Minutes
Quincy School Committee
Budget & Finance Subcommittee Meeting - October 15, 2018
A meeting of the Budget & Finance Subcommittee was held on Monday, October 15, 2018 at 6:00 pm in the Coddington Building. Present were Mr. Anthony Andronico, Mr. Paul Bregoli, Mr. James DeAmicis, Mr. Doug Gutro, Mrs. Emily Lebo, and Mrs. Kathryn Hubley, Chair. Also attending were Superintendent DeCristofaro, Deputy Superintendent Kevin Mulvey, Mr. Michael Draicchio, Mr. James Mullaney, Ms. Maura Papile, Ms. Erin Perkins, Ms. Madeline Roy, Ms. Ann Marie White-Larsen; Citywide Parent Council Co-President Courtney Perdios; and Ms. Laura Owens, Clerk.
Director of Business James Mullaney presented the staffing reconciliation compared to the FY2019 budget; there is a difference of 1.5 academic classroom positions: a full-day Kindergarten teacher at Merrymount and a part-time Science teacher at Quincy High School. These will be partially offset by the reduction of a 1.0 Foreign Language position at North Quincy High School.
Mr. Mullaney then reviewed the salary budget for the first quarter FY2019, the funding is sufficient to cover the salaries including raises under contracts. As of September 30, less than 10% of salary has been expended for 40 week salaries, 25% for 52-week salaried employees. Step and level raises for the fall have been captured, there will be additional step and level raises in February. One area of concern is the Academic Support line for Aides, which is showing a projecteddeficit. Nine additional aides have been hired since the beginning of the school year to address student needs.
Mr. Gutro asked for detail about the Aides, Mr. Mullaney and Dr. DeCristofaro explained that this is situational, there are new students each year and changing needs for existing students.
For Academic Expenses, all are in line with typical percentage of expenditures to date, about 50% of textbooks and supplies budgets have been expended. As always, Special Education Tuition is an area of concern and will be closely monitored. For Non-Academic Expenses, transportation is also closely monitored, as it goes along with Special Education tuition. Any potential savings can be repurposed to cover deficits in other accounts.
For utility costs, typically encumbrances will be entered for electricity and natural gas. For the solar system, the negotiations with Solar City are ongoing, and the encumbered funds from previous years should cover funds owed when the settlement is final.
Mrs. Hubley asked for clarification on the electricity funds encumbered pending the Solar City reconciliation, these still reside with Quincy Public Schools and cannot be repurposed for expenditures in other fiscal years.
Mrs. Lebo made a motion to accept the FY2019 First Quarter Report and FY2019 Staffing Reconciliation as presented. Mr. DeAmicis seconded the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.
Mrs. Lebo made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:20 pm. Mr. Andronico seconded the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.