Canton Residents Facing School Cuts, Fee Increases

Facing a $1.5 million deficit, the is responsible for the difficult task of balancing the school district’s budget. At Thursday night’s public hearing, the committee chipped away at the deficit, making cuts and adding revenue. The committee certified a budget of $30,440,978, and left $348,757 to be cut or offset at the next meeting.

At the , the School Committee cut or offset a total of $652,286 from the budget.

said any cut means “changes to the educational landscape for our students…Nobody wants to make any of these cuts.”

Some of the cuts and offsets included:

• An increase of the Canton High School athletic fee per student from $125 to $150—with the potential of raising the fee again at the next meeting. The $25 fee hike would generate $17,500 in revenue for the district.
• A rental fee/surcharge to Canton High School hockey and swim team members; the total fee would be $400 for hockey players and $200 for swimmers.
• A $50 extracurricular fee for middle school and high school students, per activity, with a $200 family cap. The fee would apply to extracurricular activities not covered by another funding source. The fee would add $20,000 to the school district budget.
• Increasing the student parking fee at Canton High School from $180 to $200 for the year, raising $4,000 in revenue for the school district.
• Increasing the school bus transportation fee from $180 to $200, generating $18,000 in revenue.
• Cutting one Hansen School teacher, saving $50,371.
• Cutting a .4 library assistant, saving $13,600.
• Cutting a .4 ELA teacher at CHS.
• Cutting a Galvin Middle School alternative education program.
• Not filling a technology integration specialist, saving $31,000.
• Not adding an assistant to the middle school art program, saving $11,000.
• Adding gym rental fees to the programs, making it a cost of $15 per hour. This would add $27,000 of revenue to the budget.
• Cutting the full-time equivalent of custodian support, adding $35,000 to the budget.

All the Canton School Committee members expressed their feelings on not wanting to make any cuts to the budget nor wanting to add extra fees.

“It’s a shame we have to charge for any of it, but at the end of the day, it all costs money to run,” Member said.

The newly elected School Committee Chairman John Bonnanzio said that “a lot of people can’t pony up for these kinds of fees. We want to provide public education, (where) nobody gets charged anything…I’m heartbroken we have any of these fees.”

Budget talks will continue at the next School Committee meeting which will be held on April 14 at 7:00 p.m. at Canton High School.