Marblehead Schools To Seek $3 Million Override At Town Meeting

MARBLEHEAD, MA — The Marblehead School Committee voted to proceed with a $47 million budget for the Fiscal Year 2023 that will ask residents to vote for the district's first tax override in 17 years.

The Finance Committee last week approved a $43,982,273 operating budget that was level-funded with the addition of contractual obligations and special education mandates — a 5.12 percent increase over the previous year's budget. The School Committee had sought an 11.38 percent increase to fund what it said were long-overdue updates in textbooks, technology and security needs, as well as free kindergarten and a new Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion position.

During its meeting Thursday night, the School Committee voted to add an additional $46,629 in capital improvements to the budget for a total of $47,033,366 the district now hopes the voters will support as part of what it has called a "needs-based budget."

"We have shown over the past few years," School Committee Chair Sarah Gold said Thursday night, "as we've sort of rebuilt everything and gotten administrators in, and really a solid staff, that there is a deep understanding of all of these (budget item) lines. There is nothing hidden anywhere.

"We'll continue to make this district better and better and better for the kids and the families that live in Marblehead. I am proud of this process this year. ... I'm happy that we're moving forward and voting this, and can get out and start explaining it to people over and over and over. so that everybody has that really deep understanding that we've built over the past couple of months."

Finance Committee members said two weeks ago that the budget process meant they could only
approve the budget they did on Monday and that they will consider whether to support the additional request at Monday's warrant meeting.

The pending request comes amid the backdrop of Finance Committee meeting warnings that "structural challenges" likely mean that the entire town could be asking for an override at the town meeting next year just to sustain level funding for the Fiscal Year 2024 budget.

But School Committee members have repeatedly said that a looming override vote next year should not be a reason for delaying needed improvements in the schools this year as the district pursues what Superintendent John Buckey has called the goal of an "exemplary education for the students of Marblehead."

"None of this is static," Gold said. "It just isn't. As we move through the years we will continue to identify things, the state will continue to identify things, that we'll need to put forward."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)