Highlights of the MURSD FY14 Open Budget Hearing.
MURSD will introduce full day kindergarten to the school district next year, in order to implement the program the district will need to add two full time teachers. One of the many benefits of adding a full day program is to give students an even playing field as the Common Core ELA and math standards will require more cognitive demand of all students. Full day kindergarten “will provide the students with a jump start on basic literacy” said Dr. Maruszczak “when you get to the students earlier rather than later, you get the greatest success.”
The budget allows monies for the Mendon schools to have a part time resource officer, Upton already has a part time resource officer.
The budget will also allow the reinstatement of the District K-12 Curriculum Coordinator. The coordinator position had been eliminated in the 2010-11 school year when the budget was in dire straits. Prior to then the district had always had the position. There will be an enormous amount of change needed with the curriculum to adapt to the Common Core State Standards, the position will assist in coordinating the curriculum between the schools.
Common Core State Standards was a theme last night, by the school year 2014-2015 MCAS will be eliminated and the students will be tested based on the Common Core State Standards using the PARCC Assessment. PARCC testing will take place twice in a school year for all students grades 3-11. The Common Core State Standards curriculum will be “a quantum leap” according to Dr. Maruszczak.
At the end of the presentation Heather Applegate asked “…there are many needs not addressed in this budget can you prioritize?” Dr. Maruszczak explained he would (in the future) like to invest in STEM programming and additional courses at the HS level as well as internships and job shadowing. In the middle school he would like to see the class sizes mirror the elementary schools and bolster the language and elective programs. He would also like to look at special education “too many kids being pulled out.”
The FY14 Budget certified is for the amount of $28,371,410, an increase of $373,150, which is a 1.33% increase over the current year’s budget. For the bottom line review the open hearing document.
UPTON DAILY 
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Thank you for responding Dr. Maruszczak.
Thank you for covering the budget hearing and keeping our community apprised of important changes in education. The new common core standards will place new challenging demands on our students, teachers and the district as a whole however, I expect that “common core” will promote the kind of higher level problem solving skills that our children will need to be successful in college and beyond.
Heather, do you know if the students will need to pass the PARCC testing to graduate?
Hi Jennifer- yes, they will. Starting in 2014-15, the PARCC will be administered to all students in grades 3-11 (so students in grades 9 and 11 will take it, as opposed to only grade 10 students now with MCAS). So, next year is the last year for MCAS, and for next year’s10th graders, it will be the required for graduation. The 2014-15 administration of the PARCC will be the pilot year to set calibration and cut scores. Then, in 2015-16, it will be a high stakes test for juniors, who will then have to pass it as a graduation requirement.