Staffing in the upper grades of Concord’s elementary schools would thin out to make way for the additional kindergarten teachers needed for a full-day program, under a preliminary budget proposal discussed Wednesday.
Even as the total number of teaching positions increases, average classes in the fourth and fifth grades at some schools would balloon to more than 26 students, bumping up against the district policy maximum.
“This would have us starting the year off with very tight elementary class sizes,” Superintendent Terri Forsten told school board members as they took their first look at the proposal.
Spending would also increase 3 percent over the current year if the budget includes the much-discussed expansion to full-day kindergarten, Business Administrator Jack Dunn said.
With revenues projected to decline, too, the draft plan would represent a $212 increase in taxes for the owner of a $200,000 home, assuming the home’s value stays flat and citywide growth is as projected.
But the discussion of the budget has only just begun. School board members held their first budget workshop Wednesday in a series that will conclude with public hearings in late March. They’ll have to decide whether taxpayers can afford the full-day proposal. If not, board members said they have a backup plan that would save $750,000.
Kindergarten aside, administrators have no control over much of the budget increase. The district’s contributions to the New Hampshire Retirement System are set to increase $700,000. Placements out of district for special education students are projected to cost $800,000 more than the current year. The first bond payment for the $9 million conversion of four schools from steam heat to natural gas will cost another $700,000.
In all, district administrators proposed a budget increase of $2.35 million, including the $1.16 million cost of full-day kindergarten. Some of the new expenses were offset by reducing supplies, deferring payments toward building maintenance and the lower cost of natural gas heat.
Because of declining enrollments, the district planned to eliminate two teaching positions at the elementary schools. But five more elementary teaching positions would be cut to make way for the additional 71/2 kindergarten teaching positions needed to offer full-day classes for the youngest students. The net is an increase of less than a full position.
The shifting of resources would mean, for instance, that the average class sizes for the fourth and fifth grades at Broken Ground School would increase from 21.8 and 22.3 to 26.2 and 26.8, respectively. At Mill Brook School, the average fourth-grade class would have 27.3 students instead of 20.3 One of three classes there would be at the district’s maximum recommended size, 28.
The kindergarten classes, on the other hand, would be flush with three new specialists and seven educational assistants – in addition to the 71/2 new teachers.
The budget, as proposed, represents a 6.9 percent increase to the school district tax rate. But Dunn said he could bring that figure as low as 4.7 percent with full-day kindergarten or 3.8 percent without. Over the next two months, the school board members are tasked with deciding what options they do and don’t want to include.
“It’s a conversation that’s still going on,” Dunn said. “This is the decision part.”
(Nick Reid can be reached at 369-3325, nreid@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at
@NickBReid.)