PITTSFIELD, Mass. — School officials are preparing for layoffs as the budget process begins.

 

Superintendent Jason McCandless said the budget development has just begun and with the city's tax levy situation, there may be very little room to maneuver. That could mean coming in with a level-funded budget, which would likely mean reductions in personnel to offset contractual and other obligations. 

 

He said he's asked all of the school principals to find 3 to 5 percent to cut out of their school budgets should that be needed.

 

"It is a very real scenario where we have level-funded, which means we actually need to come up with $2.5 million cuts. This exercise to cut 3 to 5 percent actually gets us there," McCandless said. 

 

School Committee members Daniel Elias and Anthony Riello have suggested placing a moratorium on rehiring for positions in which staff members have left. 

 

"Let's take a hard look and have a moratorium on filling those because of what we are anticipating," Riello said, adding that a number of teachers have given early notice that they'd be leaving the district giving the opportunity to re-examine the job.

 

The threat of job loss came last year and ultimately nine positions were cut through attrition. But, the district sent out 154 pink slips to staff members that could have also been on the chopping block. The slips were given out because of uncertainty in the process and the administration wanted to have flexibility should the proposed budget have been reduced.

 

Ultimately the City Council approved the proposed budget, keeping all of those jobs.

 

This year the chance those slips translate to actual layoffs is again a possibility. The city is approaching the tax ceiling, which limits the amount the levy can be raised. The early projections were that both sides of the ledger combined — school and city — there is just $2.4 million more than can be raised from taxes.

 

McCandless said much is needed just on the school side to maintain services exactly as they are today.

 

"We would do the same thing we are doing this year with the same people and the same number of people. The level service budget is tricky because a level service budget actually costs the city $2.5 [million] to $3 million. A level service budget is a long way from a level-funded budget," McCandless said. 

 

 

"We're trying to accelerate our budget process so we can meet the deadline so we don't have to do as many layoff notices," Tyer said.

 

She said when she took office she realized the budget process had a poor timeline — a timeline that left the school administrations unsure of its funding before the needed time to send out notices. McCandless said the 154 notices were preparing for the worst case.

 

This year's process truly kicks off next week with a joint meeting of the School Committee, City Council, and administration. At that meeting auditors, financial advisers, and more will be presenting on the condition of the city's finances.

 

Last year was the first such meeting but it took place after the School Department had already approved a budget. The City Council requested to hold that meeting earlier in the budgeting process.

 

Tyer said she is also hoping to have a presentation at that meeting on what has become one of, if not the largest, cost centers in municipal budgets — health insurance. 

 

"The real cost, and the mayor could certainly way in on this, even a modest health insurance increase translates to hundreds of thousands of dollars," McCandless said. 

 

McCandless said even modest increases in that would be 7 percent but most recently increases have been upward of 10 to 12 percent.

 

While the health insurance is carried on the municipal side of the ledger, McCandless brought it up as he spoke of the cooperation among all city departments. He said the school district understands the importance of other city departments, and the schools benefit from such services as snow plowing and police. 

 

"There are no departments that are overstaffed. There are no departments that are underworked. We really get that we are all in this together," McCandless said. 

 

As for state assistance, school administrators aren't expecting a large increase. Gov. Charlie Baker has vowed to increase Chapter 70 spending by $91 million, but McCandles said if those funds were split equally among every school district in the state each one would get around $250,000 that won't even cover the contractual salary increases.

 

McCandless said contracts go up in aggregate about $1.25 million to $1.75 million every year. He also used some time to refute common criticism about the school district, starting with the size of the administration. He said the district spends $302 per student on administration — a number that includes health care costs — which is the second lowest compared to 10 other similar communities in the state. He said since he was hired, a half-dozen administration staff have been cut.

 

"Every year there are people who want to say we have to trim the administrative fat, we have to trim the bloated administrative office," McCandless said.

 

He compared the city to the local districts in total budget percentage over the minimum the state allows to show that Pittsfield is the third lowest in Berkshire County, just above North Adams and Clarksburg. The city spends 15 percent over the minimum while the state average is 19 percent and places like Lenox, Richmond, and Mount Greylock spend more than 70 percent over the minimum.

 

One thing McCandless isn't willing to do is cut any funding from programs that support the district improvement plan. He said that plan was crafted based on the state's best practices of turning around underperforming school districts. 

 

"The district improvement plan was lifted by and large by the commonwealth's own vision," McCandless said.

 

The plan includes practices of inclusive classrooms, learning targets, possibly extending the school day, and routine assessments to judge student performance and provide interventions as needed. 

 

McCandless said the goal is to improve student performance, the primary objective of school systems, which in turn will help future finances. He said if all third-grade students were proficient in reading, the district's future special education costs could be reduced by as much as 90 percent. 

 

"We have to put in some of these best practices. There is enough research out there, we know what works and we have to do it," McCandless said. "We've got to invest our money in things that work for kids and move kids forward."