The School Committee is providing the answers to questions that it feels may be on people’s minds in relation to the proposed budget for FY06. We hope that this factual information provides additional detail to help people form opinions and make decisions regarding the budget.

We expect that additional questions that we did not foresee will arise during the budget communications season. We intend to update this FAQ document from time to time to provide additional information. The updates will be posted here on our web site and on our various bulletin boards.

The best way to find out about the availability of an updated version is to subscribe to our email notification list, SCNews. Instructions for subscribing are straightforward, and can be found here. (Keep in mind that you can easily unsubscribe from this list after Town Meeting if you don’t want to continue to receive email about School Committee business).

LINCOLN SCHOOL BUDGET

Base Budget (pdf file)

1. How large is the base budget?

2. What will the program look like in FY06 under the base budget, as compared to the current school year?

3. What are the sources and amounts of funding for the base budget?

4. Are there any additional sources of revenue?

5. What percentage increase does this represent over the last several years?

Override request (pdf file)

6. What is the size of the override and what would it fund?

7. Why is the School Committee seeking an override?

8. What will be the specific effects on the schools if the override does not pass?

9. If the override does not pass, would there by any changes to the base budget, such as funding something from the override list instead of something currently in the base budget?

10. What is “community resources” and why is this carried in the school budget?

11. If the override does not pass, will the number of aides be reduced?

12. How does the size of this year’s override compare to others in previous years?

General (pdf file)

13. What are the key factors that drive budget increases?

13A. How does the proposed FY06 budget compare to previous years?

14. How are Lincoln teachers paid compared to those in peer towns?

15. How did the SC decide what to put in the base budget, what to put in the override and what to leave out entirely?

HANSCOM SCHOOL BUDGET (pdf file)

16. What is Hanscom’s role in the budget?

CLOSING THE GAP (pdf file)

17. What was the difference between the original bottoms-up budget proposal and the base budget adopted by the School Committee?

18. How did you close the gap?

ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE AND COSTS

General administrative (pdf file)

19. What is the administrative structure of the Lincoln School and of the full District?

20. What other jobs are there which do not normally provide direct services to students?

21. Are there teaching positions that involve administrative duties?

22. Has the central office headcount increased in the past several years?

23. Why are you proposing to add an administrative assistant as part of the override?

24. How does Lincoln’s administrative structure and costs compare with other districts?

25. Why do we need the number of central office administrative assistants we have?

26. Why are you adding a Special Education administrative assistant for the Lincoln school in the base budget?

Leadership team (pdf file)

27. What about the leadership team? Why are we adopting this model when no one else is? What are the benefits? What are the shortcomings? How much does it cost?

28. How much money would be freed up in the budget if we had a principal and one assistant principal for the Lincoln School?

29. What would be the effect on the program if we did not have the leadership team and instead hired a principal and an assistant principal?

30. Are the members of the leadership team qualified?

31. Are we likely to lose these individuals if the leadership team structure changes?

CLASS SIZES (pdf file)

32. What is the policy and how will it be implemented in FY06?

33. How many sections will there be and what are the projected class sizes?

34. What happens if enrollment changes after the budget is adopted?

PROGRAM IMPROVEMENTS (pdf file)

35. What kind of improvements in the program have been made in FY05?

36. What additional improvements can we expect in FY06 if the override does pass?

37. What improvements can we expect in FY06 if the override does not pass?

SPECIAL EDUCATION (pdf file)

38. You stated that some Special Education reimbursements have been carried over and used to help fund FY06. Please explain. Is this shortchanging the Special Education program?

39. There are some increases and decreases in specific line items in the special education budget. Please explain.