GREENFIELD — School Superintendent Jordana Harper’s $18.7 million budget proposal was unanimously approved by the School Committee.
The budget represents a 3 percent increase from the current year.
“We need to remember this is just the beginning of the process,” School Committee member Tim Farrell said at Monday’s meeting. The budget must next be approved by the Town Council.
The costs include the salary for an assistant superintendent for curriculum development, and drops the costs for the Green River School, postponing the potential creation of an alternative high school. It does not eliminate any teacher positions, but eliminates some staff jobs.
For this coming year’s budget, the superintendent included special education costs, which are normally accounted for after the fact. Otherwise, the budget would have been around level-funded from the year before.
The superintendent plans to account for places where revenue can be gained — like with students joining the district via School Choice, which provides money to the school per student.
“We keep talking about an all-funds budget. What is an all-funds budget?” Harper said to the School Committee. “It’s a budget that accounts for all streams of revenue.”
School officials believe Expanded Learning Time, the state grant that adds 90 minutes to the school day, will bring in revenue because of the families that choose the district for that specific program.
Over the past couple of weeks, parents and teachers have advocated for the renewal of the grant. The program supports studies like robotics and music, and is up for renewal for the 2018 school year.
During the public comment at the beginning of the meeting, two parents and a principal spoke to the value of the program.
“Kids can’t be here because I can’t afford a bus to bring them here but they would’ve said please support (Expanded Learning Time),” Newton Principal Melodie Goodwin said.
The mayor noted that he wanted to evaluate how the community felt about program after its ninth year.
“I wasn’t that deeply familiar with the nuances of the program itself,” Martin said.
After weeks of overwhelming support, the school committee voted unanimously in support of Expanded Learning Time.
As for the Green River School, the soon-to-be former home of the Math and Science Academy, it will likely be vacant in the 2018 school year.
The committee awaits a potential grant to fund an alternative type of high school at the school. Even if the grant comes in, the school would have students in 2019, with a year of planning, Harper said before the meeting.
Removing Green River School from the spending plan strikes about $200,000 from the proposed budget.
The mayor sat in on school subcommittees and chairs the School Committee.
“The mayor’s presence at the meetings early on was a really good thing for all of Greenfield,” Finance and Budget Subcommittee Chairwoman Adrienne Nuñez said.