Submission of the Record on Round/Table Meeting held on March 13, 2019 to conduct a preliminary discussion on the Cambridge Public School Department Budget for Fiscal Year 2020

School Committee members:

Manikka L. Bowman, Emily Dexter, Patricia Nolan and Dosha Beard, Confidential Secretary, School Committee, Dr. Kenneth Salim, Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Carolyn Turk, Deputy Superintendent of Schools, Maryann MacDonald, Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education, Anda Adams, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, Barbara Allen, Executive Director of

Human Resources, James Maloney, CEO, School Department, Claire

Spinner, CFO, School Department, Ivy Washington, Assistant Director

of Budget and Financial Operations and Elizabeth Liss, Education Liaison for Mayor McGovern.

DISCUSSION SUMMARY

Mayor McGovern convened the meeting at 5:36 PM. He stated that a few years ago these Roundtable/Working meetings where scheduled to talk about the budget prior to the budget vote. He noted that the first time the City Council would see the School Department budget was the night of the vote which resulted in an awkward position. This meeting is helpful to get questions answered. He reminded the City Council that the role of the City Council is to vote on the School Department budget either up or down. He stated that this is an opportunity to better understand the School Department budget. He stated that the City Council has no control on how the money is spent.

Ms. Bowman stated her concerns about holding this Roundtable with the City Council because of where they are at this point in the budget cycle, so it feels a bit awkward to have a conversation. Mayor McGovern stated that many times the budget hearing in May was awkward because the City Council may have had questions, so this is an opportunity to ask questions of the Superintendent before the formal budget presentation. It is an informational meeting. 2

Dr. Salim stated that this is a meeting that was scheduled for February 12, 2019 but was cancelled due to weather. This is an information-sharing meeting. He stated that tonight they will share information around the current fiscal year. He stated that they will be running through key initiatives related to the 2018-2019 school year. He gave an overview of the PowerPoint presentation (ATTACHMENT A). On May 8, 2019 the adopted School Department budget will be presented to the City Council.

He stated that another part of the district plan is to set seven measurable objectives. Dr. Salim spoke about the diversity of the school workforce and the school climate and the student survey. He spoke about the five strategic objectives for the district plan and the work done to define equity and racial equity. He spoke about the FY19 district plan initiatives. He stated that leveling up is to provide all students with access to honor classes. Students that need additional support are provided similar courses.

The seventh-grade enhanced math program was launched, and students are provided individualized support if needed. He stated that this year the complete roll out to all students was done to provide take home computers to all students. He added that family partnership was also an investment in the budget this year.

Dr. Salim now focused on the FY20 School Department budget. He spoke about the five factors that shape the priorities for the budget. He explained that specific conversations with call room educators were held. The strategic investment for elementary schools came out of a Roundtable discussion. The formula for instructional aides was changed to assist students He stated that the implementation of the District Plan initiatives will be continued. There is a post-grad program to help support students.

He stated that the trend over the past five years shows that the enrollment is increasing. He outlined the budget development timeline. He acknowledged the commitment from the City Manager for the schools. Dr. Salim stated that the FY 20 budget includes a 5.6% increase with a total budget exceeding $200 million. He added that the vast increase in the budget is in people; there are fifty-nine more full time employees in the budget.

Mayor McGovern commented that there are not too many districts that have added 147 positions over three years. He stated that this shows the commitment to support the students. He noted that it is important for the City Manager to talk about expenditures that go to the schools that do not appear in the budget.

City Manager DePasquale spoke about the partnership between the City and the School Department. He stated that the School Department budget comes primarily from taxes; the City has alternative revenues that the School Department does not have. He stated with three new schools it will be about $500 million dollars. He stated that while doing the schools there is $6 million this year in capital expenses, the free breakfast program at school comes from the City budget.

He said that there is an additional $36 million to capital expenses. He stated that at least $9 million is related to the FY19 budget. He stated that 11 items that Human Services are involved in working with the School Department.

He stated that in this budget there is $19 million related to King Open Extended Day, Agenda for Children, Community Engagement Team, Inclusionary Initiative, Center for Families, BabyU, Early Childhood, Community Schools, Childcare, Youth Programs, College Success, the Mayors’ Youth Program and internships.

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Councillor Carlone thanked Dr. Salim for the presentation. He said that the range of the programs is impressive and the stretch of all the efforts is all-encompassing. He said that if someone is not up to the level in English, math or reading, are their programs to help students. Dr. Salim responded that the model of the multi-tiered system of support is about leveraging the many other resources. He said that other support and counselors can provide those supports.

They are trying to move toward having more of this support happening in the classroom. In addition, they are looking at leveraging times such as summer. For the upcoming summer, there is partnership with MIT on a summer literacy program to prevent summer learning loss and augment supports. He said that this may be something that may be able to be scaled up in a larger way in future years. He said that they continue to try to strengthen collaboration with out of school time partners.

He said that some of the work that they are proposing is exploring a launch for the elementary school network. He stated that this is a wraparound approach. He noted that at the middle grades, they are looking at school vacation weeks to have an academic and enrichment program. He stated that there are also a number of Saturday enrichment programs. He said that they have had a focus on how to use assessments. He said that this is not only formal assessments.