Attend the Framingham Schools FY25 Budget Public Hearing Tonight!

This evening, Wednesday, March 20, 2023, the School Committee is holding its annual public hearing on the FY25 Framingham Public Schools budget. The hearing is nominally scheduled to start at 9:00 pm but could start earlier, so be careful. The full meeting agenda is:

Framingham School Committee, March 20, 2023, Meeting Agenda

From that agenda:

"CITY OF FRAMINGHAM SCHOOL COMMITTEE

March 20, 2024 @ 7:00 PM

Memorial Building, 150 Concord Street, Framingham

Blumer Room, Basement Level

The meeting can be viewed Live on The Government Channel: Comcast 22, RCN 13/HD613, Verizon/Fios 42, http://www.framinghamtv.com/, and on Facebook on the Framingham Public Schools Facebook Page.

You can also view the meeting or seek to participate during the public comment portion of this meeting via Zoom by registering at:

https://fpsed-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kIkoJRIqSfWpP8xaLNcQKA

Once you have registered, you will be emailed information to join the meeting.

You can also call in to the meeting by dialing 1-305-224-1968 and Webinar ID: 873 8559 8860"

You will have 2-3 minutes to make comments at the public hearing, so if you are attending remotely by Zoom, make sure to register, as that is the only way you can get on the list and be able to make those comments. If you are attending in person, sign the sheet at the podium. If it is not there, ask someone how to sign up to make a comment at the public hearing.

Normally, almost no one attends this annual public hearing, but this year is different.

The Mayor is in serious financial trouble as he builds the FY25 city budget, as he seems to be planning on having an increase of just $9 million in city revenues, based on a 2.5% FY25 tax levy increase, while the increase in the Framingham Public Schools FY25 budget alone is about $11.3 million.

Yes. That means that even with all of the projected increase in city revenues for FY25, the Framingham Public Schools budget would be underfunded by more than $2 million, and the city side of operations would get no FY25 budget increase.

Quite the budget collision!

One thing to point out is that the Framingham Public Schools budget is constructed in a sound, professional, realistic manner. It is not some crazy town concoction.

That Framingham Public Schools FY25 increase is largely comprised of a $5 million increase due to salaries - which is pretty normal as it is mostly determined by union contracts - plus large, unavoidable increases for transportation costs: $2.5 million, and special education out of district placement costs: $3.0 million.

This means some kind of serious budget collision is inevitable unless the city raises the tax levy by more than 2.5%.

In the past two years the city reduced its local education funding for the Framingham Public Schools budget by $10 million/year, as it redeployed that money to fix city infrastructure. If that money is simply returned to the schools, where it belongs, the Framingham Public Schools FY25 budget will be largely funded.

The draft Framingham Public Schools FY25 budget book can be viewed here:

Framingham Public Schools Fiscal Year 25 Draft Budget Book

p. 11 and p.24 show the unavoidable transportation and special education cost increases.

The budget is well put together by seasoned professionals Superintendent Bob Tremblay and Executive Director of Finance & Operations Lincoln Lynch and their staff, with the full support of the School Committee.

But it will not sail to approval in the cityside budget process. There will be big trouble.

The community needs to weigh in on the multiple problems which are affecting the schools, which include:

1. Late school buses, which are hugely disrupting education in the city. Note that after the public hearing closes, the School Committee is scheduled to vote on its plan for school bus transportation for the next school year and beyond. The transportation company, NRT, has continually failed to solve the late bus problem, so bringing busing inhouse seems like the only option. If you want the late bus problem solved and you think going inhouse is the answer, you should make that clear in the budget public hearing.
2. A shortage of classroom aide support for teachers, which is making classes more and more unmanageable.
3. Slow progress on expanding pre-K education, which makes later year instruction much more difficult and expensive.
4. Staff leaving due to worsening class conditions and poor compensation.

You may have many other issues you want to air. Bring them to the public hearing!

If a strong signal is not sent to the Mayor, he could easily cut the school budget in major ways which would damage education in the city, and ensure that the problems listed above remain unsolved.

The Mayor has cut new firearms from the Police Department FY25 budget, and a new fire truck from the Fire Department FY25 budget, so he is already swinging the budget cutting axe.

Under pressure from City Councilors King and Cannon, possibly backed up by Councilors Leombruno and Ottaviani, he could easily take an axe to the schools budget.

It is 100% certain that a significant property tax increase will have to be implemented this year to solve the problems caused by the Framingham’s decade of setting property tax increases well below inflation, which has resulted in a loss of $40 million/year in tax revenue.

If the problems are not confronted this year, they will simply be worse next year and in the interim the school system will have been significantly damaged.

To return to the school district budget the $10 million/year removed by the city in the past 2 years, that $10 million/year will have to be raised from the tax levy, which equates to a 5% increase in the tax levy.

The overall tax levy increase needed to also make sure the city does not get crushed under the weight of its infrastructure backlog, could well be in the vicinity of 7.5%.

The impact of that tax increase could be mitigated by deploying the Residential Exemption, which would greatly reduce the tax increase impact on homeowners whose properties are valued at less than $600,000. That Residential Exemption decision will be made in November, when the tax rates are set.

You can bet that there will be violent screaming and jumping from Councilors King/Cannon et. al. on a 7.5% tax levy increase proposal, but an increase of that order is the tough medicine needed to make sure the city does not go down the educational tubes.

It's time for parents and teachers to enter the political fray to pressure the Mayor and City Council to make education the #1 priority in the city.

Make your voice heard.

Let them know what you think about the problems which need to be addressed, and then let the city figure out the way to make solutions happen.

Notes

The Mayor and City Council Finance Subcommittee King/Cannon leadership recently spread the misconception that the tax levy cannot be increased by more than 2.5% annually. The actual annual tax levy increase limit is currently more in the vicinity of 20%. For more details see:

Framingham City Leadership Gets Proposition 2 1/2 Completely Wrong