$585K Increase In Proposed Swampscott School Budget Revision

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — Swampscott Superintendent Pamela Angelakis proposed a 2024 school budget prior to Thursday's School Committee public hearing that was more than a half-million dollars more than town targets for a 2.2 percent increase, but still included $500,000 in to-be-determined efficiency reductions, in a budget that she said is "very rational and justifiable."

The budget presented Thursday night was $584,742 higher than the one proposed last week when the administration submitted a budget that would meet the town's guidelines but included $650,000 in savings as well as the use of nearly $800,000 in "circuit-breaker" funds. The School Committee bristled at what members called a budget to meet the town's number as opposed to fully funding the district needs, and asked Angelakis to restore up to $1.4 million in cuts and circuit-breaker fund borrowing.

The superintendent largely split the difference in the revised budget that restored some of the proposed cuts, as well as $200,000 in technology spending that officials said once came under the town's capital improvement budget but was shifted to the schools during the COVID-19 health crisis.

"After last week's budget presentation, the School Committee was frustrated that the school department is always backing into a (budget) number given to us by the general government," Angelakis told the Committee, "when building our budget vs. looking at what our needs, costs and efficiencies could be to derive a budget each year that balances all of these priorities. They tasked me with bringing forth a budget this week that would educate every student and what that would look like.

"My sense of that directive was to restore the over $1 million deficit. (School Committee Chair Glenn Paster) and I met this week and I told him I could not ask for this. Could we use every penny of that million? Absolutely. ... But we are committed to working with the town and being good fiscal partners."

Angelakis said the biggest budget driver this year is a 14 percent increase in out-of-district student reimbursements that will cost the district an extra estimated $310,577.

"That was a shock to the entire Commonwealth," she said. "And we're not the only ones struggling with that. That is the number that is coming out of circuit-breaker."

She said the other "pressure points" were facilities and technology.

She defended the most recent teacher contract that pays out a 9 percent cost-of-living increase over three years as one the teachers deserved after years of minimal increases, which she said could have been absorbed absent other factors like the reimbursement increase, and that prevented the types of school disruptions being seen in Brookline, Malden, Melrose, Woburn and other communities in recent months.

"That is something I am really proud of through my entire tenure here that we did a three-year contract, it was not nearly as contentious as the time before, and we saved a lot of money (in attorney fees) on that," Angelakis said.

Angelakis added that while efficiencies within the middle school would be examined as part of the $500,000 still to be reduced under the revised budget, no decisions had been made on specific programs or personnel cuts — contrary to some messages circulating on social media over the past week.

"I believe this is a great plan," Angelakis said. "Rather than going for everything and asking for an unrealistic ask, this is very rational and justifiable about why we are asking for this money.

"You charged me with bringing back a budget we can live with. This is one we can live with."

The School Committee will meet again on Feb. 16 to vote on accepting the budget and then attempt to work with the Finance Committee and town administration on securing the additional funding as part of the overall town budget that heads to the annual town meeting in May.

"The school district really tries to be a very good partner with the town," Paster said. "We have no choice, but we want to be a partner."

(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.)