Cambridge Schools Approves Budget for Next Year

The Cambridge Public School Committee unanimously approved the district’s $133.6 million budget last night, rejecting a late motion to restore cut funds to three educational programs run by outside non-profit organizations.

The motion, which had been postponed from the Mar. 24 budget discussion, drew sharp disapproval from Mayor E. Denise Simmons, who said passing the proposal now would upset the already balanced budget.

“I am extraordinarily disappointed that this is before us,” she said. “I cannot say that more emphatically. It has a budget impact that will not bode well.”

Claire B. Spinner, chief financial officer for Cambridge Public Schools, said that there would be no way to increase the budget’s bottom line to accommodate expenses that had not already been accounted for.

“In order for them to return the funding to those two community partners, we were going to have to go back and cut some line item,” she said. “I guess the rest of the school committee didn’t want to upset the apple cart.”

The district faced a budget shortfall of about $2 million for the 2009-2010 school year, which prompted reductions in many areas—including $25,000 of funding for Breakthrough Cambridge and Cambridge School Volunteers, two of the educational programs addressed by yesterday’s proposal.

The motion, which had been jointly suggested by committee members Patricia M. Nolan ’80 and Marc C. McGovern, failed by a 5-1 vote. Only Nolan voted in favor.

Except for the mayor’s extended statement against the proposal, discussion among the committee members prior to the vote was brief.

Simmons told the committee that she opposed the proposal because it had been introduced at an inappropriate time, not because she did not support the programs it would benefit. She also said that she thought it would be unfair to consider restoring funding for only these specific groups this late in the process.

“To do it for one group means you should do it for all,” she said. “It is our job as guardians of the public till, as well as the public trust, to hold to what we said we will do.”

The approved budget—which allots approximately $103 million to employee salaries and wages, $26 million to other ordinary maintenance costs, $1.4 million to travel and training expenses, and $3.3 million for extraordinary expenditures—has been forwarded to the city council for review.

—Staff writer Michelle L. Quach can be reached at mquach@fas.harvard.edu.