Walpole schools may be forced to cut up to 20 more teachers if state aid or union concessions don't come soon, announced school Superintendent Lincoln Lynch told the School Committee last night.
The committee has already cut $2.5 million from the budget - including 14 employees - under the expense it drew up earlier this year, but an $850,000 gap still remains for fiscal 2010.
Most of the latter money, Lynch said, would have to come from laying off classroom teachers.
"It's a sad day for our school system, but that's the reality of it," the superintendent said.
In its initial round of cuts a few weeks ago, the School Committee voted to lay off 14 staffers at the end of this school year and replace six full-time employees with part-time workers.
Last night, Lynch told board members they would have to cut more.
"We have a large gap still remaining, but we have already eliminated 20 jobs and reduced the hours of 20 people," said School Committee chairman Nancy Gallivan. "There's probably nowhere else to go but people's jobs - and classroom services - more essentially."
Lynch said he thought it was fair to say that districtwide cuts have been both aggressive and creative, but there's still a long way to go to close the remaining $850,000 gap.
The superintendent will ask each principal of the town's seven schools to come up with a list of suggested cuts with the assumption that Walpole will receive zero money from the state or through union concessions.
Lynch said he is hopeful the town will actually receive money from the state and through changes in teachers' health insurance premiums, but he can't rely on either happening.
"The only thing we can count on at this point is our own cuts," he said. "That's real."
The elementary school principals will be responsible for coming up with about $500,000 worth of cuts by the School Committee's Thursday night budget shop, while the high school will be asked to suggest roughly $225,000 in reductions and the middle school principals will be expected to put approximately $120,000 worth on the table.
The cuts are to be made proportionally based on enrollment, Lynch said, which is why the elementary schools will shoulder 50 percent of the reductions combined with the initial cuts - the 2,000 kids in Walpole's elementary schools represent half of the district's students.
Lynch said he and the School Committee would then show the list of potential cuts to Walpole's selectmen, Finance Committee and state legislators.
The School Committee will then wait until April 27 to vote on the principals' suggested cuts in the hope of hearing good news about state aid.
The State House is due to complete its version of the state budget by April 15, so the committee should have a good idea about what Walpole will get in local aid, Lynch said.
In addition to the principals' cuts, Lynch said he will have to report back to the School Committee with more cuts of his own.
A plan in the first round of cuts to reduce the goods and service portion of the budget districtwide by 10 percent probably won't be realized, he explained.
A good deal of special education money is untouchable by state law, he said, which limits him on the amount of goods and services he can actually reduce.
