,005,767 and the coming budget will come in at $12,271,694, less if staffing cuts are implemented.
Cuts envisioned under Parameter 1, the first tier of cuts, are reducing the food service subsidy from $20,000 to $10,000, reducing art technology to its 2011-2012 level ($3,200 savings), reducing English technology to its 2011-2012 level ($2,500 savings), reducing math technology to its 2011-2012 level ($6,500 savings) and reducing co-curricular supplies to the 2011-2012 level ($2,435 savings). These cuts would yield a 2012-2013 budget of $12,244,709 and a per pupil spending rate of $12,985 compared to last year’s per pupil expense at $12,634.
Parameter 2 cuts include reducing a social studies teacher by .5FTE (Full Time Equivalent) resulting in $32,245 savings; reducing Transformation funds budgeted by $30,000, cutting one full-time English teacher to save $78,917, cutting .33 of a FTE business teacher, reducing the maintenance reserve from $125,000 to $75,000 to save $50,000, cutting .5 FTE from an information technology integration assistant to save $26,983, cutting $10,678, or one class, from the Next Step Program, cutting $6,565 from co-curricular expenses, reducing a guidance office administrative assistance and main office secretary from full-year of employment to extended year to save $3,500.
Just the educational staffing cuts in Parameter 2 would result in a 2012-2013 budget of $12,077,295 and per pupil expense of $12,771, up from last year’s $12,634. The other Parameter 2 cuts would result in a 2012-2013 budget of $11,970,393 and per pupil costs of $12,634, equal to per pupil costs in the 2011-2012 budget. The budget figures that the board is working with show 2011-2012 student enrollment at 803.55 and in 2012-2013 student enrollment at 780.44.
While the board is grappling with what, if anything, to cut from the budget, there are also some areas of the budget that are rising while others are shrinking. The version of the budget that shows a 2012-2013 bottom line of $12,271,694 includes some minor and some larger percentages of change. Regulation education salaries will drop 2.9 percent in the proposed budget while the school’s art program costs will rise 1.9 percent. Business education costs will rise 2.1 percent, English education costs will rise 1.7 percent, foreign language costs are up 4.1 percent, physical education and health education will drop 9.8 percent and family and consumer science programming will rise 15 percent.
Education technology instruction costs will rise 1.7 percent, math costs will rise 2.9 percent and performing arts costs will rise 2.9 percent. Science costs will rise 1.8 percent, social studies costs will rise 1 percent and the regular education Hub program costs will rise 7.4 percent.
The school’s media center (library) is facing a 19.3 percent budget reduction overall with professional salaries for the library slated to go from $71,780 to $43,668, temporary salaries going from $33,537 to $27,821 and the bottom line going from $146,723 to $118,464.
Harwood Union’s Washington West Supervisory Union assessment is up 11.6 percent, from $234,328 to $261,561. Harwood’s administration will cost 8.2 percent more next year, an increase from $549,625 to $594,883. Vocational education costs are up 11.4 percent, English as a Second Language costs are down 92.1 percent, with salaries going from $21,709 to 0.
The cost for student athletics and co-curricular programming is up 6.4 percent, with salaries rising 5 percent from $254,542 to $267,285.
The total increase in the 2011-2012 budget of $12,005,767 to the 2012-2013 budget of $12,271,694 (without Parameter 1 and 2 cuts) is $265,927, or 2.2 percent.
Per pupil spending in WWSU/Vermont
2010-2011 Per pupil spending
Vermont $15,180
WWSU $14,179
HU $15,687
U45 $11,887
Moretown $14,134
Waitsfield $13,840
Fayston $12,773
Warren $10,396
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