Supt. DeRuosi presents FY2014 school budget By Juhi Varma Malden School superintendent David DeRuosi presented his FY2014 Budget Report at the June 3 school committee meeting. The student population of Malden has grown steadily during recent years. According to the report, there was an 8 percent increase in the English Language Learners (ELL) student population since 2009; by 2011 it had gone up to 14.9 percent. “As a district we continue to grow and we need additional classroom teachers,” DeRuosi said during the presentation. “We must recognize the need to keep class size reasonable.” On the subject of administrative costs, DeRuosi said, “2.11 percent going to administrators—there may be a misconception that we are a fat district. We are not. We are doing the best we can in tough times; we are being fiscally cautious. We have the support of the mayor, who is doing the best he can possibly do to maintain a healthy school district for the students. I have limited the administrator’s capacity…We’ve replaced some directors; I’ve cut some business positions. We’re doing our best to keep that number down, but there will be a breaking point with the new evaluations due; it will become difficult to meet the demands of the state without having administrators to do the evaluating.” DeRousi also stated that, despite functioning under a net school deficit, Malden met FY14 Foundation Budget without any layoffs. He explained, “The State says Malden should be spending $80,424,387. The mayor did his best to meet that number and not create a situation where there are layoffs. That was the main objective of this school committee. I was told by the subcommittee, ‘no layoffs.’ We have met that goal. We are functioning under a net school deficit, again to no blame of anybody here, it is the reality. So when you add all those numbers up, it comes to $ 77,737,913, which leaves us just under the net school spending by $2,686,474.” “Superintendent DeRuosi presented a comprehensive and detailed summary of the myriad issues affecting the school system. It was one of the most informative budget presentations I have seen,” the mayor said afterwards. DeRousi thanked the mayor and school committee at the end of his presentation. “When you look at graduation rates… where our students are going… the quality of education going on in those K-8s, its money well spent. The mayor met more than halfway. The deficit can wait. We will make do as long as teachers can remain in those classrooms. If it means running tighter on certain issues, we’ll run tighter...We have to educate a growing population…we are a tremendous school district, we will survive tough fiscal times, if as a collective body we stay together and remain focused.” During his presentation to the city council finance committee on Tuesday evening, the superintendent provided many of the same points he presented the previous evening. Councillor Neil Kinnon asked DeRuosi for a teacher-to-student ratio based on the $59 million budget. The superintendent stated that the schools held approximately 500–600 teachers to approximately 6,572 students. Kinnon stated that the ratio would be 12–1, then DeRuosi asked for a clarification to Kinnon’s math. The councillor stated that he wasn’t being critical but just wanted to know the numbers, because some of the staff didn’t show in the actual budget. The superintendent agreed with Kinnon’s assessment. In his closing remarks, the superintendent stated that the spacing issue for students will eventually be a factor in the coming years. “If the trends stay as they are, then we may need another school,” said DeRuosi. The full report is available online at malden.mec.edu. Look under “District Info” and scroll down to FY14 Proposed School Budget.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 20:04:38 +0000
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