BUDGET 101

Clinton Public Schools

2016 Budget

The Goal of the Chapter 70 Formula

To ensure that every district has sufficient resources to meet its foundation budget spending level, through an equitable combination of local property taxes and state aid

1. It calculates a foundation budget (an adequate funding level for each district) given the specific grades, programs, and demographic characteristics of its students

2. It then determines an equitable local contribution, how much of that “foundation budget” should be paid for by each city/town’s property tax, based upon the relative wealth of the community

3. The remainder is funded by Chapter 70 state aid

Local contribution + State Aid = a district’s NET SCHOOL SPENDING (NSS) requirement. This is the MINIMUM

amount that a district must spend in order to comply with state law

Chapter 70 Aid is determined in three steps:

The Commonwealth’s school finance statute, Chapter 70 of the General Laws, establishes an annual “net school spending” requirement for each Massachusetts’ school district. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in non-approval of a municipality’s tax rate, enforcement action by the Attorney General, or loss of state aid.

In the past three years, Clinton has funded its schools at 4.5%, 4.0%, and (this year) 6.0% over that required amount.

Net School Spending Requirement

Required Required Actual Dollars Percent

  Foundation Pct Foundation Pct Local Con- Chapter 70 Pct Net School Pct Net School Pct Over/Under Over/

Enrollment Chg Budget Chg tribution Aid ChgSpending

(NSS) Chg Spending Chg Requirement Under

FY06 1,990 -1.4 15,756,067 3.2 6,894,665 8,894,104 1.1 15,788,769 3.4 17,877,705 11.7 2,088,936 13.2

FY07 2,076 4.3 17,332,016 10.0 7,423,486 9,908,530 11.4 17,332,016 9.8 18,641,646 4.3 1,309,630 7.6

FY08 2,034 -2.0 18,272,408 5.4 7,817,673 10,454,735 5.5 18,272,408 5.4 19,764,468 6.0 1,492,060 8.2

FY09 2,051 0.8 19,345,443 5.9 8,132,725 10,033,541 -4.0 18,166,266 -0.6 19,455,211 -1.6 1,288,945 7.1

FY10 2,018 -1.6 19,828,375 2.5 8,774,199 10,988,464 9.5 19,762,663 8.8 19,638,072 0.9 -124,591 -0.6

FY11 2,011 -0.3 19,382,689 -2.2 8,971,407 10,408,392 -5.3 19,379,799 -1.9 20,276,040 3.2 896,241 4.6

FY12 1,982 -1.4 19,545,739 0.8 9,048,453 10,497,286 0.9 19,545,739 0.9 20,794,529 2.6 1,248,790 6.4

FY13 1,976 -0.3 20,163,527 3.2 9,343,931 10,857,441 3.4 20,201,372 3.4 21,105,366 1.5 903,995 4.5

FY14 1,985 0.5 20,693,064 2.6 9,644,943 11,124,662 2.5 20,769,605 2.8 21,592,589 2.3 822,984 4.0

FY15 1,991 0.3 20,886,486 0.9 9,674,943 11,251,679 1.1 20,926,622 0.8 22,175,724* 2.7 1,249,102 6.0

Chapter 70 Trends – Clinton Public Schools

Town Contributions (%) Over Net School Spending

(FY14)

State Average 15.9% Hudson 48.2% Berlin-Boylston 38.3% Harvard 37.6% Nashoba 34.6% Maynard 32.3% Littleton 31.2% West Boylston 30.9% Marlborough 28.0% Lunenburg 19.1%

Clinton 4.0% Narragansett 16.4% Shrewsbury 10.9% Wachusett 10.2% Quabbin 7.5% Athol/Royalston 6.2% Clinton 4.0% Leominster 1.4% Gardner -0.4% Worcester -0.7% Fitchburg -0.9%

Growth changes in High Risk Student Enrollments across the state:

English-Language Learner: 33.9% increase in five years

Low-Income: 24.8% increase in five years

Student with Disabilities: -0.6% (no real change in five years)

First Language Not English: 15.6% increase in five year

Quote from state report: “The location of many high risk student populations are most concentrated in areas of the state where housing costs are relatively low and where a higher share of residents are low-income. So called “Gateway Cities” have been coined as a means of identifying these areas, which as a whole differ from many of their neighboring municipalities of greater fiscal capacity and social-cultural support.”

Commonwealth of Massachusetts State-wide Challenges

Town Of Clinton: Community Challenges

Clinton, along with Athol, Gardner, and Leominster, report unemployment rates considerably higher than the state average

Poverty rates among families with a female head of household and related children is up 111% from 2000.

Clinton residents 25 years and older without a high school diploma is 12.1%, as opposed to 11.3% in the state

Clinton saw a 20% increase in the poverty level among families with children, more than doubling between 2000 and 2010

School grants are declining, which means local funds are required to pick up the slack

School Choice numbers are decreasing and we use that money to fund salaries, technology, and teacher buy-backs

Clinton Public Schools

Low Income Students – 48.2%

Special Ed Students – 19.6%

ELL Students – 7.7%

ESL Students – 18.8%

State Average

Low Income Students – 38.3%

Special Ed Students – 17.0%

ELL Students – 7.9%

ESL Students – 17.3%

High Needs Population

----per pupil expenditure----

ClintonMA

average

FY05 9,838 10,600

FY06 10,078 11,210

FY07 10,720 11,858

FY08 10,838 12,448

FY09 11,129 13,006

FY10 10,967 13,047

FY11 11,739 13,354

FY12 11,273 13,637

FY13 11,765 14,021

FY14 12,094 14,547

Per Pupil Costs: Clinton vs. State

School Choice: A Looming ProblemWhat once was a “bottomless” pot of money that funded various staff positions, technology updates, and teacher buy-backs, is now almost gone

Where are our students going?

Berlin-Boylston School District 30 studentsNashoba Regional School District 52 studentsAMSA Charter School 46 students

Of those coming in, where are they from?

Fitchburg 15 studentsLeominster 30 studentsLancaster 25 studentsWorcester 16 students

Notes On School Choice

This year we are paying $962,714 in salaries (14 staff members) out of school choice money and (thus far) $92,665 in technology expenses.

Because of less choice students coming in, we will NOT be able to fund the salaries and expenses that we had done in the past.

This means that these essential expenditures will have to be absorbed by the district’s general fund.

It is important to note that as less money was put into the school’s budget, the school choice sending pupils increased—something we warned the public and town officials about for several years.

Declining Balances

School Choice Account – 6/30/13 $679,548.97

School Choice Account – 6/30/14 $466,579.77

School Choice Account – 6/30/15 $156,816.10

(Estimated—with no further expenditures for remainder of the year)

Declining Allocation GrantsIDEA (Special Education) down $14,512 since 2012

SPED Program Improvement down $7,486 since 2012

Title IIA (Teacher Quality) down $3,476 since 2012

Education Jobs (2012) $143,969 (gone!)

Race to the Top $183,315 (gone!)

Title I (based on poverty level) UP $82,747 since 2012

Title III (based on ELL population) UP $817 since 2012

Kindergarten grant (funds K aides) $87,400 (slated for elimination)

Teacher Retirements/Buy-back

Any teacher hired before July 1, 2007 may buy back their unused sick days according to a set formula. The maximum buy-back is set at $29,000 and the school district has three years to pay out buyback monies. Traditionally, we’ve used school choice monies to do this, but can no longer do so.

Last year, six teachers retired in June ($174,000) and three more during THIS school year ($87,000) – we were not able to pay any of them and it appears another 5-6 will retire this coming year.

Steps Bachelor B+15 Masters M+15 M+50* PHD

1 $42,125 $43,181 $44,578 $45,640 $49,212 $50,823

2 $43,488 $44,549 $45,939 $47,008 $50,581 $54,243

3 $47,767 $48,837 $50,223 $51,290 $54,866 $57,664

4 $51,559 $52,620 $54,008 $55,079 $58,651 $61,084

5 $55,375 $56,433 $57,819 $58,888 $62,466 $64,505

6  $60,247 $61,649 $62,706 $66,279 $67,925

7  $64,065 $65,451 $66,517 $70,073 $71,346

8    $69,269 $70,333 $73,907 $74,767

9    $71,670 $72,734 $76,309 $78,192

Latest Teacher Salary Schedule

NOTES: Salaries represent 67% of our overall budget; funding STEPS ONLY next year equals a $167,808 increase; a 1% raise for all teachers represents a $277,913 increase; 58% of our teachers are on the top step right now.

SPED: ABA KINDERGARTEN TEACHER SPED BEHAVIOR SPECIALIST

CHS: .2 CHORUS TEACHER .2 SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER

CMS: ONE FT MATH SUPPORT TEACHER (TITLE I) ONE FT WORLD LANGUAGE TEACHER

CES: TWO TEACHERS (CLASS SIZE ISSUES)

New Positions Sought For 2015-2016($326,138)

Other Budget ConsiderationsLess bus routes

Increase pre-school tuition and athletic fees

Request another technology/textbook warrant article

Eliminate new staff requests

Change collection procedures for various fees

Drop virtual high school

Neasc visiting team costs

Eliminate all conferences

Layoffs?

Town-wide override?

BUDGET 101

Clinton Public Schools

911911

It’s Time For Action!!

Any Questions??