Bianchi Pushes for $1M Cut From FY15 School Budget

By Joe DurwinPittsfield Correspondent
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The School Department is trying to cut $1 million out of the proposed fiscal 2015 budget.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The School Department has been told to cut $1 million from its proposed $58 million fiscal 2015 budget.

That's the target that Mayor Daniel Bianchi has given the School Department to pare down to from its initial proposed budget increase of $2 million over this year's $56.4 million budget.

Keeping the increase to $1 million will do little to address the district's priorities for growth, but it will maintain the current level of services and avoid cuts to core educational personnel, according to school officials.

So far, the administration has only figured out how to get the increase down to $1.2 million. It presented this budget, for about $57.4 million, to the School Committee on Wednesday.

"To get to a $1.2 million increase instead of a $2 million increase, we are not able to include all of our budget priorities," said Kristin Behnke, assistant superintendent for finance. "However, this budget does not include substantial cuts to the instructional core, which is the heart of our mission as a school district."

Contractual obligations for already-negotiated teacher salaries necessitate an additional $1.3 million, leaving little room in next year's budgets for new initiatives and much-needed equipment.

The department is preparing its prospective budget earlier this year to comply with stricter guidelines in the city's recently enacted charter, which contains a stipulation that the school budget be presented to the City Council by May 1. This will prompt the School Committee to vote for a finalized budget proposal on April 30, compared to June 12 last year.

"There's lots of things we'd like to see added, that are not added," said committee Chairwoman Katherine Yon.

Bianchi said taxpayers cannot bear the brunt of a greater increase on the school side of the budget this year, since they will have burdens on the city side to pay for as well. In particular, Bianchi referenced the poor condition of the city's roads.

"I've given the School Department a target, and they haven't met it yet," said Bianchi. "It would be a significant tax increase if we were to accept the school budget as proposed."

Bianchi blamed this in part on less-than-expected funding allotments from the state. 

"They haven't gone down, but the rate of increase has declined," he explained. "We've got less coming in that we were hoping for."

More than two-thirds of the school budget, approximately $40 million, will come from state Chapter 70 funding, money that is allocated in part on enrollment numbers. In Berkshire County, that means declining funding, as every school district in the county except one has seen drops in school population, with a 13 percent decrease in students in Pittsfield over the past 20 years.

"We cannot always get what we want, and sometimes we can't even get everything that we need," said Superintendent Jason McCandless, noting that because of the unavoidable $1.3 million in step raises, "if we're looking for a $1 million increase in funding, we're starting out with a $300,000 deficit."
 
McCandless said the administration will keep working to find a way to reduce its proposed budget another $200,000 to bring it in line with the mayor's mandate, in a way that impacts student education the least.
 
"We have some difficult decisions to make, and this is an important discussion," said Yon.

Tags: fiscal 2015,   pittsfield schools,   school budget,   

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Crosby/Conte Statement of Interest Gets OK From Council

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Architect Carl Franceschi and Superintendent Joseph Curtis address the City Council on Tuesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With the approval of all necessary bodies, the school district will submit a statement of interest for a combined build on the site of Crosby Elementary School.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously gave Superintendent Joseph Curtis the green light for the SOI to the Massachusetts School Building Authority by April 12.

"The statement I would make is we should have learned by our mistakes in the past," Mayor Peter Marchetti said.

"Twenty years ago, we could have built a wastewater treatment plant a lot cheaper than we could a couple of years ago and we can wait 10 years and get in line to build a new school or we can start now and, hopefully, when we get into that process and be able to do it cheaper then we can do a decade from now."

The proposal rebuilds Conte Community School and Crosby on the West Street site with shared facilities, as both have outdated campuses, insufficient layouts, and need significant repair. A rough timeline shows a feasibility study in 2026 with design and construction ranging from 2027 to 2028.

Following the SOI, the next step would be a feasibility study to determine the specific needs and parameters of the project, costing about $1.5 million and partially covered by the state. There is a potential for 80 percent reimbursement through the MSBA, who will decide on the project by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, city officials took a tour of both schools — some were shocked at the conditions students are learning in.

Silvio O. Conte Community School, built in 1974, is a 69,500 square foot open-concept facility that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s but the quad classroom layout poses educational and security risks.  John C. Crosby Elementary School, built in 1962, is about 69,800 square feet and was built as a junior high school so several aspects had to be adapted for elementary use.

Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi said the walkthrough was "striking" at points, particularly at Conte, and had her thinking there was no way she would want her child educated there. She recognized that not everyone has the ability to choose where their child goes to school and "we need to do better."

"The two facilities that we are looking at I think are a great place to start," she said.

"As the Ward 6 councilor, this is where my residents and my students are going to school so selfishly yes, I want to see this project happen but looking at how we are educating Pittsfield students, this is going to give us a big bang for our buck and it's going to help improve the educational experience of a vast group of students in our city."

During the tour, Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey, saw where it could be difficult to pay attention in an open classroom with so much going on and imagined the struggle for students.

Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said, "we cannot afford not to do this" because the city needs schools that people want their children to attend.

"I know that every financial decision we make is tough but we have to figure this out. If the roof on your house were crumbling in, you'd have to figure it out and that's where we're at and we can't afford to wait any longer," she said.

"We can't afford for the sake of the children going to our schools, for the sake of our city that we want to see grow so we have to build a city where people want to go."

Councilor at Large Kathy Amuso, who served on the School Building Needs Commission for about 18 years, pointed out that the panel identified a need to address Conte in 2008.

Curtis addressed questions about the fate of Conte if the build were to happen, explaining that it could be kept as an active space for community use, house the Eagle Academy or the Adult Learning Center, or house the central offices.

School attendance zones are a point of discussion for the entire school district and for this project.

"At one time I think we had 36 school buildings and now we have essentially 12 and then it would go down again but in a thoughtful way," Curtis said.

Currently, eight attendance zones designate where a student will go to elementary school. Part of the vision is to collapse those zones into three with hopes of building a plan that incorporates partner schools in each attendance zone.

"I think that going from eight schools to three would be easier to maintain and I think it would make more sense but in order to get there we will have to build these buildings and we will have to spend money," Kavey said, hoping that the city would receive the 80 percent reimbursement it is vying for.

This plan for West Street, which is subject to change, has the potential to house grades pre-kindergarten to first grade in one school and Grades 2 to 4 in another with both having their own identities and administrations. 

The districtwide vision for middle school students is to divide all students into a grade five and six school and a grade seven and eight school to ensure equity.

"The vagueness of what that looks like is worrisome to some folks that I have talked to," Lampiasi said.

Curtis emphasized that these changes would have to be voted on by the School Committee and include public input.

"We've talked about it conceptually just to illustrate a possible grade span allocation," he said. "No decisions have been made at all by the School Committee, even the grade-span proposals."

School Committee Chair William Cameron said it is civic duty of the committee and council to move forward with the SOI.
 
He explained that when seven of the city's schools were renovated in the late 1990s, the community schools were only 25 years old and Crosby was 35 years old.  The commonwealth did not deem them to be sorely in need of renovation or replacement.
 
"Now 25 years later, Crosby is physically decrepit and an eyesore. It houses students ages three to 11 in a facility meant for use by teenagers,"
 
"Conte and Morningside opened in the mid-1970s. They were built as then state-of-the-art schools featuring large elongated rectangles of open instructional space. Over almost half a century, these physical arrangements have proven to be inadequate for teaching core academic skills effectively to students, many of whom need extra services and a distraction-free environment if they are to realize their full academic potential."
 
He said  the proposal addresses a serious problem in the "economically poorest, most ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse area" of the city.
 
Cameron added that these facilities have been deemed unsatisfactory and need to be replaced as part of the project to reimagine how the city can best meet the educational needs of its students.  He said it is the local government's job to move this project forward to ensure that children learn in an environment that is conducive to their thriving academically.
 
"The process of meeting this responsibility needs to begin here tonight," he said.
 
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