Minutes
Quincy School Committee
Budget & Finance Subcommittee Meeting
Thursday, May 15, 2014
A meeting of the Budget and Finance Subcommittee was held on Thursday, May 15, 2014 at 5:00 pm
in the 2
nd Floor Conference Room at the NAGE Building. Present were Mayor Thomas Koch, Mr. Paul
Bregoli, Mr. Noel DiBona, Ms. Barbara Isola, Mr. David McCarthy, and Mrs. Kathryn Hubley, Chair.
Also attending were Superintendent DeCristofaro, Deputy Superintendent Kevin Mulvey, Mrs. Mary
Fredrickson, Ms. Beth Hallett, Mr. James Mullaney, Mrs. Maura Papile, Mrs. Erin Perkins, Ms.
Madeline Roy, Mr. Keith Segalla, Ms. Judy Todd; Ms. Allison Cox, Quincy Education Association
President; and Ms. Laura Owens, Clerk.
Mrs. Hubley called the meeting to order at 5:05 pm. Dr. DeCristofaro thanked Mayor Koch for this
year’s budget appropriation; it is a pleasure to work with a budget increase. He thanked the School
Committee members for their input; he also met with the Principals and Superintendent’s Leadership
Team members to ensure that we are looking at all areas of the school system in creating this draft
budget. Areas of consideration have been identified and options organized to address areas of
impact. The total Quincy Public Schools budget is $97,306,723, a $3.6 million increase over the
FY2014 budget. There are two sources of funding: $94,106,723 from the City appropriation (3.23%
increase) and Circuit Breaker funding of $3,200,000 (25% increase).
The appropriation allows Quincy Public Schools to meet all contractual obligations, percentage raises,
step and level increases. After these are met, there is $1,675,500 additional funding to address class
size and academic programs, including $985,000 of breakage courtesy of 27 retirements in FY2014.
Mr. DiBona asked if we are anticipating significant change in grant funding and we are not
anticipating that for this year.
For Academic Classroom Teachers, School Committee guidelines are the deciding factor. Elementary
levels are looking at a decrease of two positions across the 11 schools due to population shifts. For
middle school, there is a proposed expansion of the foreign language program for adding French
language instruction to Grade 8 (2.5 positions). The other middle school restoration is Technical
Education teachers (2.5). An additional ELA teacher is needed for Central Middle School (1.0), a halftime position at Quincy High School for Physics will become full time (0.5), and longevity funding will
be decreased based on retirement projections for 2014-15.
For Academic Programs, the suggestion is for small stipends to be available for Literacy, Library,
Health, Physical Education, Music, and Art to compensate teachers providing professional
development and assisting the curriculum coordinators. The increasing ELL population needs would
be addressed by additional positions (2.0) and Literacy positions added so that each elementary
school will have at least a full-time Literacy teacher (1.5). An additional instrumental music teacher
will be added (1.0), plus Special Education teachers to address increased needs and state
requirements (2.0).
For Academic Support, the budget calls for an additional school psychologist (1.0), IT technicians staff
(2.0), restores full-time Kindergarten aides to all classrooms (10.0), and increases Special Education
aides (10.0). For non-Academic Support, the budget has an additional position for Custodial Services
(1.0). For Academic Expenses, grant funding and publisher professional development will allow for a
$13,000 reduction to the professional development, offset by an increase in funding for purchasing
and repairing musical instruments and repairs for $7,500 and increased funding for testing. Special
Education tuitions would be increased by $300,000, based on projections for student out-of-district
placements. For non-Academic Expenses, proposed increases for natural gas ($100,000), Special
Education transportation ($275,000) would be offset by decreased funding for transportation
purchases. For transportation purchases, the current 3-year lease purchase agreements are
complete; we are looking at purchasing one large bus and three mini-buses over three years
beginning with FY2015.
In the proposed budget, the allocations are 10% for Academic Classroom Teachers, 22% for Academic
Programs, 29% for Academic Support, 2% for Non-Academic Support, 19% for Academic Expenses,
and 18% for Non-Academic Expenses.
Mr. DiBona thanked Mayor Koch for the appropriation and thanked Dr. DeCristofaro for reflection of
School Committee priorities in this draft budget. Mr. McCarthy echoed Mr. DiBona's compliments,
and likes the focus on restoration. Mr. McCarthy said the middle school Technology positions were a
good rebuilding step and asked for an outline of the curriculum that would be covered. He asked
about the textbook line and whether an increase would be needed.
Ms. Isola asked whether the middle school technology would be .5 in each school or will they be
allocated by population. Dr. DeCristofaro said the scheduling plan for the middle school is still to be
finalized. Ms. Isola said that adding French as an option at Grade 8 is a great start and asked for the
cost to have Foreign Language instruction in Grade 7. Ms. Owens has researched the current Grade 9
students taking Spanish 1 vs. Spanish 2 and will share that information at the next meeting.
Mr. Bregoli asked about the allocation of the additional Foreign Language teachers and this will be
done based on interest in the program. Parents will have the option to choose the language for their
Grade 8 students. Mr. Bregoli asked where the additional instrumental program teacher will be
assigned and scheduling decisions are still to be made. Mr. Bregoli asked if there are different enrollment parameters for classes with labs; Science and Technology classes at the middle and high
schools are capped for the number of work stations.
Mr. Bregoli asked for confirmation that the Special Education aides are one-on-one and based on
IEPs. Mr. Bregoli asked if a custodian at Quincy High School could be utilized to maintain the
Coddington Hall building and there will be shared staff. Mr. Bregoli thought the instrumental
increase is small and would like to discuss the extracurricular activity funding at a future meeting.
Mrs. Hubley thanked the Mayor and Dr. DeCristofaro for the appropriation and draft budget. She
agrees with Ms. Isola about seeing the cost to add Grade 7 Foreign Language as an option; very happy
to see the increased positions for Literacy. Mrs. Hubley asked for clarification on the Kindergarten
Aides; this would fully restore the aides so every Kindergarten classroom would have a full time
aide.
Mrs. Hubley announced the next Budget and Subcommittee meeting will be Tuesday, May 20 and
focus on Revolving Accounts.
Ms. Isola made a motion to adjourn the Budget and Finance Subcommittee meeting at 5:50 pm.
Mr. Bregoli seconded the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.