NASHUA – As president of the Charlotte Avenue Parent-Teacher Organization, Barbara Maloney has seen the effects of rising class sizes at the elementary school.
Some classes have more than 25 students, she said, and it’s something she’d like to see change.
“Our parents really want to see the smaller class sizes,” Maloney said Thursday. “I’d support whatever can be done.”
Maloney was one of a handful of residents who turned out to the Board of Education budget public hearing at Nashua High School North on Thursday night.
The board heard from residents on both sides of multiple financial issues. While some asked the board to support additional teaching positions to lower class sizes, others urged school leaders to rein in personnel and severance costs, and argued another public hearing should be held once the board’s budget is finalized.
The hearing reviewed Superintendent Mark Conrad’s proposed $97.6 million operating budget for the school system – a 2 percent, or nearly $2 million, increase over the current year’s budget. That number may shrink, however, if the board decides to heed the request of Mayor Donnalee Lozeau to keep all city budget increases below 1 percent.
Conrad has said cutting the nearly $1 million that would be needed to lower the increase would be a challenge after years of reduced spending and cuts to everything from curriculum materials and personnel to programs such as summer school and gifted education.
Thursday night, he and Chief Operations Officer Dan Donovan shared some of the new costs – and savings – included in the proposed budget.
The district saw about $634,890 in savings compared with the current budget, Donovan said – in areas such as electricity and heating, reduced by nearly $500,000, and teacher attrition.![]()
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