Officials: More cuts needed to Barrington school budget

The Barrington School Committee will hold a special meeting on Monday morning, March 6, at 8:15 a.m., to finalize its budget recommendation — part of the meeting will reportedly focus on the costs associated with implementing new later start times at the high school and middle school.

On Thursday night, March 2, the school committee approved a proposed budget of $49,713,094. But on Friday, Barrington Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore discovered that the proposed budget reflected a 4.6 percent increase over the current budget — the state law caps increases to 4 percent.

As a result, the school committee has requested the special meeting in order to make further reductions and comply with the 4 percent tax limitation. Officials said they need to reduce the budget by about $400,000 to reach the 4 percent mark. 

"One of the key budget issues the school committee continues to examine is the potential cost impact of a proposal to change school schedules in order to adopt a later start time at Barrington High School," stated a press release from the schools.

Officials said the cost of the start time changes — moving the high school and middle school from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. — was previously estimated at $419,113. Administrators were recently able to reduce the estimate to $307,821.

"At its meeting on Monday, the school committee and the administration will further examine the cost implications of the start time proposal and explore additional options for reducing overall expenditures related to that matter and other areas of spending," stated the release.

The proposed budget calls for a variety of increases including $705,495 for staff salary increases; $229,110 for staff benefits; $134,354 for support services for students with disabilities; $82,654 for transportation; $182,087 for out-of-district tuitions; and $32,077 for charter school tuitions. 

"These increases, totaling more than $1.36 million in expenses over the current school year, are compounded by an anticipated decrease in state aid of $53,808, requiring a greater proportion of the budget to be paid through local property tax," stated the release.

Officials initially figured the proposed increase while using the total operating budget, but later realized the increase must be based on the local share of the budget. 

The school committee is required to submit its budget recommendation to the committee on appropriations by Monday, March 6.