The uncertain path to get to next year's school budget took another turn Tuesday, June 2, when the School Committee voted to send the ever-changing package to Town Meeting. The vote was 6-1, with committee Chair Joseph Curran voting no. He has been asked to comment.

The committee voted 6-1 May 26. Leba Heigham was then the lone member to vote no on the bottom-line fiscal 2010 budget of $38,430,596, but the yes votes from other six members were likely done out of resignation.

Heigham said she voted no because she doubts $400,000 will be realized through changes proposed for special education.

In an e-mail May 31, she said The Advocate misquoted her. The newspaper reported: "Other committee members shared Heigham’s belief that the school might not get all of the $36.8 million expected from the town’s general fund (which includes local aid) and the roughly $1.6 million in federal stimulus money."

In response to a request for comment from YourArlington, Heigham wrote: "My statement of skepticism was around realization of the $400,000 projected from special education savings. I do believe that we will see savings in our Special Ed budget through the addition of the new programs, but I also know that there are often unanticipated expenses when implementing these programs.

"I also questioned the wisdom of moving our $500,000 of federal stimulus funding from year two to year one. Since the state funding has not been finalized and state revenues may continue to dip, I believe we need to plan for the possibility that our state monies may be less than the current projections and may continue to change during the next fiscal year. For these reasons, I feel it is imprudent not to adjust our bottom-line and, therefore, I could not vote for that number."

The best guide to the proposed numbers for next year's budget is posted in a large, .PDF file on the schools' Web site >>

When you click on that file, pay attention to the balloons floating among, and pointing to, particular numbers under Tier 1 and Tier 2. Move your cursor across each to see the impact that the administration says would be felt with each suggested reduction.

These impact statements were added after parents and representatives of Stand for Children, an educational advocacy group, asked the proposed cut be explained.

As Judy Malone-Neville, the Ottoson interim principal, wrote in an e-mail to parents May 27: "If this budget number is approved, we will not have to make any more reductions than the Tier 1 and Tier 2 reductions already presented to the School Committee, a 2.0 FTE reduction at Ottoson. The School Committee has not voted to accept those reductions, so there still will be discussion about all the reductions proposed thus far (Tiers 1, 2, 3, and 4) at a special School Committee meeting scheduled for June 2 at 7:30 p.m."

Proposed Tier 3 and 4 reductions would have an impact on teachers at all nine Arlington public schools and raise class sizes.

In its discussion May 26, the continued budget uncertainty pushed School Committee members to consider redistricting and a salary freeze as ways to cut costs. Member Joseph Curro asked interim Superintendent Kathleen Bodie to produce the outline of a redistricting or reconfiguration plan by September. Bodie was cool to the idea and said, if pursued, it would take six months to put into effect.

Member Cindy Starks suggested the administration to ask teachers to take no salary increases or longevity pay next year. She said she thought it was worth proposing before laying off a teacher.

In other business, committee Chair Joseph Curran made a motion to have Town Counsel Juliana Rice oversee the legal direction of the long-running arbitration involving Chuck Coughlin, a former Ottoson technology teacher who was fired in August 2007 for his involvement in e-mail exchanges with then-Principal Stavroula Bouris, who was also fired. Stoneman Chandler & Miller have long represented the committee and has handled the arbitration since it began, in January 2008.

The committee rejected the motion, 2-5, with Denise Burns supporting Curran. Curro said he was uncomfortable having town counsel oversee the committee's longtime legal representative.

Burns said arbitration costs over three fiscal years were nearing $1 million. Sue Mazzarella pointed out this year's costs are $273,000 to date.