FT 25 School Budget deliberations begin

Kindergarten Registration

Parents and guardians of young children, mark your calendars for the February 5 Open House, 6:30pm at the middle school, to learn about kindergarten registration. At this event, all five elementary school principals will present the registration process.

If you already have a child in grades K – 4 and a sibling will be entering kindergarten next year, kindergarten registration will take place February 6 – 13, 2024. For everyone else (those who have children entering kindergarteners and who do not have an elementary-aged sibling), registration will occur February 14 – 29, 2024.

SEEM Collaborative Partnership

What is the SEEM Collaborative?

The SEEM Collaborative is an educational collaborative governed by 11 public school districts. The Collaborative provides a full range of services to students in the northeast region of Massachusetts with moderate to severe disabilities. Melrose is a member of the SEEM Collaborative, and superintendents of participating communities make up the membership of the Collaborative’s school committee.

What is the partnership with the city of Melrose and Melrose Public Schools?

Melrose students can participate in SEEM programs to receive quality-driven, affordable educational programs. That is, tuition for the students enrolled in the SEEM Collaborative is considered in-district and is much less expensive than non-public, out of district placements, sometimes at an almost 50% savings.

The SEEM Collaborative’s educational facilities are located in multiple buildings in nearby towns and cities. The program’s Hurd Elementary School program is currently housed at Melrose’s Ripley elementary school and the city of Melrose receives rental income for the Ripley. Additionally, enrolled Melrose students are able to remain close to their homes rather than needing to be transported much farther away.

Franklin School

It cannot be emphasized enough how important it is that Melrose has, as part of its public school system, a facility that is providing the services that Franklin offers to our youngest students. That is, the Franklin School is the only facility that offers special education services to preschool age students in Melrose, and it provides two smaller class size kindergarten classrooms with small student-to-staff ratios that specifically address the needs of students who require this setting. Additionally, its Developmental Learning Center (DLC) program provides specialized instruction to special education students who require structured ABA-based methodology. These programs, while immensely helpful to students, also keeps more Melrose students in-district, thus significantly lowering the overall out-of-district tuition costs.

In other words, the Franklin School and SEEM Collaboratives are two of the city’s best investments in offering fiscally responsible services to our students that provide needed services in-district, reducing overall school expenses. This concept will be mirrored in the FY25 budget that reflects this approach district-wide.

FY25 School Budget Preparation

Work is well underway to develop the FY25 school budget and the Superintendent and Director of Finance presented to the school committee the FY25 budget booklet.

Budget Timeline

The final budget deliberations are tentatively scheduled for April 23, with the public hearing on the budget scheduled for March 26, 2024. This is the date that the budget will be formally presented to the public for comment and feedback. Leading up to this are a number of deliberations on the specific areas of the budget, including the elementary schools budgets, high school budget, middle school budget, special education budget, and teaching and learning budget.

Revenue

As I have documented, revenue for our schools comes from three sources: State funding (Chapter 70 funding), Offsets, and funding from the City of Melrose.

Chapter 70 Funding estimates

Melrose received a significant increase in its state funding the previous two years, and expects to receive approximately the same amount of funding for FY25 as it did in FY24. Governor Healey released her proposed FY25 budget for the state and, in that online summary (click on the Summary Chart to see information on all districts), Melrose is slated to receive $12.4 million in Chapter 70 funding (as compared to $12.1 million in FY24). While this number is not precise, Ken Kelley and Superintendent Macero have decided to use a conservative $12.1 million figure in their budget numbers for FY25.

Offset Estimates

Offsets are currently projected to be $5.6 million, a slight decrease from FY24.

What did the 2019 Override do?

In 2019, Melrose voted on a $5.18 million Proposition 2 ½ override. This raised the tax levy above the minimum 2.5% increase allowed annually, to increase the revenue received by the city for that year. Many people have asked about the status of the money raised by this vote.

First, it is important to understand that a Proposition 2 ½ override is typically used to pay for recurring operational expenses in a city or a town. That is, these funds are part of a one-time, higher than normal tax increase, but this new tax levy is the new base upon which future tax increases are calculated.

This increase in the tax revenue of a municipality is used to pay for ongoing costs for running, for example, the school department or increased staffing in a city department. That is, the majority of the funds raised in the override is used to fund an increased expense in the operating budget and, therefore, continue to fund these services today.

The City of Melrose published, in September 2019, a School Department report on the actual impact of the override funding. The override funding reflects specific investments the city and its residents agreed to make, in an ongoing way, to the school budget. Highlights of the override investments, at that time, included:

• Multiple teachers and paraprofessionals at the high school (ELL, science, math, special education) and a guidance counselor to restore the ratio of students per guidance counselor to the recommended level.
• Restoration of the team model at the middle school, along with additional teachers and a paraprofessional.
• Teachers and administrative staff at elementary schools to support a growing school population.
• Increases in funding to support the three-year contract that went into effect on July 1, 2019.
• Restoration of six subject-area Director positions for grades 6-12 to oversee curriculum, instruction and evaluation, and a K-12 Art/Music Coordinator position.
• Supplies for elementary art, physical education/wellness, health and library.
• $250,000 annually to replace the annual revenue from the Beebe School rental to the SEEM Collaborative at the conclusion of their rental agreement.
• $750,000 annually to fill the funding gap caused by the School Department’s structural deficit.
• $425,000 annually for instructional supplies and materials.
• $1,850,000 annually to fund raises and other provisions of the teachers’ current contract that was settled in FY20.
• $438,156.50 annually to pay the cost of insurance and benefits for school employees carried in the City’s annual operating budget.
• $1,466,843.50 annually funds 28.5 school staff starting in FY2020.

These positions, and their costs, continue to be maintained in the school budget. The override funds continue to provide revenue for the following positions to be provided by the Melrose Public Schools, as seen in:

In other words, the override investment continues to provide needed funds for our schools.

Expenses

To be clear, preparation for the FY25 budget must include the fact that the FY24 budget was developed knowing that a one-time request for funding would have to be made of the city council sometime during this academic year. That is, the budget that was passed by the outgoing mayor was lower than the budget voted on by the school committee by approximately $2.7 million and, while expenses are being closely monitored this school year with the hope that the schools will not need the entire $2.7 million, they will still need funds from the city to close its budget gap. It is the responsibility of the new mayor to propose a one-time funding request of the city council, and it is the city council’s responsibility to make this appropriation of funds, should they vote to do so.

This means two things: the first is that the Superintendent and Ken Kelley will present to the city council the state of the public school FY24 budget on Monday, January 29, to discuss anticipated funding needs to close out FY24, and secondly, no one wants to fund a school system like this in the long term.

If Melrose chooses to stop underfunding its schools, then it must know what it truly costs to run them, and budget accordingly. To address this, Superintendent Macero presented what he designated as a “needs based budget” for FY25. As Ken Kelley, Director of Finance, stated, they will “look at what it really [requires] to run the Melrose Public Schools as we want them to be, and what we want a Melrose Public Schools graduate to [have when they graduate.] What is the cost of running a system like that?”

In doing this, the schools continue to struggle with the “rapid increase of post-COVID costs” and the high inflation of the past few years. As Kelley stated, inflation has gone down recently, but “inflation at 4% is still over the 2 ½ % [from Prop 2 ½ limitations] that the city has to contend with.” As past articles have documented, and Superintendent Macero reinterated, “out of district tuition costs were allowed to increase as much as 14%. That’s huge…14% compared to the 2 ½ percent that we bring in, so right off the bat we’re behind the eight ball by 11.5%. And that wasn’t the only cost that continued to go up. Transportation costs continued to rise.” Additionally, he stated that, “the average vendor’s costs to the district was about a 10% increase.”

Superintendent Macero stated that he sees Melrose currently “at a critical crossroads” as we try to balance good education with growing costs. He continued, “One of the reasons that I came here…is that this community takes a lot of pride in the education…Last year you could have said ‘no we can’t fund that.’ Instead, you worked collaboratively with the city and you were able to figure out a way to fund so that we could get ourselves to this year. Now, we need to continue to do that.”

The FY25 Budget so Far

Superintendent Macero and Ken Kelley presented a “level services budget that is also needs based,” which includes specific areas with significant increases to reflect their actual needs. The two biggest drivers of these increases are the expanding overall enrollment in Melrose schools and, as Assistant Superintendent Turner stated at the last meeting, a middle school that needs to be “right sized.” The Middle School enrollment of over 900 students is currently under-staffed by approximately 15 teachers.

Additionally, the budget includes additions designed to transition a number of out-of-district services to remain in-district, a language-based program, and full equity at the elementary level such that English language learning supports are provided in all five elementary schools. Administrative support are proposed at all elementary schools to support the high level of student need that is being seen district-wide. Superintendent Macero drew on his experience in Stoneham when discussing the success of these kinds of additions in keeping students in-district in later grades, rather than needing more costly, out-of-district placements later on.

The Superintendent’s main priority, however, is the middle school and addressing staffing issues. Again drawing on his experience in Stoneham, Superintendent Macero reported that he saw an increase in math and language MCAS scores that correlated with additional supports at the middle school grades. Also, special education services are needed to address middle school students who dealt with the brunt of COVID interruptions during their elementary school years, and who now exhibit deficiencies.

Additional teachers and paraprofessionals are also included at the high school, although not at the level and intensity of these younger grades.

The FY23 to FY24 school budget increase was $4.9 million, and allowed Melrose to maintain level funding with mandated additions to the district. Now, as Superintendent Macero stated, Melrose “need[s] to systemically figure out a way to make sure that you have the budget that you need to move forward… year in and year out.” Every position, he stated, “is vital. We need the boots on the ground; we need our teachers in those classrooms.” But, he made the case for non-teacher additions to prevent “the ripple effects will start to happen,” later in a child’s schooling without the additional, early-grade services and evaluation of their impact. The entire system of schooling is structured such that all aspects work together in the best interest of providing educational services and addressing the mandates set forth by the Department of Education that all students received “a solid, equitable education.”

Acknowledging the enormity of this ask, however, he stated that, “Melrose is a really strong educational system,” and is “on the verge” of moving to the top tier. “Our issue is finances.”

To that end, the Superintendent and Mr. Kelley proposed a FY25 budget of $50,993, 011.79, rounded to $51 million. This is a $4.1 million increase in the $46.8 million FY24 operating expenses, or just over 10%. (For details on the $46.8 million number, see the December 6 article).

Remember, the three sources of income for this budget includes Chapter 70 state funding, Offsets, and money from the city of Melrose. Thus, the equation is projected to be: Total budget = Chapter 70 + Offsets + City portion, such that $50.9 million = $12.1 million + $5.6 million + $33.1 million. This means that the city portion is projected to be $33.1 million, which will be, at this time, the amount that the school committee will propose to the mayor, in the hope that the mayor includes this number in her overall budget later in May. It is then up to the city council to approve this number and to appropriate these funds, should they decide to do so.

Returning to the concept inherent in this budget to prioritize services at earlier grades that increase the ability to keep more students in-district in later grades, and save the district significant costs, Mayor Grigoraitis asked the Superintendent to estimate when the city would realize these costs savings. While Melrose won’t be able to “flip a switch” and bring a significant number of current out-of-district students into the district, over time more students will remain in district with fewer students leaving. As Jen Razi-Thomas stated, we need to invest so that, “problems don’t keep getting bigger.”

Referring to the current problems at the middle school, and the inability to currently provide enough appropriate services for students there, Dorrie Withey noted, while the budget conversations will be challenging, “it is refreshing to hear that there are academic programs we should be considering, and interventions that we should be considering, there are positions that will allow us to do right by kids.”

School committee members are hopeful that the community will take a close look at the budget booklet and will bring questions and comments as they move forward in the budgeting process. As Seamus Kelley stated, many Melrosians spoke to him about “issues at the middle school” and he appreciates that this budget addresses them. Chair Margaret Driscoll noted that this budget is, “completely student centered and student focused and aligns with our mission and vision.” The budget is a values document and speaks to what Melrose values, which is its children.

How are other school districts faring?

It is useful to assess how other districts are addressing similar cost and concerns that Melrose is facing. To put it bluntly, other districts are struggling, some quite a bit, with the same issues and the same rising expenses.

Stoneham’s superintendent recently released his FY2025 budget and stated that it would need an “8.61% increase to maintain level services.” Because the schools are anticipating only a 3% increase from the town, the district is facing what could possibly mean “a reduction [that is] equivalent of about 25 salaried positions.” This is sobering. Brockton schools have known since August that it is facing a $14 million deficit when the Superintendent stated that, “soaring costs in areas like out-of-district student placements, transportation, and staffing forced him to overspend this year’s $229 million schools budget.” For some, like the Newton Public Schools, the option has been to go on strike to address the need for increased funding. Newton teachers are looking for, among other things, better wages and more mental health services for students.

As Jen McAndrew summarized, “the things that are increasing” in Melrose public schools are enrollment, the needs of these additional students, mental health concerns, inflation, vendor costs, transportation costs, special education out-of-district tuition, and our contractual obligations. As stated previously, these costs are increasing at levels well above 2 ½ %. “What is not going up is our ability to collect additional revenue for the city at more than 2 ½ % because of the artificial limitations of Proposition 2 ½. Unless the community avails itself of the override option of Prop 2 ½, we will not be able to catch up and make up that gap.” This is about what does Melrose need as a community, including the schools, and how are we going to get there.

We’re all in this together, Melrose.