Members of the Jamestown board of education discuss the 2015-16 budget during the April 15 board work session. The board will meet again on Tuesday, April 21 to further discuss the spending plan. From left to right: Dan Johnson, Laurel Lucas, Shelly Leathers, Paul Abbott, and board president Joe DiMaio.
JAMESTOWN – The budget process continues for Jamestown school officials, who will be meeting Tuesday discuss and possibly finalize a $77.6 million spending plan for next year.
The deadline for the school board to approve a final budget is April 26, so even if a budget wasn’t agreed to tonight, there would still be time remaining to make any final revisions and put it before the board for a vote later this week.
However, Superintendent Tim Mains and board members have already spent a significant amount of time on the budget – including a two-and-a-half hour work session on April 15. During that meeting, the board asked Mains to try and restore four positions into the budget and return with a revised spending plan during tonight’s meeting.
The initial budget presented by Mains on April 7 calls for a total of 16 positions being cut. And while most of those cuts are through attrition, there was also the potential for four layoffs. But the school board felt the district should do what it can do prevent any layoffs and as a result, member have asked Mains to come back with a budget that cuts funding in professional development – along with several other areas – in order to stop the layoffs from happening.
Mains said he’s already found a way to save two jobs by providing two of individuals with a Long Term Substitution position, adding that he’ll do his best to find a way to protect the two other positions.
The budget cuts are due to a lack of funding coming into the district to maintain the same level of class sizes and programming as the current school year.
Jamestown is set to receive $51.6 million in operation state aid for next year, which is a $1.9 million increase from the current school year. Still, it was nowhere near the amount needed to close a $2.9 million budget gap.
The tentative budget will also include a 1.5 percent increase in property tax, which could generate an addition $220,000 for the district.
Tonight’s board meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the school administration building on Martin Road and is open to the public.
Leave a Reply