CNS News | January 2020
Happy New Year! As always, 2020 kicks off with a focus on the School Budget for next year. Coming up soon is the  Public Hearing on the budget on Tuesday, January 21. Community members are invited to share their thoughts on the budget either at the hearing or by email ( schoolcommittee@needham.k12.ma.us) prior to School Committee's vote on January 28.

Hilary Bruel & Liz Lee
Co-Chairs, Citizens for Needham Schools
FY20-21 School Budget
The proposed FY21 budget includes a request for an additional $4.9 million — a 6.5% increase over FY20. The main components of the increase are contractual salary increases (3.9%) and staffing requests to provide level service (2.5%).
Typically the School Budget request represents a 4.5%-5% increase over the previous year, though the opening of Sunita Williams and implementation of Full Day Kindergarten led to an increase of over 7% in FY20. The main drivers of this year's increase are contractual salary increases for employees, higher enrollment, and additional Special Education and Student Support Services needs. The request includes the addition of 16.97 FTEs, including 3.9 for Classroom teachers, 10.19 for Special Education, Counseling, and ELL, and 0.8 for Assistant Principals.

Dr. Gutekanst believes this request represents what resources are minimally required to meet student needs and address the district's strategic priorities as outlined in the Portrait of a Needham Graduate Strategic Plan.

A public hearing on the budget will be held Tuesday, January 21, 7:00pm at Broadmeadow Elementary School. The proposed budget will then be presented to the Finance Committee on Wednesday, January 22, and School Committee will vote on the budget recommendation the following Tuesday. All three meetings are open to the public.

LEARN MORE:

Public Hearing on the School Budget  – Tuesday, 1/21, 7:00pm, Broadmeadow 
Budget Presentation to Finance Committee – Wednesday, 1/22, 7:00pm, Town Hall
SC Vote on the Budget  – Tuesday, 1/28, 7:00pm, Broadmeadow
*all meetings are open to the public*

CNS News
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Calendar - You can now find both the school calendar and the dates for this year's school committee meetings.
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