Lenox School Committee delves into FY ’14 budget process

LENOX – The school committee is gearing up to go through the fiscal year 2014 budget books to see what is really needed in the district.

In the committee’s February meetings, presentations on the possible expenses for the Morris Elementary School, Lenox Memorial Middle and High School and the district as a whole were given.

One concern that has come to the attention of the school committee is the food program across the district. Earlier this year, it was reported the program has an approximate deficit of $14,000, in part due to the new state and national food requirements, which have been met with decreasing numbers of students eating school meals across Berkshire County, Massachusetts and the United States.

“Our food service department does a very good job with what they have,” said Lenox Superintendent Edward W. Costa II. “I’m concerned as to where we’re going to go.”

One proposal for the FY ’14 budget is to seed the cafeteria program with $25,000 in an effort to promote healthy eating, a move many other districts, including nearby Berkshire Hills, have already incorporated into their budgets.

At the Lenox School Committee’s Feb. 25 meeting, Veronica J. Fenton raised a concern about putting in the $25,000, saying she did not see a clear reason for doing so.

In terms of decreasing costs, Henry C. “Hank” Maimin, the district’s director of business services, pointed to a 10-percent decrease in energy costs at both schools due to entering into long-term contracts.

Going forward

In the three March meetings, the committee will deliberate the budget in order to have it approved in time for the town meeting at the end of April. The first meeting of the month is scheduled for Monday, March 11 at 7 p.m. at Lenox Town Hall.

The March 18 meeting is tentatively scheduled to be in collaboration with the town’s board of selectmen and finance committee, while the March 25 meeting will serve as a public hearing for the budget and a final vote on it is scheduled to be on the agenda.

Posted by Catherine M. Krummey on February 28, 2013. Filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry