Making $1.6 million in cuts will mean the loss of 31.8 full-time equivalent positions.
Mary A. CzajkowskiAGAWAM – Although the School Committee did not put her $1.6 million in proposed budget cuts to a vote Tuesday night, School Superintendent Mary A. Czajkowski said she has enough of a consensus to proceed along that path.
“It’s a difficult decision,” Czajkowski said following Tuesday’s School Committee meeting during which she outlined the proposed cuts. “I think overall they (School Committee members) will support the proposal.”
Her proposal calls for cutting $1,601,744 from the $35,909,234 fiscal year 2012 School Department budget she had initially presented as what is needed to maintain the current level of services. However, school officials have been asked to submit a level funded budget to the mayor and City Council. That would entail making a total of $1,886,413 in cuts.
Czajkowski said she needed direction in order to have budget books ready in time for the April 26 public hearing on the proposed School Department budget.
Last week, School Committee members during a workshop reached a consensus to support Czajkowski’s proposal to cut $1.6 million from her initial budget.
Making $1.6 million in cuts will mean the loss of 31.8 full-time equivalent positions. That comes out to laying off 13 teachers aides, 3.8 teachers and 2 secretaries and not filling the positions of 6 teachers, 1 secretary, the school resource officer and 5 instructional coaches.
School Committee member Diane Juzba said she is unhappy with the proposal but will end up having to support it.
School Committee member Shelley Reed said the budget has been keeping her up nights and that she does not want to make a decision until more is known about how much state aid the city might get.
School Committee Vice Chairman Anthony C. Bonavita and member Linda Galarneau said they will support the proposed cuts because of the tough economic times.
“I can’t support a budget that includes layoffs,” School Committee member Kathleen Mouneimneh said, complaining that laying off teachers means increasing class size and making teachers work harder. “No one is asking administrators to work harder because none of the administrative positions are being cut.”
That remark drew applause.
Several people criticized the proposed budget cuts during the public speak-out at the beginning of Tuesday’s School Committee.
Teachers aide Julie A. Fife of 209 Pineview Circle called the three years of no raises offered her union “a slap in the face.”
“I feel that we are not valued,” she said. “I wish you could be a little bit more creative and keep the paras (teachers aides) in the classroom.”