School Department to Ask Town Meeting for $3M for Curriculum, Building Upgrades

At just under $84 million, the Burlington Public Schools operating budget makes up just under half of the entire budget of the Town of Burlington. In addition to this year's budget, which adds some staff for English language support, increasingly needed for students in the district, while staying within the town's 4.5% guideline, a number of one-time capital requests will be presented to Town Meeting.

Only the bottom line of the operating budget will be debated and voted on, while these capital requests will be considered individually by Town Meeting, which meets for the first session of the annual budget Meeting on Monday, May 12. Here's a peek at what the schools will be requesting:

• Teaching and Learning - A follow on to last year's request for a quarter of a million dollars for a curriculum review, this year the school will be requesting half a million to order the elementary literacy curriculum that came out of that review. New furniture and dividers in the middle school library are requested to provide better separation and privacy for small-group instruction that occurs there.
• School Infrastructure - A 50% grant-assisted Green Communities building management system at Francis Wyman and Pine Glen, HVAC upgrades at Francis Wyman, and boiler room maintenance at Pine Glen will ensure the schools are operating efficiently and that kids and teachers are comfortable. A network refresh will make the school internet systems faster and more reliable. New scoreboards and speakers are also being requested at the high school.
• Security upgrades - A new vestibule at Francis Wyman will provide better security at the front entrance, and a new emergency alert system at all schools will help first responders respond quickly and pinpoint the location of an emergency.
• Outside infrastructure - An allocation of cash for tree maintenance at schools will allow the district to address problematic trees that unexpectedly need to be dealt with.

These capital requests were pared down significantly from the district's initial list totaling around $10 million, in an effort to focus on the tools required to ensure teachers and students have what they need to work effectively in Burlington's school buildings throughout the year.

This year’s Annual Town Meeting will begin on Monday, May 12, at 7:00 PM and will continue on Wednesday and Monday evenings until the entire Warrant has been reviewed. Stay tuned to the Buzz for summaries of the articles in the Town Meeting Warrant and how Town Meeting votes on each.