Facing a $1.5 million shortfall from the budget in the last fiscal year, the School Committee voted to follow a plan to fill the gap, recently discovered by auditors Powers & Sullivan. Filling it will require a Special Town Meeting in the fall and mean using $490,000 in just-announced federal funds to keep current teachers, not hire any new ones.

At a special meeting Thursday, Aug. 26, committee members clearly were not happy to learn about the problem, but they were relatively muted in their responses. "Monthly reports -- are we able to get that?" Jeff Thielman asked Diane Johnson, the chief financial officer. "For September," she said.

"Projections?" he asked. "Later in the fall," she said.

Aug. 25: Good news and bad: Schools to get $490,929 in US job funds, face $1.5m shortfall

Johnson and Superintendent Kathleen Bodie laid out the factors leading to the surprise from last year's budget:

-- $220,000 in lost grant revenue

-- $415,000 in fewer circuit breaker funds

-- $350,000 in special-education tuition costs at Germaine Lawrence

-- $450,000 in outstanding balances from LABBB, a special-education collaborative

-- $365,000 in various other fees and offsets

-- $800,000 for out-of-district special-education tuition

The total is $2.6 million. Each of these had its own explanation and time frame.

The proposed measures to restore the money, which the committee accepted in a 5-0 vote (Joseph Curran and Cindy Starks were absent), were:

-- $1.1 million in cost-containment efforts

-- $335,000 for Germaine Lawrence special-education tuition

-- $250,000 for special-education transportation savings 

-- $260,000 for circuit breaker reimbursement

-- $115,000 in fiscal 2011 budget cuts to supplies and contingencies

-- $490,000 from federal job funds

-- $410,000 in savings from out-of-district special-education tuition

The total is $3 million. All were listed with a high confidence level of occurring, except for the circuit breaker reimbursement (moderately high) and out-of-district special-education tuition (modest).

In the audience were Dean Carman, Dan Dunn and Richard Fanning, all members of the Finance Committee, plus town Comptroller Ruth Lewis. In answer to a question, she said she did not see this shortfall coming.

No added kindergarten teacher at Brackett

In other business, a tie committee vote rejected a request from Bodie to add a fourth kindergarten teacher at the Brackett School to reduce class sizes.

A parent expressed displeasure after the motion failed, 2-2. Committee Chairman Joseph Curro and Judson Pierce voted no, Kirsi Allison-Ampe and Leba Heigham voted in favor, and Thielman, who is a Brackett parent, did not vote.

Bodie said she had been monitoring class sizes at the school throughout the summer and decided to come forward now that the school's kindergarten classes are projected to have 27, 27 and 26 students.

The district's six other elementary schools have kindergarten class sizes between 21 and 23 students.