Art and music cuts restored to Bedford Central budget

Earlier proposal concerned many

 A comparison of full-time employees required for specials staffing under the current four-day elementary rotation (left) and the proposed four-day rotation based on the latest enrollment numbers (right). BCSD GRAPHIC

By JEFF MORRIS 

A modified version of the superintendent’s 2026-27 budget proposal was presented to the Bedford Central Board of Education at its April 8 meeting. It backs off on initially proposed cuts to elementary art and music, and restores a partial middle school music position.

While the restoration of the existing elementary rotation ameliorated much of the criticism the budget proposal was facing, it did not eliminate it completely, as nearly 20 people, including the entire art department faculty, appeared during a public forum to express concerns about various aspects of the spending plan.

Superintendent Robert Glass said he had gotten a lot of feedback over the last two weeks regarding his proposed budget, and had taken it to heart. The result was a series of revisions, chief among them a reversal of the plan to switch elementary schools to a five-day PE, music and art rotation. 

By the end of the three-hour budget discussion, one of the items included in the updated proposal was itself discarded after pushback from the board. The financial aspects of the budget, which had already been recalculated, are again going to have to be reworked before the board can vote on adopting the budget at its April 22 meeting.

Elementary rotation

The initial plan called for switching the special class rotations used at all the elementary schools from a four-day cycle to a five-day cycle. That would have resulted in students having art and music for 42 minutes once every five days rather than every four days. Board members immediately pushed back on that idea at the last meeting, saying they had already discussed and rejected it in previous years. Parents also condemned the proposal and began a campaign against it.

Glass had stated at that meeting that the schedule modification achieved compliance with state mandated requirements for health and PE. He repeated that on Wednesday, noting that staffing needs are actually less under a newly revised four-day cycle. 

“It was never about saving money; it was about trying to achieve compliance,” he said, and promised to “keep trying to achieve compliance.” 

Amy Fishkin, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, presented charts showing comparisons of how many times a class would have each special over a two week period using a four-day rotation versus a five-day rotation, as well as staffing needs under each plan, to give a sense of how many teachers are needed in each building.

Among changes that had been made to the proposed budget was the removal of a previously proposed bilingual social worker at Fox Lane Middle School, which would have reduced the budget by $125,000. That did not go over well with the board, with trustee Lisa Mitchell among those pointing out the need for more bilingual support, not less.

Public forum

A mix of parents, students and faculty members all took their turns speaking during the public Q&A session. Most contended that, despite the removal of the five-day elementary rotation plan, there were still cuts to art and music that would have an impact on students. Some parents also criticized instances where some elementary class sizes were increasing, and as at prior meetings, were unhappy with what they saw as unequal treatment among the elementary schools.

Glass briefly countered some of the arguments, pointing out that the district uses state standards for arts programs, and repeating past assertions that class sizes are all within historical best practice guidelines and never approach contractual limits. He gave a lengthy description of the model some districts use to split up their elementary schools by grade level, which allows for consistent planning by having a predictable number of students each year, and explained why that model would be impractical for a far-flung district like BCSD, which prides itself on neighborhood schools. He said they are doing the best they can within the existing framework.

Board President Gilian Klein assessed the atmosphere, concluding that “people come to these meetings and feel adversarial and are angry,” but assured everyone that the board’s concerns are the same as theirs, and “we all want what is best” for students.

Need for guidance

Glass presented an ultimatum to the  board. Noting that “we’ve taken in a lot, we’ve heard a lot,” he pointed out, “The next time we meet is when you’re going to have to adopt the budget.”

He told them, “Before we leave here I need a sense of how you’re going to vote. Otherwise we will need another meeting. I can’t go into the last meeting without having the financials ready.” He said he had heard support to put the FLMS bilingual social worker back in, and otherwise had heard support for what was presented.

Klein reinforced that message. “If people don’t speak up now, the budget that will be presented in two weeks will be this budget plus the social worker,” she said.

While there were a couple of additional questions about whether there were cuts to the high school music or arts programs, Fishkin explained that there was a reduction in teachers from attrition due to retirements, but the program did not get cut, and art is status quo at Fox Lane Middle School and Fox Lane High School, with one reduction at the elementary level.

Glass said he will build out the financials of the budget, with the addition of a social worker, and present it Wednesday, April 22.