By BRIDGET TURCOTTE
SAUGUS — As the demographics of the district change, the school committee delivered a budget that they pledge will support students.
The panel approved a $29.6 million spending plan for fiscal year 2018, up from $28.1 million last year. The request will be reviewed by Town Manager Scott Crabtree and the Board of Selectmen.
As a result of the increase, Spanish will be a requirement, rather than an elective, a cut that was made for last year’s budget. An allocation of $82,000 will fund Chromebooks, which will be necessary next year when MCAS testing will require a computer, according to committee member Arthur Grabowski.
“Down the road, all state testing will be done online,” said Superintendent Dr. David DeRuosi. “ELL (English language learner) testing is already online and MCAS is making the transition.”
Two new transition counselors and an expansion of the English language learning department are included in the budget to help the needs of the district’s changing demographics.
During a presentation Monday, DeRuosi described the financial impacts of the change. In 2012, the district had 88 ELL students. Last year, that swelled to 126, he said. The public schools have students who have “very limited English skills. Some don’t even have skills in their own language,” he said.
About 40 percent of students are considered low-income and qualify for a free or reduced price lunch program. They are also eligible to ride to school at no cost, he said.
The homeless population has increased steadily over the past five years and reached 40 students in 2016.
“Enrollment might be dropping but the kids that we have are becoming absolutely more needy than the kids we had before as a population,” DeRuosi said. “As a district, we are beginning to feel the effects of a changing student demographic.”
Transition councilors would help with the social-emotional needs of students, which would help them remained focused and get more out of their educational experience.
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More than $300,000 will be saved in cost containments, including two students who will no longer need to be transported out of the district, retiring employees whose jobs will be filled with newbies at a lower salary and cuts in the cafeterias.
“It is the responsibility of the school committee to advocate for an educationally sound budget, whatever that budget number might be,” said Grabowski. “To advocate for something less or to make a request that’s not inclusive of what our needs might be, from my point of view, is irresponsible.”
The budget will be presented to the town manager and board of selectmen by Feb. 1.
The Saugus High School Project Building Committee is asking for parents, teachers, members of the Parent Teacher Organization and residents to attend their next meeting on Monday to provide feedback on the combination middle-high school project.
Jeannie Meredith, chairwoman of the committee, said she hopes to hear from residents before the project enters its next phase with the Massachusetts School Building Authority, the quasi-independent government agency that funds public schools.
The feedback will help the committee with the design and educational space for the new school building, she said.
The new middle-high school would be constructed on the same property as the existing high school. A new football stadium with multi-use fields would replace the current building.
By 2020, the school system could be transformed to contain one lower elementary school for Pre-K through grade 2; one upper elementary for grades 3-5; and a combination middle and high school. The new school structure would replace the existing Pre-K, four elementary schools, middle school and high school.
Sixteen-year-old Veterans Memorial Elementary School would become the lower elementary building. Modifications would be made to the Belmonte Middle School and it would become the Belmonte STEAM Academy. The upper elementary school would have a special focus on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.
The building process began when the town sent a letter of interest to the MSBA at the end of 2013, which was accepted the next month. By last February, PMA Consultants was chosen as the owner’s project manager and HMFH Architects Inc. was chosen to design the new building.
Cambridge-based HMFH is known for its user-centered designs and use of color in their work. The company has experience working with the state on combination middle-high school and standalone high school projects.
The meeting will be held at Saugus Town Hall at 4 p.m.
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte.