Initial School Budget close to ready

Superintendent Mullin stated in last nights School Committee meeting that his initial budget is just about ready to present to the Finance Committee.

The budget calls for a 1.18% increase over last year’s.

This, I believe, is a mistake.

I think the schools will need to level funded, or even cut, before the end of this process.

The teacher’s refusal to renegotiate to freeze wages for a year has handicapped the school department, forcing them to have to raise their budget to keep things going as they are.

Mullin plans on leaving spots open through attrition. Others believe that it is this attrition that is the reason that the teachers are refusing the wage freeze. Upcoming retiring teachers want that last year’s pay boost to increase their pension.

Their hope now is to use “stimulus” money towards operating expenses. Everyone knows this is a mistake, and just puts off the problem for a year or two with nothing to show for it.

The Sun today has an article by Jim Campanini talking about the massive deficits at the state for next year. Panagiotakos has been screaming about the coming storm.. but he’s just chicken little when it comes to the teachers.
The teachers talk about Dracut being “so far behind our neighboring communities” when it comes to pay scale. You know what? You knew that when you took the job here. Those other towns are now $3-5 million in the hole. Our town is fairly stable. Seems every time we open a spot here, there is a waiting list of candidates for consideration. And the truth is, there’s going to be a lot of teachers looking for work from all those towns around us in the next few years.

Mullin’s first budget is a plan to try to keep all programs going and teacher’s in the classrooms. I believe his next one is going to have to make some reductions in programs, increase class sizes in the upper grades, and possibly look at shuttering a school if the numbers start getting as bad as predicted.

Its impossible for us to keep putting more and more money into a school department that is serving less students every year.