Two Expiring School Grants Amount To Almost $200K

The will head into the next fiscal year with almost $200,000 less in federal grants to work with. 

At a school committee meeting this month, Finance Director Tom Geary reported that the largest of the expiring grants is a $191,000 Federal Education Jobs Grant that was distributed over two years as part of the Obama Administration's stimulus package.

The school district will also have to make do without a $2,400 Drug Free Schools Grant, which is provided under the No Child Left Behind Act for drug and alcohol education programs.

In a phone conversation this week, Geary noted that the Drug Free Schools funds had already been dwindling in recent years. At one point, the district had five No Child Left Behind grants, and is now down to two.

"We knew all along that this was a one-time grant," said Geary. "The planning for that went into place."

Geary also indicated at the school committee meeting this month that the school budget will seek savings in various areas, including possibly in special education. An expected 3 percent raise in the teacher contract will be a consideration as well. He told the committee there will be a line-by-line consideration to justify budget needs based on the student population. However, this does not mean that school officials will simply seek to automatically level-fund the budget for the coming year.