HomeMy WebLinkAboutSchool Comm. 05/04/2020approved 10-01-20
Mansfield School Committee
Budget Subcommittee Meeting f (-rt
Minutes for May 4, 2020 Ei F j�
Virtual Meeting ;.,,, ° l l E^
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A meeting of the Mansfield School Committee Budget Subcommittee was opened and called to order ak 6 301�p.m. The
meeting was held via GoToMeeting.
SC Members Present: Lynn Cavicchi, Jenn Walsh
Others present: Teresa Murphy, Superintendent
Ed Donoghue, Assistant Superintendent, Finance and Operations
Preparation forJoint Session meeting with Select Board and FinCom to discuss FY21 Budget
Teresa Murphy opened the meeting by reviewing projected revenue reductions of the state. It is anticipated that the state
will reduce funding for the local municipalities by 10 percent but everything is still unpredictable and we don't know when
the State will release these amounts. It is still possible that the State will be looking to use 1/12th budgets and go on a
month to month basis. Mansfield is also looking at revenue reductions and slowed growth.
Mansfield is still shooting for a 6/23 Town meeting and discussing many options for how to manage the meeting.
Kindergarten numbers are way up for next year (already at 262 students) which will require us to hire 2 more kindergarten
teachers. At the same time, Teresa understands that we must be looking at budget reductions.
Ed Donoghue provided some details. A 10 percent reduction would mean approximately 1.5 million dollar loss for the
schools. He is using the following assumptions:
We will continue to pay hourly employees through the end of this school year
There will be savings for transportation of approximately $350,000 this year
There has been some savings in salary costs for things such as daily subs, custodial overtime, hiring delays and stipends.
Food Services revenue is down
Stipend savings for spring
Athletics transportation savings
We may look to prepay out of district tuitions for next which is allowable per state laws.
There will be credits available for next year such as supplies purchased for this year but not used.
Chromebooks: Discussion was held on the possibility of modifying the rollout plan for 1:1 chromebooks. We need to look
ahead to potential remote learning needs in the future. Any decision on this does impact our capital requests and must be
noted prior to town meeting.
Lynn Cavicchi noted that it appears that we would be ok to finish out FY20 when expenses and savings are combined. It is
important to look ahead to FY21 and to see what credits can be rolled forward and what extra costs we will see. We don't
yet have an idea of what the fall school opening will look like. We could be faced with extraordinary costs such as increased
custodial needs, counseling needs, transportation changes, nursing requirements to just name a few.
General discussion held on the possible scenarios for holding school next year. It was agreed that there will be much to
decide. We may need to work on several assumptions at the same time.
Other: n/a
Meeting adjourned at 7:46 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Diane Nugent, Office Assistant to Superintendent and School Committee