Watertown School Committee Sets Budget Meeting Dates

The Watertown School Committee will kickoff the school budget process on Jan. 30 when the Subcommittee on Budget and Finance meets, and school officials hope to complete it on April 2 when the School Committee votes on the Fiscal 2013 budget.

School Committee Chairwoman Eileen Hsu-Balzer said parents may be interested in the three joint meetings of the Budget and Finance and Curriculum subcommittees.

"It is a great chance to really find out, at a more magnified level, what we are doing," Hsu-Balzer said.

Interim Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald and school administrators will present a five year projected budget, said School Committee Vice Chairman John Portz.

The Jan. 30 subcommittee meeting will be in the First Floor Meeting Room in the Phillips School, 30 Common St., and School Committee and Town Council meetings are held in Town Hall. The location of the Joint Budget and Finance and Curriculum Subcommittee meetings have not been set, but Portz said he look at having them in the Small Auditorium at Watertown High School.

The dates for the vote on the School Committee budget may change, and the hearings before the Town Council have not been set, Portz added.

"The calendar sometimes changes, depending on funding from the state and the timing from town officials," Portz said.

The Fiscal 2013 School Budget Schedule is as follows:

• Monday, Jan. 30, Subcommittee on Budget and Finance, First Floor of the Phillips School
• Monday, Feb. 6, School Committee meeting, Town Hall
• Monday, Feb. 13, Joint Subcommittee on Budget and Finance and Curriculum, TBD
• Tuesday, Feb. 28, Joint Subcommittee on Budget and Finance and Curriculum, TBD
• Wednesday, Feb. 29, Joint Subcommittee on Budget and Finance and Curriculum, TBD
• Monday, March 5, School Committee Meeting - Superintendent's Recommended Budget, Town Hall
• Monday, March 12, Joint Subcommittee on Budget and Finance and Curriculum - Discussion of Superintendents recommended budget and preparation of the School Committee budget, TBD
• Monday, March 19 - School Committee meeting - Hearing on the School Committee budget, Town Hall
• Monday, April 2 - School Committee meeting - Vote on Budget, Town Hall
• TBD - Town Council meeting - Town Manager presents Fiscal 2013 budget, Town Hall
• TBD - Town Council meeting - Hearing on the School budget, Town Hall
• TBD - Town Coucnil meeting - Vote on the Fiscal 2013 budget, Town Hall