IPSWICH — School Committee members here last night became one of the first local boards to vote on a budget for the coming fiscal year. If their body language was a barometer, expect an air of resignation to permeate school board meetings throughout the region this spring.
With little discussion and less enthusiasm, the board voted 6-0 to approve a budget of $23.4 million, with member Joan Arsenault not present. While that represents cuts totaling $515,000 from a so-called level-funded budget, it's still some $500,000 more than the Finance Committee's target.
The room was full of parents, but none protested.
One of the projected cuts is the elementary choir program, but even that didn't elicit complaints. When elementary music programs were threatened two years ago, parents virtually stormed meetings in protest.
Other cuts that are anticipated include:
Middle school world language program.
Elementary librarian.
School resource officer.
One full-time high school teacher and a number of part-time teaching assistants throughout the district.
Things could improve slightly. State Rep. Brad Hill and state Sen. Bruce Tarr were on hand and said state aid might be slightly more than they anticipated earlier this year.
But the board had to vote last night based on what they know now, and it didn't sit well.
"It is a budget that we view as probably somewhere around a bare minimum for our students," committee Chairman Jeff Loeb said. "Not a one of us is proud of it."
Like most local school boards, the Ipswich School Committee has been going through these cost-cutting operations for a couple of years running.
Two years ago, school supporters persuaded voters to approve a $1.5 million override to augment the school operating budget. It was the first such increase residents agreed to since the passage of tax-limiting Proposition 21รขÑ2 27 years earlier.
It followed several earlier override failures, and the cost of victory was so bruising, some School Committee members said they'd never propose another override, and the "O" word didn't come up last night.
To compound their woes, committee members heard a dismal report on the physical state of the schools from head custodian Paul Bedard. He ticked off a list of problems in all three buildings, some of which could have been prevented if there had been any money to forestall equipment failures.
"The budget for building supplies hasn't gone up in 12 years," Bedard said.
Committee member Barry Hopping said that's not the only area being neglected to balance the books.
"The English Department has $1,000 a year to spend," Hopping said. "That's a joke."
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