Melrose Schools In Major Budget Pickle Amid Coronavirus Crisis

MELROSE, MA — It's hard to find even a ballpark estimate of what Melrose Public Schools can expect for funding for the upcoming school year. Such a figure simply isn't available amid the coronavirus crisis's crunch on the economy.

The only certainty around the school budget is that there are going to be decisions ranging from creative to painful, and, ready or not, they are going to have to come soon.

The School Committee is on the clock to submit a budget to Mayor Paul Brodeur, who must turn in the city's operating budget to the City Council by May 17 — 45 days before the new fiscal year, per the City Charter. The School Committee has to get its proposed budget to Brodeur "within a reasonable time before the submission of the proposed operating budget to the city council," the Charter reads.

But the budget will have to be pieced together with incomplete data.

"The dollars are so uncertain that it's hard to have a conversation about it," Mayor Paul Brodeur told Patch Monday afternoon.

If the School Committee had voted on a budget April 7, which was marked as a possibility under the initial budget timeline, then getting it to Brodeur would have been a breeze. Even if the Committee were able to vote in its April 28 meeting, there would be plenty of time for Brodeur to review before shuffling along the operating budget.

The School Committee, however, all but admitted an April vote wasn't feasible in its last meeting. The only School Committee meeting scheduled between April 28 and May 17 is May 5.

In the meantime, school and city officials are holding weekly finance meetings in the hopes of conjuring some alternative budget scenarios.

"Our hope is that these alternative scenarios will be fleshed out in the coming days and weeks with reliable budget numbers, which themselves will depend on the ability of both state and local government to assess current receipts and establish shared consensus around revenue projections for the next fiscal year," School Committee Chair Ed O'Connell told Patch.

When "reliable budget numbers" will be available is anybody's guess. For now, the city must work with the information it has.

Melrose must spend nearly $45 million on education next fiscal year, with about $35 million coming from the city. The gap, which is roughly $9.5 million, was projected to be covered by the state's Chapter 70 funding, according to preliminary estimates issued by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in January. That funding, like all from state, is in flux.

"Until we know what the state is going to be able to provide by way of Chapter 70 aid — and until we know where we stand as a community in terms of our own revenue receipts — we can’t realistically prepare a budget for next year," O'Connell said. "Additionally, the hope among many is that the federal government will provide substantial financial assistance to offset the expected local and state revenue shortfalls — but that amount remains unclear at this point."

In the budget proposed in February by Superintendent Cyndy Taymore, $38 million was earmarked for teaching and learning and $7 million was set for school-related city services, such as DPW maintenance and nurses.

That budget was presented more than a month before schools shut down due to the coronavirus threat.

The murkiness surrounding what the budget isn't politics as usual. Brodeur, who spent years at the State House working on the budget process, said this is an "economic calamity."

"The normal ebb and flow of politics around the budget just doesn't apply," he said.

If one squints, there may be a silver lining. The precariousness is forcing a high level or collaboration through each step of Melrose's school budget process. That could grease the skids for when it gets on Brodeur's desk.

"Given the fiscal uncertainty, we’re trying hard to focus on what we actually know and can control, locally, day-to-day, with the key watchwords being communication, cooperation, and collaboration - and so far, Mayor Brodeur’s leadership style seems very well-suited to the circumstances at hand," O'Connell said.

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