Rescheduled from last week, the Northborough School Committee got together on Tuesday, Feb. 8, at the Melican school, in a library.

If Not for Naughton - Fighting for the Schools on a State Level: State Rep. Harold Naughton spoke to the school committee, and audience, giving them an update - if rather grim - on funding from the state for FY12. What looks like a cut of $101,000 of state aid to Northborough will result in a loss of $32,560 in this year's budget for the schools. "There are no surprises here," Naughton said. "It's not great news, but better than some other communities. As you know, a tremendous source of revenue coming into the Comonwealth is capital gains. We've had deficits the last couple of years, which is forcing us to make these cuts."

Committee members and Superintendent Charles Gobron expressed concern, too, over loss in Circuit Breaker Funds (which help to fund special education programs); Northborough took a cut of $476,000 last fiscal year. "If we still had that money, we would be home free," Gobron said.

Gobron said a budget will be submitted to the school committee on March 2.

Go, Go, Go, Proctor School PTO: Represenatives from the Proctor School PTO are cranking full force, and with the increasingly challenging economy, have become crucial to the school's budget, boosting by thousands of dollars. Highlighting a few of the newer initiatives, representative Sue Feeney said that its new newsletter was received well in the fall, and there will be another in the spring. "We’re trying to step back and see what the PTO has done and what is successful," Feeney said, "and infuse new initiatives." Other PTO initiatives included ordering Proctor water bottles, holiday fundraising programs and a cookie and pie sale. Plans include a readathon, a weekend at the Make Your Own Pottery Studio in town, a winter carnival by the Proctor Papas and a Walk to School Day.

Wind Works: The committee approved a grant of $550 from the Massachusetts Cultural Council for the Peaslee Elementary School to support North Winds/Wind Works.

Learn Where You Work: Three Northborough teachers, who do not live in Northborough, requested that their children be allowed to attend Northborough schools. Based on the understanding that there is room, the committee approved the request.

Class Size: In a report that compared enrollment numbers between FY07 and FY11, Gobron showed that class size has increased. In 2007, there were 1,884 students and in FY11, 1,912. In FY07 there were 96.5 teachers and in FY11 there are 93.5. "That's 20 more students, but three fewer teachers," Gobron said. "When we talk about class size, we are going in the wrong direction."