Hogan said she presented the budget reluctantly.
LUDLOW - The school district has many needs which the proposed fiscal 2013 School Department budget will not be able to address, Interim School Superintendent Donna Hogan told the School Committee.
Hogan’s proposed fiscal 2013 school budget is $28,715,818, which is $579,013 less than the fiscal 2012 budget.
Hogan said the budget respects the parameters set by the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee and the concern of taxpayers regarding rising property taxes.
Nevertheless, Hogan said she presented the budget “with reluctance.”
“I would rather be talking about the school district’s needs,” Hogan said.
She said the budget does not address the needs to update textbooks or to provide additional professional development support for teachers.
The budget does not address the condition of school buildings or the lack of computer technology in the district’s schools.
“Only Veterans Park School has wireless,” Hogan said. She added, “All of our schools should have wireless.”
Hogan said she proposed cutting a Portuguese teacher at Ludlow High School for students in grades 9 and 10 because of budget constraints.
She added that the school district should be adding language teachers so the high school could offer Chinese, Arabic and Latin like some other school districts are doing.
Hogan said students have expressed interest in adding field hockey and indoor track teams, and she added, “These are difficult economic times.”
“We understand that these are difficult economic times for taxpayers,” Hogan said.
She said that ten years ago one in 10 students in the school district were on free or reduced lunch.
Now, 30 percent of students in the school district qualify for free or reduced lunch, Hogan said.
“We respect the parameters set by the town’s leaders,” Hogan said, and the concerns of the taxpayers.
She said that 50 percent of the School Department personnel live in Ludlow and are paying taxes.