BEVERLY — Parents rallied against rising class sizes at last night's public hearing and urged School Committee members to look at cutting programs instead of teachers in next year's budget.
With some elementary classrooms approaching 27 students — and three high school teachers being laid off in English, science and social studies — many parents targeted the Elementary Enrichment Center, ROTC and the elementary music program as potential places to trim.
"Cutting there would not affect the fundamentals," said John Hall, whose son will enter a fourth-grade classroom of 28 students at Hannah Elementary School.
"If this is the new operating policy, no class is safe in the future," Hall said.
The proposed budget includes cutting close to 31 positions, increasing fees, eliminating programs and reducing hours for cafeteria workers and some bus drivers so they are no longer eligible for the city's health insurance.
The latter move is controversial, especially given that School Committee President Annemarie Cesa and Ward 1 representative David Manzi also take the health insurance plan offered by the city, for a cost of $15,165.
For the second time, many bus drivers and lunch ladies picketed outside the Memorial Building before joining nearly 50 people in the auditorium to weigh in on the $2.4 million in proposed cuts to balance next year's $44.6 million budget.
The School Committee approved the amount of $2.4 million, but has yet to finalize exactly what will be chopped to get to that figure.
Cesa said members have tried to implement cuts equally across the board.
"This is the fairest budget we've ever worked on," she said.
But fewer teachers means bigger classes, and parents said the committee should do everything possible to keep those class sizes in check. Laying off teachers should be a last resort, resident Catherine Barrett said.
"It's alarming to see how deeply the proposed cuts will affect the quality of education," she said. "The School Committee must focus on indirect service and program cuts. Only then, consider teacher and paraprofessional cuts."
"Class size matters," Marie Mallott said. "Class size affects the learning of every child, in every subject, every day."
Superintendent James Hayes said because there's no major place to save money, all departments have been impacted, and the changes will not come easily.
"This is all moving away from what we do today," he said. "It's moving away from how we educate kids in Beverly."
Staff writer Cate Lecuyer can be reached at clecuyer@salemnews.com
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