BIDDEFORD — On Wednesday, the School Committee discussed the pros and cons of cutting stipend positions in order to save teaching positions. In the end, committee members voted to allow school administrators to decide which positions to cut, as part of an effort to trim $1.4 million from the proposed 2012 fiscal year school budget.
The School Committee has accepted a preliminary budget of $31.1 million, which must be approved first by the City Council and then by residents at a public referendum.
Committee members have delayed sending their finalized budget to City Council while they work out where to make reductions.
In earlier discussions, Superintendent of Schools Sarah-Jane Poli said, with the approval of the School Committee, her office was considering eliminating 23 full time equivalent staff and teaching positions and nine stipend positions.
The exact nature of which positions would be eliminated has not been made public yet, and requires discussions between the school administration and teacher union representatives.
Some School Committee members said they would rather eliminate whole categories of stipend positions in order to preserve the number of teachers working with students.
The School District spends approximately $470,000 on stipends to pay teachers and others to help with athletics; drama, music and other clubs; do extra work as department heads; teach additional classes; work with at-risk students; and perform other extra work outside regular classroom instruction.
Committee member Anthony Michaud said he wanted to direct spending cuts to areas that didn’t affect student instruction. Michaud, who is a music teacher in RSU 21, said in that district many teachers step up to help with activities without payment.
A number of teachers in Biddeford also already assist students with activities outside of the classroom without reimbursement, said Biddeford Middle School Principal Charles Lamonte.
But removing all stipend positions would likely result in the reduction of the number of extra curricular activities that the middle school could offer. This “would be devastating” to students, he said.
For many students, said Lomonte, participating in extracurricular activities is why they come to school.
Cutting all stipends would likely lead to some students leaving the Biddeford School system, said Biddeford High School Principal Britton Wolfe, as some parents would choose to enroll their children in schools that offered a greater variety of activities.
“This isn’t an either-or question” about cutting stipend versus teaching positions, he said.
“With the level of cutting required, the School Department will have to do some of both,” he said.
Michaud’s efforts to cut many stipend positions failed.
Committee member Tammy Fleurent said she favored allowing Poli to work with school principals to determine what areas could be reduced with the least harm to students’ education.
The committee voted to allow administrators to come to them with the suggestion position cuts.
“We’re open to ideas,” said Poli. She asked people to call or email her with suggestions for saving money or raising new revenue.
— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.
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