We hope you can attend ATM this evening.
Article 12: “Omnibus” Capital
Outlay Program- There are two parts of the
Capital Outlay Program that impact the schools. The first is in “Cash Capital”
section, under Motion 3 of Article 12. The town has allocated $550,000
for the school department to use for items that fall under the following
categories: Building Repairs/Improvements, Technology, Program
Improvements, Furniture & Fixtures and Extraordinary Maintenance. The
Cash Capital requests have been supported by the Capital Planning Committee and
the Finance Committee.
In addition, under the Capital Outlay Program are items that fall
under the category of “Long Term Debt”. These are for larger projects,
typically in access of $100,000. The first item under this category is
Article 12, Motion 5 which would provide $300,000 for the Classroom Interactive Projector
Project. We have been working on this project throughout the year and
have raised close to $115,000 to offset the costs of the projector setups.
If approved, the remaining costs of the project would be covered.
This project has been supported by the Capital Planning Committee and the
Finance Committee.
The School Committee will also be presenting a motion, under Long
Term Debt, at Town Meeting to allow for the purchase of six (6) school
buses. The cost of this proposal is $540,000 and again, would be taken
from Long Term Debt Capital (not the operating budget). With these
additional buses, the District would be able to go forward with the later start
time for the High School, a matter that is of great importance to the District
and one that has been evaluated over the past few years. This motion has the
support of the Capital Planning Committee.
Article 35: Improvements To The Lt. Peter M. Hansen
Elementary School- This would appropriate $4.1
million to replace the current modular classrooms by constructing and equipping
eight (8) new classrooms at the Lt. Peter M. Hansen Elementary School. In
addition this would help alleviate current and future class size
concerns. If approved at Annual Town Meeting, this would go before the
Town, in a Special Election, as a Debt Exclusion Referendum Question sometime
later in the Spring. The estimated impact on the average tax bill in
Canton, if this project were approved, would be $26.31 per year. This
matter has the support of the Finance Committee.
Article 42: Appropriate Funds To Meet Expenses For Next Fiscal
Year (FY16)-
Article 42 is the Operating Budget article and would be the last one presented
at Annual Town Meeting. Currently, the town has set $36,259,994 as the
budget target for the school department. The School Committee’s last vote
on the Operating Budget provided for $36,455,794. The School Committee’s
budget request allows for 12.8 additional Full Time Equivalent (FTE)
employees. This additional staffing will go a long way towards addressing
class size concerns that have been identified by the School Committee as a top
priority in this budget cycle. The School Committee is continuing to
communicate with town officials on coming to a resolution on the final budget
number.