Lawrence proposes $98.5M budget for 2015-16

The proposed Lawrence School District budget for the 2015-2016 school year will be 98.5 million, an increase of $3.1 million over the current fiscal plan of $95.6 million.
Coming under the state mandated tax cap of 2 percent, the district’s preliminary tax cap is 1.5 percent. Superintendent Gary Schall, who presented the tentative budget at Monday’s Board of Education meeting, said this is based on a healthy financial future that includes an increase of $1.27 million in state aid — from $9.39 million to $10.67 — and an expected $500,000 that would be generated from the lease of the Number Five School. The BOE could adopt the budget on May 5. The public votes on May 19.
Lawrence will be saving another $2 million based on retirements and the hiring of lower paid, less experienced teachers and a reduction in teacher pension payments.
“Through meetings with the Board of Education and community members at town hall meetings and other forums this budget is a road map of our collective vision and shared values,” Schall said.
Included in the budget are plans for the implementation of the Princeton Plan, where the district will realign the schools along grade levels. The Number Two School will be exclusively for the first and second grades; the Number Four School will keep pre-K and kindergarten students and the middle school will be divided into lower and upper schools to accommodate third-to fifth-graders and sixth- to eighth-graders.

Educational programs are being added as well, including a gifted and talented program, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs such as 3-D printing, coding, robotics and science labs. Also there will be an increase in bilingual education due to new state requirements. Schall said that inclusion in the gifted and talented program will be based on tests and teacher recommendations.
“I think fortunate economic forces are aligned that have allowed us to continuously add programs, which was not always the case in my time on the board,” said BOE President Murray Forman.
Schall pointed to the overwhelming ratio – 4-1– that the capital reserve referendum was approved on April 1 as the community’s strong support for the district’s plan. The turnout was low, but the propositions needed to move forward the repair and renovation projects at the high school and middle school were passed. At the board meeting, the trustees approved the transfer of $778,000 that will be used for repairs at the high school.
“We are ahead of schedule and the guidance department moved into their new offices at the high school,” Schall said.

Looking ahead
Meg Doyle, who has four children – two in the high school and two in the middle school – asked up the condition of the high school ball fields. “With all this money shouldn’t something be done for the community,” she said. “Maybe turf on the field and have the bleachers repaired.”
Forman said, “stay tuned” as work is being done on a comprehensive plan to obtain federal and state money for do a “significant repairs along those lines,” he added.