Methuen School Committee 4-22-2026

001Mhm. >> Good evening. The school committee budget workshop of April 22nd, 2026 will now come to order. This meeting is being recorded and will be made available for viewing on the Methuen public schools website. I'll ask member Donovan to call the roll. Present. Yep. Here. And I'm here, too. Oh, I apologize. I am present as well, folks. I can't hear if Mary Beth's uh uh mic wasn't on. Next, we need a motion and a second to accept our agenda. So moved. Second. Motion's from member Bayers, seconds from member Keegan. Any discussion? There's no discussion. We'll take a roll call vote on accepting the agenda. Got to get it right. Okay. Member Keegan. Yes. Member DeZoglio. Yes. Member Sirois. Yes. Member Willette. Yes. Mayor Beauregard's, member Donovan is a yes, and member Bayers. >> Yes. All

002right. And at this point, we will uh stand for the flag salute. Next, we have public participation. Uh we don't have anybody in the audience tonight, and I don't think we've received anything in writing, so I will close public participation. If you are unable to attend a school committee meeting in person, uh you can email uh Susan Shanti at [email protected] before 3:00 p.m. on the day of the school committee meeting. So, on tonight's agenda, we only have one item, uh the proposed uh fiscal year 27 budget, a discussion about that. I'll pass it off to the superintendent, and then we can take it from there to continue our discussion. So, just last week, we shared the binders with you of our preliminary proposal for FY27, including the the articulated requests and the rationale for those,

003um and also our level service budget. And I I believe we've been in contact with all of you over the course of the week, um and we appreciate um the questions and you looking deeper into the budget. Um and I I'm hoping today for a healthy discussion where uh we're able to put forth some priorities or some programming that we want protected, knowing that we'll need to inevitably make some um reductions along the way. Uh so, um what I can do to maybe help guide the discussion is that um in terms of our our planning, the number for the school department, uh as everyone knows, needs to fit within the broader context of the full complete uh citywide budget that the council will be receiving on May 8th. Um we're still working through uh the

004specifics on that front, um and I'm not prepared to make any uh definitive announcements about uh where we're at with that tonight, given the fact that it's not going to the council uh for another couple days, but um what I can share is that uh we're dealing with an extremely difficult budget cycle, um I think we've all seen that coming. Uh we've seen a reduction in terms of federal aid. Uh the state, uh as member Willette has referenced many times, just is not keeping up with rising costs that uh school districts and municipalities across the Commonwealth are facing. And if you're looking at the initial uh budget that's been shared, you know, we're looking at mostly an attempt at a level service budget. And last year, the amount was 110.6 million, and now at this

005point, just to maintain this uh degree of level services, we're looking at 123 million, right? And so, if you follow that year over year, that's an increase from 110.6 to over 123. We're able to uh tax up to 2 and 1/2%, right? When it comes to new growth and all these different uh aspects of uh taxation. And so, clearly, the increase year over year just to maintain level services is nowhere close to that framework that we're we're required to work within as a municipality per Prop 2 and 1/2. And the challenge that we have in Methuen, and we talk about this every year, it's that you know, there are municipalities like Arlington that recently approved an override of Prop 2 and 1/2. Uh Brookline is looking at more than $23 million Prop 2 and 1/2

006override. This is something that other municipalities do regularly. Some of them, I think Arlington, they've done this from what I can recall, it's been more of an annual thing that they do this. And in Methuen, the difference in Methuen is that given our socioeconomic makeup, right? We're not a Lexington, we're not a we're not a Brookline. And, you know, our our residents are already tapped out, as I mentioned, from uh this terrible affordability crisis that we're dealing with. And so, uh that conversation about Proposition 2 and 1/2 and and override, that's just a nonstarter in Methuen. There's no expectation uh that that would even be uh considered seriously uh by the residents, and I completely understand. So, given that we have these rising costs year over year, just looking at it from a level service

007standpoint, for the schools, but also for all these other departments on the city side, federal aid's going down, state aid is not rising at a fast enough clip to keep up with these cost increases that we're seeing, uh and an override is out of the question. And so, what I've had to do uh with the CAFO and HR on the city side, is we've been looking at each department, and ultimately, we have a number that we need to fit everything into. And so, we we've been making some very difficult uh decisions and having to literally just make all of these departments and all of these expenditures fit into that number. And so, you know, ultimately, uh that is going to result in a downsizing of our government. There's just no way around that, uh unless

008people are thinking maybe on the city council front that there might be an appetite for an override. I don't think so. I would not be in favor of that. Um free cash is something that, you know, sure we have uh over $20 million in free cash. That's a great financial position for the city, but that's something that does not provide for recurring revenue that we can rely on year after year, and so it is very unhealthy uh to use even a portion of that. And we we did that last year, and we may have to do it again this year, but that's not sustainable, either. And so, you know, we're at this point uh where uh without an override, without significant increase in state aid, you know, we're in a we're in a tight spot.

009And I think we all recognize that. And so, uh there will be difficult decisions made here, difficult decisions made on the city side, across all departments, and uh we're going to figure it out. We'll get there, uh but I don't want to sugarcoat any of that. Um, so with that uh in terms of context, uh we can discuss further uh what we're looking at. Uh something that would be very helpful, I think for uh the um acting superintendent and her team, it's going to be to provide some direction where okay, if we're looking at uh obviously the concept of the level service uh amount uh is something that's not going to be even close to uh where we're going to be able to end up landing. You know, I think the conversation with leadership needs

010to be okay, what are the priorities in terms of direction. I think that's going to be a very helpful aspect of this conversation. Um, so with that, I'll open it up. Uh but I just wanted to I guess start it off by sharing some straight talk. Member Walcott? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Obviously last year, we incurred a structural deficit that had to be shored up by the municipality. And it might be uh entailing a municipal uh assistance to us for free cash again. That's what I envision. Uh but also if you look at the state level, what the state has in terms of a surplus, um it's approaching it's at least 8 billion dollars. The millionaires tax incurred a surplus. Um we need to have what's called a home Excuse me, a hold harmless provision.

011Um so any cutbacks from the federal government, we need to have a hold harmless provision. Um the amendments that I'm reviewing right now at the state level uh are not very favorable to us. Uh there was one amendment that would increase uh circuit breaker uh threshold for reimbursement to 90% from 75% Um there's talk about having a special education reserve fund and having the power given to the school committee. And also uh dealing with the Chapter 70 inflation adjustment, uh but it's very marginal. It's in years past, it was about 200 to 300 million dollars. And it's really just a marginal amount of 125 million dollars based on my estimates. Uh so the resources, obviously in years past, we've we've talked about this. You have a rainy day fund at the state level. You have

012the millionaires tax. You have casinos. You have DraftKings. Um you have an income tax. You have all these different mechanisms. The local level, as the mayor indicated, uh proposition two and a half is off the table for an override. Um the meals tax, uh there's no amendment to deal with literacy programs and maybe helping with our libraries and giving us a tool to just do an uptick on the meals tax. I didn't see that with the amendments being filed. There were about 1,800 amendments at the State House on the house side. Maybe the Senate will file an amendment. I think in years past, the Senate has been more favorable for Chapter 70 and circuit breaker. Um obviously if anybody looks at a report, um we have to front load special education transportation costs. Uh and

013then we get reimbursed the following year. We're only one of six states that do that process. Uh obviously we're grateful that they're starting to help fund uh special education transportation reimbursement, but it's simply not enough. So as we're having this ongoing conversation, it's going to be a combination probably of major cutbacks, a structural deficit that'll have to be shored up, major assistance from the state, uh a Hail Mary pass. But again, realize what the state has for tools at its disposal as opposed to what the municipality has. We don't have the same tools. We don't have the same surplus. We don't Again, casinos, DraftKings, um the pot dispensaries. There's a lot of funding that's going into the state level that we're not able to obtain. Um so it's going to be something that we'll have

014ongoing conversations, but people should be aware that the focus should be at the State House at the current moment. Thank you. Member Keegan? So my biggest concern right now is that we're about 8 and a half million dollars difference from the money that we are given and the level services that we have, right? And any money coming from the state that we're going to get extra is going to happen after the City Council passes their budget. So our budget has to cut 8 and a half million dollars from what we have right now. And [snorts] that's not just a couple teachers, right? Like we're not looking at oh, we can cut a teacher here, cut a teacher there. We're This is like massive restructuring of what we have. Um and this is going to be

015devastating, but this is what we are going to have to do. And then we're going to need to have a list of things that if the state comes through with some money, this is the order in which we're going to be able to put things back. Um and I I don't think that that's like the magnitude, I don't think is understood by a lot of people. Um but we are looking at like 8 and a half million dollars of a deficit. Thank you. Other comments, discussion? Member DeZoglio, our vice chair, anything to add or ask? Yes, Mayor. Thank you. Um There's two things. Uh all of us knew this was coming from last year. Um so I know even though we're using words like devastating, we all know that this was coming. And um hopefully

016we prepared for it. I mean, for majority of it, it has been nine months of discussions. Um and being on the council prior, I was very vocal on, you know, using the rainy day fund as we call it here or free cash. And we did receive an extra 3 million at the end. Um so I we're going to have to make some really tough decisions. And I really don't want to impact jobs, but that's going to end up being where we probably have to go or programs. Um one question I do have for you, Mayor, is I know a lot of this money might come later on. Are you guys looking at potentially a 1/12 budget at all? And I know I'm a big proprietor of it and I've always said that that to help

017us to get through some of this, a 1/12 budget might be um a way that we can get through uh without cutting too many jobs right up front. Is that something you're considering at all? Uh so it's not an active consideration at this point. Uh the uh considerations that are currently active just in terms of our own discussions, uh we're in the midst of talks with the PEC regarding health insurance. That's an ongoing conversation. Uh there's an opportunity for savings there that we're trying to work with them on. Um and then beyond that, there are different tools that I'm trying to establish so that we can have uh some new buttons to push, so to speak, on the dash uh that will enable us to generate some savings. Uh for instance, uh I have an

018ask of the City Council to consider letting me petition the legislature to establish an early retirement incentive uh for the city, uh which could potentially save us not only on uh salaries for folks who have been here for some time, uh but also saving us from a longevity standpoint potentially. Beyond that, uh we're looking at uh things that we may have to talk with the unions about. Um but, you know, ultimately uh the goal is to try to have as many structural structural, excuse me, structural reforms as possible uh at the ready so that we are able to generate savings through some potentially non-traditional means. Another thing as well uh that is uh very much an active conversation is utilizing revenue from the sale of municipal property. I've been sharing information about the Oakland Avenue

019school. Uh so we have opportunity with that, the PV, the courier. Granted, that's going to have to go towards uh capital upgrades for the schools and not necessarily to the budget, but uh the long and short of it is that we're trying to go through every aspect of the proverbial uh couch cushions to find added savings and opportunity to generate new revenue and the like um without having to entertain things like a 1/12 that that certainly carries with it, as you know, significant uh implications more broadly speaking, but you know, at At of the day, uh all options need to be on the table and we can't shut the door on any one know, that's something that may potentially at some point be point of discussion, but at this point the focus is more on

020finding some structural reforms and savings so that we can try to get ourselves into a more sustainable position over the long term rather than focusing on any short-term band-aids, but it's a good question and as I mentioned every option should be on the table. Last question I have here too, Mayor, is when will we have your number officially locked up? So at this point I have shared with the superintendent that given all of the adjustments I'm making across the city, we're looking at a major reduction in government size and spending on the city side. And with that factored in, we're looking right now at a school number of approximately just shy of 114 million dollars. Which is a >> 10 million, right? Well, something to keep in mind is that that would be a 3%

021year-over-year increase from last year. Um that is over net school spending. However, it is nowhere close to the number that is being presented in terms of level service. And so this is something that last year the city side was largely immune from issues say related to reduction in force, things like that. This year that is not the case given the skyrocketing cost of whether it's health insurance, just overall every department is seeing a need for additional resources and as I referenced at the outset given the fact that we've seen a reduction in federal support, state aid is not even keeping up at say the two and a half number that we're all expected to be held to. Um you know, we're in for a difficult time here. But then again, you know, I think we

022we see these times you know, once every decade or so where there needs to be significant adjustment and and this is no different than for instance what we saw back around the time of 2008 2009 during the Bill Manzi days. Similar situation now. Thank you, that is all. Yeah, thank you. Member Bias. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, through you. >> [clears throat] >> Addressing you all, my distinguished colleagues, there's two words that you said, Mr. Mayor, that struck me deeply and it was structural reform. I believe you're right. I believe that structural reform and proactive thinking can move this district forward with long-term planning. Non-traditional avenues, creative paths can move us from being reactionary and having discussions that are 9 months knowing that we're going to have a devastating budget season to being proactive in the

023ways that we reform our system and I know for example for me personally if we do end up needing to use free cash or a means of injecting funds into our budget, I wouldn't I wouldn't want it to be a reactionary effort to cover let's say salaries or or operating budgets. But more so of an investment of ways where we could find a path forward to create a situation where in the long term our district is saving money at least. So whether that means making bold decisions as school committee, as city council, as as yourself, Mr. Mayor, it's important to make decisions, bold decisions, and not simply be reactionary. So I would like to ask Assistant Superintendent um Ms. Bozak, if it is possible to look at our special education program. And this is a

024conversation, by the way, that has been had for previous years with other school committee members, um constituents, counselors, that I believe needs to seriously be considered. Cuz yes, this is a a bleak time, but it's also an opportunity. It's also an opportunity. So I would like to ask to see if there is a possibility where we can find a way to invest in our schools in a way that's going to create cost savings in the means of special education and bringing out of out of district placements. Um Not necessarily back into the district, but preventing them from going outside in the first place. And I'm I know there was a proposal in the past. Um but is there a is is is it a possibility so that we could have that and and maybe consider

025if we do have to go to free cash, be it for an investment. So the short answer is yes. I can I have been working on that plan because it already exists from last year. So just updating it for this year and then I can present it to the committee for review. Thank you. The second thing and this is a question for you, Mr. Mayor, is not necessarily looking at millions of dollars in cost savings or or revenue generating mechanisms, right? It's what we can tackle at one time is a bus stop arm system, right? I know that there were conversations. Um and at at worst it could be a public safety increase and social benefit for our community and at best and and cost neutral and at best um maybe perhaps revenue generating. So

026is is there an update on that process and or is that a serious consideration? Yes, so thank you, Member Bias, for the question. So it is very much a serious consideration and it's well along from a process standpoint. So I had been in touch with representatives from a company called Bus Patrol, one of the leaders in terms of Massachusetts. Actually, they have an active presence in a more than outside of New England, so more than one state. Um but the issue that we have run into is I had a conversation with the Inspector General, Jeff Shapiro, and one of the questions that I had for him was this is relatively novel, it's new, a newer system because of the fact that the legislature only recently adopted this legislation that provides for the local option. So

027we took advantage of the local option last year, I believe, at some point and we accepted this provision that allowed for the establishment of such a program. And according to my conversation with the Inspector General directly, he shared that although this is new, there's no specific procurement exemption for that type of program. And so although for instance the Bus Patrol folks have said, well, you know, there's sole source, different considerations, the Inspector General highly uh was uh highly suggestive of going out to bid for that service. And so the bid specs are in the works with the first assistant city solicitor, Haley Reissman. This has been a project that she's been working on. And so we're at a point now where we are on the cusp of going out to bid for that service. And

028so that's something that we can most certainly incorporate as one of those reforms looking ahead to fiscal year '27. And the thought at least that I had at the outset would be that that's something that if we were to set up perhaps something like a revolving fund using the revenue generated by those tickets, that's something that perhaps we could have allocated towards school transportation costs, which would be probably not a major relief, but at the same time every little bit helps. And so that is something that is well along and it's a great idea. Another thing as well that we've had extensive conversations about and again just leaning on you know, playing it safe from a procurement standpoint is solar. Having this conversation about bringing on the solar projects and that is right alongside that

029Q4 procurement with the assistant city solicitor. So between school bus stop arms and the solar aspect legal is uh on the cusp of being able to go out to bid for these services that we can then account for as potential savings for next year. I I to add on that very quickly. The drop-off point is July because of the the big beautiful bill. Right. >> So, for the tax incentives for those companies. >> the Yeah. >> you know, we got to be very careful of that that we lock that in for that company, whatever who is the victorious bidder. It's going to be something we have to really keep an eye on cuz now it's crunch time. Right. Well, that I think is going to be um key from the standpoint of that federal legislation,

030but I think overall, too, is something to keep in mind. You know, there's a there's a book that um I would highly recommend. It was written by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, I think from the New York Times, that talked about the future of solar and about how, you know, even in spite of some of these issues at the federal level, these investments in solar now are very likely to reap dividends in terms of energy savings over the long term looking ahead to the 2030s and beyond uh just as a as a energy concept. And so, I think that getting after it now is key for July, for sure, but I think over time this is something that uh is going to be beneficial for us. I just want to add to Yeah. I don't

031have the technical expertise. We might defer to leadership in Methuen and our own um municipal leaders on the DPW or engineering. Um can we bypass the middleman and and buy these products and have our team install it or subcontract it out even on the small scale? And and walk them up to some of our buildings. Is that something that we Cuz if we're dealing with these large vendors and again, the first presentation, I thought was like uh equivalent to a used car salesman. And I was very uh appreciative that you decided to go back to the well and have a second presentation. I am concerned about the timeline and I want to lock in the incentives uh in federal law that's going to change come uh July, but also looking at if we directly purchase

032and have our men or subcontract it out to bypass the middleman and derive direct savings. If that's something maybe other communities have done, something to explore. Yeah, I know Beverly's done a lot uh along similar lines. I I think uh in terms of our staffing capabilities at this point that could be a challenge, but nevertheless, something uh that we could certainly discuss with uh Director Bauer and uh see if that's something that we could incorporate as part of this broader conversation as we're going out to bid for uh a contract so we can lock it in ahead of July. The key's going to be in terms of the procurement is that uh we need to have that uh vendor relationship established and projects identified before that deadline. And so, uh given the fact that uh

033we are nearing that point of uh going out to the market. I think uh I'm confident in the timeline, at least where we are now. Uh but definitely a conversation that we'll have with DPW. I like that idea. Thank you. Um Member choice? Um I just had a question probably through you to um Ms. Bozack. For the student services secretary, I know that you have asked for one every year and it's a des- perately needed, especially for your transportation. Would you consider a half-time secretary? Yes. As opposed to a full-time secretary? Yes. And my other question was um and I had met with Ian the other day and he's going to also get me the answer to his half-time secretary that he's requesting. That's a position that we need to fill. Yeah. >> And I

034was I my question to you and I I mean I know you've been busy and I I'm not putting you on the spot. I know you're going to let me know, but just so the committee knows that I asked him what has been paid for the substitute secretary who's filling in for that position that um needs to be filled. So, I I'm waiting for him to get that information from Ian, but just so the committee knows that a bookkeeper Excuse me, bookkeeper. Thank you. Um I'm also also waiting for the committee to get that information as well. Thank you. Something to share is an idea and this is something that uh I don't think I mentioned I mentioned maybe in passing, but it might be helpful. Um we have in Methuen the senior tax work-off

035program. And we have a list of people who are chopping at the bit to be a part of that and to provide services to the city in various capacities. The challenge is that at least at City Hall we have more people who are interested in participating in that program than we have actual work functions available. And this is something that uh it's it's interesting because a lot of the folks who are part of the program, in some cases, we have retired teachers. We have retired accountants in some cases, people who come from uh different uh lines of work and have different experiences. And uh the beauty of the program is that uh these seniors are able to provide up to a certain amount of hours each year in terms of actual uh service to the

036city and they do that in return for an abatement on their property taxes, but in terms of the amount that's abated, it's roughly $2,000 for that person for the entire year to provide up to uh you know, a certain amount of hours in service. So, it might behoove us to take a look at maybe uh any administrative functions that we could maybe use some of these folks who are really chopping at the bit to to be involved. And we talked too about um the need for even like substitutes, things like that. Uh this could be a way for us to have additional help uh but do so in a very cost-effective way uh that we may not be taken advantage of at this point. Just a thought. I I'm just to um touch on that.

037Do you know if there are any bilingual people on that list? I I'm not sure, but I I would imagine that, you know, if we were able to get the work If we are able to identify areas where we have needs, uh that's something that if we are to uh try to fill that, you know, I think it would behoove the city to maybe advertise that opportunity a little more loudly uh so that we can get more folks who might be interested in helping. So, you know, that's something that I'd have to check uh with uh the HR director to see uh what the list looks like in terms of capacity, but you know, that could be a great opportunity. And the other thing, I don't know if if it would be something we could

038do again for Ms. Bozack, probably this question, but for different meetings, we need translators for different We have like 18, 20 different languages in our system. I'm not sure what the number is right now, but I know it's pretty high. 22? 22. I mean, we're always looking for translators to sit in on meetings and that for families. I mean, that maybe that's another thing if we could find out we may have volunteers that speak, you know, Italian or, you know, other languages uh you know, besides Spanish. I mean, there's always a need for that. So, I don't know if that's something we could do, but just another thought. >> Right. And and this could be an example of another structural change where, you know, we have this program available. Uh it is a huge value

039to residents who are dealing with, as we referenced, the affordability issues and, you know, rising taxes and all these different factors. And uh you know, the the these uh people who are part of that program, and I would imagine others if we were to make the opportunity more widely available within the schools, uh you know, it's a win-win where we're able to fill gaps on our end, but also it's a benefit for the residents as well. Uh Member Donovan? I have some specific questions. Maybe Mr. Gosling can help me out, please. I'll do my best. >> Yeah, I know you will. I know you will. I'm just curious in the here and now, the House Ways and Means budget proposal is out. Have you had a chance to I know nothing is set and and

040I know there's some differences with the governor's budget. Have you had a chance to look at it to give any perspective cuz there seems to be some differences, not a lot, but some stuff maybe it would be close. >> everything I can get on I can see on it. >> Yeah. But nothing's really broken down to the district level. That's my Yeah, that's my concern. >> mean, they're showing big pots of this and big pots of that, but when it filters down to the community, how much of that are we going to get, if anything? That's >> [clears throat] >> So, I just looked um circuit breaker, if it went to 90%, that's almost 2,000 uh $2 million increase for us. It's like one between 1.8 and 1.9 million dollar increase for us, which would

041be great. Um So, that's that's a known if they they bump it up to 90%. Um but other than that, I they don't give you They're really talking at the state level and once that's passed, I imagine they'll shake it out and we'll get another spreadsheet. Yeah, and then we wait for the Senate. And Right. We usually have a little more that we usually get a little more money when the you know, after the Senate. Um I I just that would give us, I think, a little bit of glimmer looking at the numbers because there are some differences from what the governor proposed. I'm very grateful we are not living in the western part of our state right now. >> say it it's more promising than it has been in the past. >> I know

042and I I >> like for the last, I mean, I've been here 12 years. Of those 12 years, 10 of them, whatever the government put forward was our budget. You know, there was very very little change. But, at least we're starting to see I mean, last year and again this year, we're seeing stuff being added to the budget, even if it's for this fiscal year. Yes. You know. So, at least it's it's favorable in that in that And it's an election year, so You took the words out of my mouth. Yeah. With this budget, we're going in a direction that for the schools at least, I don't know the city, you know, the municipal side, we are going in a better direction than we've had, as you said, in some past years, specifically it looks

043like with chapter 70 and circuit breaker. But, we don't know. How do we push like How can We need to have a sense of urgency in this city. There's a couple other bright spots, too. Um the the House Ways and Means budget is compared to the preliminary with the supplement of $160 per pupil >> Right. minimum is exciting. Uh, and the idea of What would that translate to us? I mean, off the top of I know. Who's got a calculator? >> 160 times that number yet. Okay. Um, but sizable increasing. Yeah, that is that jumped right out at me. Um unrestricted general government aid, circuit breaker reimbursement, um, there's a lot of things that make me feel a little bit better. But, to your point, member Keegan, these are these are tough times. Um Okay,

044so is there any way to kind of fast track this, or is that just crazy? Just do you have an idea like how the breakdown comes to the city? I know I'm looking at you, Mr. Goslin, you always give me hope. They haven't even voted it yet. >> I know they haven't, but I'm not sure that I'm going to predict how they're going to vote, never mind how they're going to split it up when they're done. Yeah, I'm I'm always intrigued by the split. >> I'm quick, but I'm not that quick. >> Yeah, I know. >> [laughter] >> And I'm grateful this is an election year. Okay, so that said, maybe we just all need to I know we all have really good relationships with our state reps and our senators, and so maybe that's

045part of the the secret sauce. Mayor, I'd like to know I understand free cash. I understand why you are making it very clear you're protecting it. I get it. I get it. And free cash can only be one shot deals. We're not going to use it to pay salaries. I know some communities slipped that baby through, but we're not going to do that. Have you talked to the superintendent and Mr. Goslin and Ms. Bozack, is there anything we could steal away from free cash that is a one shot deal? So, if I may share one of the things that the superintendent did share is that we in the last go around I worked on identifying one time expenditures, especially in the context of special ed. And so, they have identified five students who are going

046to be aging out of out of district placements during the upcoming school year, and collectively those five students uh between the five of them, $618,478.27. Is that included in here? And that's for five students. >> Okay. Um, and that just that speaks to the And that insane cost of special out of district placements. Um, but that's one example of something that would be a one time expenditure that we could look at. Um but, you know, beyond that, the key is really to find uh those other one time opportunities, and that's something that we'll continue to discuss. But, that right out of the gate is one of the most prominent areas that we looked to last year, as well. Do you Mr. Goslin, just out of curiosity, do you remember any of the other one shot

047deals we were able to access free cash with? Um, I can come up with a real lot of one shot deals, but they're not in our budget right now. Okay. So, like we have a lot of building maintenance stuff, a lot of that would be one time things. I didn't put in the budget cuz I know we can't afford it. I get you. You know, so I mean, we could get it done, but it's not going to reduce our budget, you know. >> And that's good information for us. I appreciate that. And I know we used some of that money last year for some really serious concerns in our our buildings. So, okay. Right. My third question is you you made a kind of a a reference to some dark days in Methuen when there

048were some real budget issues. And I honestly can't remember you talked about Mayor Manzi's. Was that when everyone was asked to take a pay freeze? Was that the year? Okay. Yeah, that that was that was a widespread reduction. Um And we were facing a lot of Well, obviously Right, that was the that was the time of the Great Recession. Um So, yeah, that that's the last just going back in terms of you know, trying to find another recent budget year that was as difficult as what we're looking at this year, it's going back to that time. And I know I did observe I watched a little bit of the council meeting last night and the conversation about early retirement on the municipal side. Is that it's probably too late and we have to deal with

049and the state MTRSS, I can't imagine. Would that be an option? Would it make a difference if there was some sort I know we offered it once a while ago, but it wasn't it wasn't a really great package. I think it was just some money and retire it wouldn't have anything to do with years of service, all that stuff. That's what we had offered in the past was that one time payment from the district to incentivize retirements. I I believe we had very few takers, if any. Cuz it wasn't a great deal. Right. Well, we're we're on the brink of a new contract and that was attractive and um MTRS people have in mind where they'd like to land on the scale. So, I think in order for that to have any significant movement, it

050would have to come from MTRS. I I can't help but wonder if they're not thinking of that as I don't know of any school district that isn't really, you know, banging its head against the wall right now trying to figure out how we're going to continue. Um, but that's nothing in our purview, so frankly, if it's not in our purview, I don't think we should be talking about it tonight. I think we need to have a um real sense of urgency. Um, something that's I think sometimes lacking in um in government. Um, and you know, I I heard what member Bias said, you know, we've talked about this constellation thing for three How many? I don't know. It's definitely last year. Um I I appreciate having bold decisions made in tough times. I think right

051now we're in survival mode. But, I think we need to have a strategic plan in place once we figure out what we're doing here and once we know what the state is giving us. And we also have to keep in mind we have families, we have kids, we have staff who are all going to we're all going to ratchet it up really soon. Um and they need to know that we're acting in their best interest. And that's where the tough decisions are. I really think we need to be looking at revenues that we can generate. I don't know what we can do, but let's think about it down the road. Um, and that could be with creating the day school that has been brought up a gazillion times. Member Keegan, to your credit, [music] and

052now member Bias. So, um I hope we can find some one time deals in our budget that we could access the money, because I think that's why we have that fund. So, I don't I don't even know if it's worth looking for positions to cut right now, cuz it we don't know enough. I think because we have a short period of time to get this done, we have we have internally taken some passes at this already. Um trying to maintain what we think is an optimal class size um, considering life as we know it for teachers and students without too much um adjustment. So, we we've made some headway, but we still have um miles to go. My last question, and I'm sorry. Um the things we typically look at class size, do we need

053to see if we if we up that nobody wants to do it, but do we up class size? Do we want to talk one more time about cutting bus routes? None of the conversations we want to have, but ways where we would find money. Why is everyone staring at Mr. Goslin when we do this? No, but like do we need to have these conversations now? I mean, obviously the ala carte stuff, there's a few things we desperately need, but do we start saying, "Okay, we'll cut them." only to have the state ride in again and save the day, like they did last year, and they state deserves a lot of credit for that. Maybe that's a good place to start if there and we took notes last meeting, and as you've been talking, I've been

054noting as well. But, is there are there areas on that ala carte list that you think are absolutely essential for this coming school year, or should we wait and defer? Um or are there any areas in the budget that you know or believe to have been really successful in in producing the student outcomes that we desire and that you would be really fearful of losing? That may give us a good starting place. So, uh I do want to recognize I know um the vice chair has his hand up. We'll hear from member Bias and then from the vice chair. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, through you. Um So, yeah, so as you mentioned at the beginning of your remarks, Mr. Mayor, it'd be good to give the administration um direction in terms of where our priorities

055are and I think that's what the administration is is asking for. Um before I, you know, say what I where this budget is in in terms of priorities, where I'm at. Um I know we received an email this afternoon um Madam Superintendent about uh member Willette's request for comparable districts administration costs uh expenditures. So, just for context purposes, before we even get into um what the priorities are, could you just give the community a a little context to to member Willette's request and where we are as a district in terms of administration expenditures? Yes. Yes, member Willette had requested um some comparable data in terms of our uh administrative expenditures and I I did found find a really useful resource um that the most recent year was 2024, so that was the data that I

056pulled. Um and so of the 395 districts listed Methuen ranked 388 in terms of administrative expenditures for the district. Um and that equated to $408 per pupil. And so I shared with you the the spreadsheet so you could see the disparity between the districts. I believe the [snorts] highest was knocking on $3,000 per pupil. So, that would be 388 out of 395. Um I think we're the only uh urban district or district of our size in that quartile. Uh and then there was another category uh one by function code. It was for instructional coaches who are unit B and don't necessarily evaluate but serve a lot of that the purpose of how we use administrators to model lessons, support teachers on the ground, uh making sure the quality of instruction and materials is what we

057would desire. Um so, Methuen has zero instructional coaches uh and I shared with you the full table, but some of our urban peers um such as Revere has 35, Salem, Mass. 34, Malden 11, and Haverhill 25. Um so, those were just the comparables that I pulled. Thank you and I appreciate you sharing that for context. Um my second point out of three, so I apologize. Um my second point is to the sense of urgency that we need that member uh Donovan Grassi brought up. Um and I want to appreciate the letter uh Madam Superintendent that you wrote to um Senator Payano's office. Um I I think that I think that was a great initiative and I thank you for that. And I wonder I know that the most powerful tool is having one-to-one conversations, advocating

058but I wonder if, you know, as an institution as a school committee we could draft perhaps a resolution to send a letter of our own in of our own with that sense of urgency implied in in a letter of of asking for you know, whether that be the 90% reimbursement fee or whatever we feel um is necessary. I know it's symbolic. I know it doesn't bring real dollars back necessarily but it's to that point of urgency and it shows the community where we're at in terms of advocacy. So, um perhaps that's something that I will bring up in our next meeting is a letter and a resolution to to to pass that. Um So, so thank you for that sense for that for that for that comment. And lastly for me in this budget um

059I know uh Assistant Superintendent Bosak, you mentioned that we're in compliance finally with evaluations and and timelines um and that's awesome. But I would really hate to see the delivery of services um having to have contracted services that that increase our budget instead of reduce it. Um and compensatory services as well just because, you know, whether we have to cut or not be able to add and that's why this this investment in a in re- in restructuring our special education program is important. But I'll keep that separate from the budget talks. For me, it's being able to provide the services that students need. Thank you, member Bias. It's a great idea. Uh we'll hear from the vice chair. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and and and I have a few notes. Uh first off, everything that

060everyone has said so far is is um right on to what we need to do right now is thinking about one, the services that we need for our students but also growth opportunities that bring back costs or or or uh I wouldn't say income back to Methuen. And and I know we've been talking about it for over at least five or six years, but I think there has to be uh and this goes to the Superintendent um Bosak. There has to be some sort of number out there that would be the the dollar amount that we would need to kick off the day school program in Methuen. Do we have any inkling of the investment that that would need to take? So, last year the proposal that was presented was $2.4 million. And I'm assuming

061with inflation and cost that's over that's that's higher this year, right? Um so, I'm waiting for the final I have um I'm working on that proposal, so I'm hoping to have that with to you all soon um so that I can give you that real number. And that wouldn't kick off day one. I'm assuming that would be for like school year 2028 at this 2027-2028 budget, correct? >> Nope, the the goal would be to kick it off for the 2026-2027 school year. So, we would be able to transition all those services into Methuen by September. No, we have to invest to build the program and then work to bring students back. So, no, the students wouldn't be transitioning back um that school year and that is has to be a collaborative process with the parents

062because the parents have the final say on returning those students to in-district programming. Which I would assume would start kicking off in the 2027-2028 school year, correct? That's when we would try, correct. Yeah. So, we need to invest to bring back and to see executed by 2027-2028. Correct. So, that that is more of a likelihood than anything else I could see happening right now. I'm we've been talking about solar projects for the last I mean, since Bob Vogler was here, for God's sake. Um Ian, Gina, you've been talking about, you know, having a secretary for a few years. And and to be fair, I actually have that note here. Mayor, you're right, the senior center program is an awesome opportunity here for substitutes and or um the type of clerk work that currently City Hall

063utilizes for. Uh the last thing I would bring up is Lowell and I want to say Springfield have done away with giving buses to to students in high school. Have we looked at cutting bus routes yet in in any of your atriums, Ian? Like have we started proposing anything like that? I know the number's down, by the way, in school buses. Like the number of students using the buses. Um but have we started looking at which routes have less students? Well, um last year I I did go through of every student who lived within a mile of the building. Um if we stopped them from having a bus, how many kids would that affect? And we came up with about 200 students across the district. Um vast majority of those um you guys would consider

064their walk to school would be unsafe. Um So, and it 200 spread over the 90 routes we have would not have ever reduced us a bus. Um so, we did do that. State regulations do say does say that we do not need the city does not require is not required to transport kids between grades 7 and 12. I am not recommending that um but I don't think that's a a political fight many people want to have. So, uh yeah, we have looked at it. Um there's no favorable answer to that right now. Well, I I know Mayor, your partnership with Meva is starting to kick up a little bit and Lowell uses public transportation for their high school students in the city of Lowell. Um I mean, is there any partnerships that we can do

065here for more public transportation? Yes, so that's a conversation that I've had with Noah Burger, who is the president of Meva. Um so, we do have several students at the high school level that utilize Meva to get to and from school. The challenge that they have is that uh one of the questions I had, this was actually last year when we were having this conversation with them about how um you know, could we have more of like a designated Meva route for our students to help alleviate some of our transportation cost issues. And the challenge for Meva is that uh they are fare-free and they are only able to be fare-free and qualify for the grant funding to uh provide that service if they make their services available I'm about to sneeze. I'm sorry, my

066allergies are killing me. Um they they can only qualify for this grant funding if they uh provide this service to the general public. And so, it's not like they can have designated routes uh for say students in any of the municipalities that they work with. But, that's not to say that students can't uh partake in their services and and many do. I don't know how many exactly, Superintendent, but um that is something that uh folks do currently utilize. I know we're not a city that and again, I don't want to put it back on the parents, but if we're not going to ask for prop two and a half, which is not something I am advocating for we need to look at other areas where we have to charge, unfortunately. And I know some cities

067have gone to sports, they've gone to the bussing and there's opt-out programs, exemption programs that could be added into it. I don't want to be that person. But if it's about getting a good education and having an you know, an extracurricular I don't want to cut extracurricular, but at some point we have to unfortunately, look at some of those discussions and I know we're not the city that's ever wanted to do it. But, we we lowered the the cost for a parking pass. We've we've looked at ways of maneuvering uh dispatching things along the way and and unfortunately for the last year, this warning light's been going off and unfortunately, we're starting to to stall and we can't stall anymore. Thank you. Member Keegan? So we need revenue um and unfortunately, we're not going to

068have any revenue for this particular budget. Um that said, um last summer I had asked Dr. Kwong to look into opening a virtual academy so that we could start charging for seats in a virtual way that wouldn't affect our students. Um I think that got lost with her leave. So, that's one thing that I would like to look into um to opening a virtual academy because we can bring we can charge for those seats um from people from other districts. You know, the other thing that we're going to really seriously need to take a look at is our enrollments down by 200 students. Um we need to start looking at possibly taking in students from other districts and opening up to school choice. And that would bring us in almost $4 million if we replaced

069the 200 kids that we've lost um with school choice. So, those are revenue generating ideas. But, those aren't going to help us this year. And so, we really need to focus on you know what are we doing this year to get down 8 to 10 million dollars right now and then we need to start, as Member Bias said seriously looking at changes that can bring us in some money. Um so I'm I'm going to turn that focus at this point onto where can we cut without hurting? Um and so, that that's going to be my um one of the things I was looking through is that the Excel classrooms at the CGS um is it a possibility of combining classrooms because those numbers look really low. Um is that one place where we could possibly

070combine things? That's not going to get us the money that we need, but it's just one place that possibly could help. Um and then my other question is, you said that you've taken a pass at at it and um where are you at and how far down are you um with those numbers? Um to me, we're going to look at increasing class sizes. So, what does it look like if we have 27 kids in the classrooms? Um what is what does that look like? But, we need to one, prioritize safety in the buildings. So some some classrooms, like for instance, at the Timony I would think that we would need one classroom with a very small class size per grade so that we can push in our choices kids. Right? So, like we need to

071when we when we increase class size, we need to be thoughtful about our programs that we're pushing kids in that are making those classes even bigger because then you're dealing with safety issues. So [snorts] so so at the Timony, I would think that we need one class that's smaller and the other ones that are all bigger. Um so that when we do push in we're still safe. Um but I I we have to prioritize safety and we have to we have to realize that it doesn't matter who our superintendent is going to be if we don't fund the schools then they're never going to be successful. It doesn't matter who we put in that position. And so, you know, we're cutting 8 to 10 million dollars we can't expect miracles when we're cutting that deep.

072So, people need to have that expectation of what we're expecting from our administrators and if we can't fund our school and we can't give them the resources to be able to teach reading then it doesn't matter who's in that position, they're not a miracle worker, they don't have the money to do the job. Um and the other thing I I just want to caution is I love the idea of using the seniors, that's a fantastic idea. The problem is is that when um Dr. Kwong looked into it, it was union issues, we couldn't use them for secretaries because it was a union issue. We couldn't use them for um I forget what else, but it because it was union, we were going to get a grievance from the union for using for doing union positions.

073So, we have to be careful, while it's a fabulous idea we need to work with the unions before we say, "Hey, let's get somebody to be a secretary." Because we've already tried that and we can't. So um and the last thing I want to say is with the bussing issues, three tiers of bussing is the same as two tiers of bussing, it doesn't matter if we if we bus the high school kids because it's going to cost us the same whether we have one route, two routes, or three routes. So we have looked in at getting rid of the high school bussing and it's not going to cost it's not going to save us anything as well as we would not have kids come to school and we wouldn't be able we're not going to

074give the kids an education because they're not going to be here and on top of that, it's not going to save us any money. Um that's all I have to say. Thank you. Member Willette? I mean, I I understand the fears of existing positions. Our libraries are not really being occupied. We have a librarian for the high school. We really don't have librarians. We don't have volunteers. We don't have uh reading specialists in the libraries. You know, we're tackling the literacy deficit. So, if those are like not related to direct positions I'm not foreseeing what would be the problem of having volunteers with a tax abatement CORI checked to help with our libraries help with volunteering with the books and helping maybe even with individual reading sessions. I think that the seniors would take a

075great advantage of that. Um I think the kids in a generational thing would take enjoy that immensely. Um so, I'm not understanding I don't want to put obstacles where there's no obstacles. Again, I'm I'm not foreseeing if we don't have librarians in our school system how that's going to impact with with unions. Okay? The other thing and the vice chair and I I applaud him and I also applaud the mayor. And I've been saying it for decades. And I would encourage anyone to go to the Boston Foundation and read their landmark study on the GIC the Group Insurance Commission. And again, that's the health care that the state workers and their families enjoy. It's 460,000 individuals that are affiliated with the GIC. I partook in the GIC for 24 years. I was linked to Harvard

076Pilgrim. I raised two kids under that. I had zero issues with Harvard Pilgrim or with the GIC. We would benefit from millions of dollars in savings. So when we're talking about shoring up a structural deficit, that's like uh neon lights blazing. Is that if we join the GIC, look at I uh Quincy, uh Hopedale, Haverhill, North Andover, Malden again, which is one of those districts that's always been compared to Methuen in terms of different metrics, right? They're going to be joining the GIC this year. So right there, right in front of your face, if we join the GIC, that would solve a major portion of the deficit. But to put up obstacles and not entertain like ideas and say, "Well, a prior administration mentioned this would be a roadblock." I said, "I'm not interested in

077that." It's going to be very difficult sailing going forward if we don't entertain structural reforms. And again, I'm regurgitating from prior meetings. I've said that. Some form of privatization, some consolidation of programming, elimination of duplication of services, joining the GIC, solar panels. We have to entertain a whole gamut of possibilities. But just to automatically assume, "Well, they the unions are going to be outraged by it." Well, the union's going to be outraged when we have to entertain layoffs we've done year after year after year. I don't think so, but let's, you know, go through the process. Thank you. Well, something just briefly um just to reference uh this was mentioned by member Donovan um in this ties into with health insurance and all these other uh factors, uh the free cash, the use of the

078free cash. So just to provide some context, right now uh people look at the city and they see, "Okay, we're sitting on over $20 million of free cash, which okay, that that speaks to the city's fiscal health, our improving bond rating and the like." But at the same time, you look at the expenses that we need to incur over next couple of months just to run the city, where for instance uh and I referenced this uh yesterday with the council, uh there had been some reductions made in the budget last year to tipping fees for trash. And so that money was taken away, that was projected we would need that. And so here we are, we need what we thought that we needed. And so uh there is a conversation about using free cash for

079that as a one-time expenditure so that we can ensure that trash is picked up. Uh beyond that, uh we had a nasty winter and snow and ice expenses. That's the one area of municipal government where we can legally have uh a deficit. Um and so in that context, uh we underfund in the budget snow and ice knowing that it's going to go above and beyond and we make the the difference up using free cash. We're looking at $2.5 million from this past winter in expenses regarding snow and ice. And then we're having this conversation about health insurance because this is one of the areas where we need fundamental structural reform where right now, just for the sake of illustration, uh we have um excellent insurance provided through Blue Cross Blue Shield. Uh we are a

080self-funded municipality, so we pay all of the claims. Right now, uh for example, if you look at the claim spending for the city, we're at 109% of budget on claims. And we have to cover that cost. We had to take out a free cash or we took out a stabilization last year to cover uh the health insurance trust fund deficit, and we are running up these annual health insurance trust fund deficits because we are going so far over the anticipated claims that we include in the budget uh that we cover. And so that's going to be a significant multi-million dollar expense that's going to have to come out of free cash again this year in all likelihood. We don't have the exact number. Uh but uh this is why we need to have uh especially

081this year this conversation about the structural reforms because given all of the challenges that municipalities are having across the Commonwealth, uh we're not unique here. We need to have sustainability. We need to be in a place where we're not dealing with these uh issues that other municipalities, for instance, in a program like the GIC hypothetically, they don't deal with multi-million dollar annual deficits in their trust because the state steps in and covers that. And so we saw the GIC was in a major deficit recently and the state had to bail out the GIC. Uh and so there's issues with the GIC in that uh context, but you know, that's something that as I just referenced, the state covers that. We wouldn't cover that. And so that's why um there's just uh a wide-ranging conversation about

082uh this. It's ongoing with the PEC. Uh no decisions have been made about health insurance. I want to state that publicly. I think that's a misconception where you know, a decision's already been made. We have to make every decision uh in the context of the future of health insurance in partnership with the PEC. And so that's ongoing in terms of conversation, but um this that's what we're looking like, that, you know, we're we're talking about the need for these reforms, but this is also speaking to what member Donovan referenced with free cash, where just because right now we're sitting on over 20 million, it given all of the challenges and structural issues we have, uh that's something that is uh potentially fleeting if we're not careful. Member Donovan? Well, I'm heartened about the 600,000, though.

083Yes. That that that's a start. And then thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Dr. Golabski. Jean. So, I think it's time we really should get focused and um start our team needs some direction. Um so I'm wondering where we begin because I think we owe it to the team and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll undo it all like we did last year. And it's a terrible way to do business. Um but that said, should we address class size, Dr. Golabski? I know it's class size is tough. What you have in the books is something that everyone agrees is doable. I mean, and appropriate and what we want. What do you um think we need to do about class size? Would it save money? We know it will it could impact instruction. I know there's

084a lot of discussion about class size, what's the driving force be- behind kids learning. Not always class size. Mhm. But that said, do you have any recommendations or do you have a number that you could go so high on and sleep at night? Yes, that's what we did today with our first pass. Remember Keegan had asked how we did that or where we ended up. So we didn't make it through every building yet. Um but primarily for grades two through eight, there were some pockets where if we reduced some areas, we would be around 24, a couple 25 classrooms. So still not the old days of 30, 32. Um but we have that number of below 26 in our minds. So that was that was our our first pass. When we got to the high

085school, it gets a little bit more complicated because of all the offerings. We certainly don't want to reduce opportunities for students. Um so we are pulling um our system provides a report of uh teacher and student load so we can see um how how many students teachers are interacting with and is there a possibility of maybe rearranging scheduling to maximize um how they function. So we've been looking at that, too. Um we've also been really cognizant of um the people in the positions and looking at where we have retirements. Is that a place where we could maybe lose a position? Um so so today, I think that that we're pretty good in that area. Okay. Um so we did we did get close to a million today. Um just starting, first pass, not yet not

086going through all the buildings yet. Um and not getting to Excel or special education, either. And that's round one. Um we you know, we're being a little lenient. And we do plan on continuing that work tomorrow morning. We'll probably do that daily until Until what? >> But we we'll get to a I think we're going to get to a really difficult place where we're not comfortable anymore. Yeah, I understand that. And then we'll need to bring bring that to you. Um and that's we'll let you know where that place is, but right now um we're in a spot where we don't have many people who would we would need to relieve of of their role. We could shuffle with attrition. Um and class sizes are manageable. Not too much of a departure from what everyone's

087experiencing now. Mhm. Um but I did hear last time there was some support for the risk PA positions, recognition of behavior, Mhm. uh and certainly the CTE positions, Mhm. which by design are are self-funding. Mhm. Uh I would I would still be a proponent of putting those forward. Um two things we need to be in compliance. So, I know that director of the CTE, that's something we have to automatically do in order to receive the funding. And then, we're concerned about the nursing ratio and the field trips in the future years. That's something too, and then also making sure that the paperwork's being processed for compliance for special education. So, you know, and then the bullying aspect of it with the wellness. And we sacrifice that, but then we have this bullying discussion of what

088happened in the neighboring district with a suicide. Again, it's it's something that you are damaging the school district by not fully funding the school district. And again, it's a combination of the federal government and the state government because in terms of special education, they're grossly underfunding. But then, you have a federal and state mandate under law. And like that the mayor indicated on the same thing again, I don't want to cast aspersions to the special education population, but similar to being self-insurance, if you have five or six people, they might cost you about a million dollars in claims. Well, the same thing with the special education population. All of a sudden, that will cost you as a system. And what I learned in in prior years was we automatically incur up to a threshold. So,

089the taxpayers pay for that, and then we receive reimbursement from the state. And it's only 75% and at times it's been down to 65% and like I said before, it should be 90 to 100% cuz it should match the service, it should match to the child based on federal and state mandates. And it's an unfunded mandate. And then again, some of the behavioral issues too are unfunded mandates to provide. If we have to remove a student from the school system, we still hypothetically are responsible for the education of that student, the school district, not the state. And that's something too that's been said by uh the auditor and probably by the inspections office is that it's an unfunded mandate. So, we really have to marshal our resources. And another factor too is uncertainty because the

090supplemental budget based on my recollection, that was something that was reconciled out pretty early before the House and Senate and the conference of the main budgets for fiscal year going into fiscal year 27, they can go through a whole process up until July. Federal government is October madness, they call it. October is with the federal government, July is for the state. And the state might incur like a 1/12 budget. So, there's an uncertainty, but I know the the supplemental budget in prior years, they reconciled that pretty quickly. And like the Senate budget, I've always been advocating for that with the Senate as been the strongest advocate. And no, you know, aspersions to our House delegation because they've done like great work too. But the senator and the Senate as a whole, they delivered the circuit

091breaker package to us. There's a differential with the Senate supplemental budget and circuit breaker amounts. And also, there's a literacy grant component to the supplemental budget on the Senate side that the House doesn't. That's $15 million that could hypothetically go to Methuen. And also, the Green Works program, you're talking about green energy and upgrading and saving energy costs. That's a minuscule amount of money. And that's from the millionaire's tax. It's only like maybe $5 million for the entire state. That's nothing. That's a pittance. So, these are things I remember by as I think in years past, I drafted a letter and it was approved by the school committee as a whole. I think a sense of the school committee and a resolution is fantastic. Next week is the House will be undertaking the budget with

092its amendments. And I know again, one was increasing from 75% to 90% and the members of the House can sign on to amendments at any time and they can advocate for amendments. The Chapter 70 inflation adjustment has been something ongoing and I recommend people also the the superintendent, I'm grateful for the report on the administrative costs. Two other think tanks, one is left-leaning is MassBudget. They're phenomenal. They will tell you by each district, Chapter 70, the deficiency. I think it's still about 7 to 8 million dollars that we're below the inflationary rate and they don't have any catch-up provisions. And we have the neighboring community of Haverhill and there's a guy who has a PhD in economics who serves on the Haverhill School Committee. He also did an analysis. So, anywhere from 7 to 8

093million dollars, you're behind the curve on Chapter 70 in terms of not being able to adjust for prior inflation. And in the circuit breaker should be like 90% the literacy grants. And then what's transpiring unfortunately, and this is something that the MTA has hundreds of thousands of members, the the T is is getting a a huge bulk of that millionaire's tax. And the rest of the pie on the education side is preschool, community colleges, universal meals, and then K through 12. K through 12 should be automatically the biggest beneficiary of the millionaire's tax. And then also, preschool I think is a big factor. The synapses that connect and then motivating the kids. And then also, you have to realize and I appreciate the demographics. English language learners is increasing again. The profoundly disabled community is

094increasing again. Low-income and at-risk families is increasing again. The mayor alluded to in terms of the demographics, we are not a Lexington, we are not a Swampscott, we have limited resources. [laughter] They compare us to Salem, Mass as a gateway community. Salem, Mass is internationally known for Halloween celebrations. They probably have millions upon millions of dollars of tourist dollars that's going into that community. And we have Salem, New Hampshire. Again, we're in competition with them. We've been in competition with them for decades. So, the tools are at the the state level. And like I encourage anyone if they want to reach out to me, I will respond to every email, every call, every text. And you have to marshal your resources. I think ultimately, and I think the secretary alluded to it, it's going to

095be the Senate that will deliver the Hail Mary pass again. I'm going to say that for the record. I'm not was not pleased with the governor's budget. I think it was what, 1.5% increase. Totally unsustainable. The mayor has done in years past and this year would be like a 3% increase. We really need an infusion of circuit breaker monies. And then also, the unions and the city have to really contribute to this process. Now, in terms of the school choice, that might bring us some revenue. But I'm not going to entertain a proposal, right? If I don't have municipal partners that are coming to the table for structural reforms. I will not do that because you have a grand bargain where you have this package where everyone is upset about some aspect of that package.

096Okay? It might be the meals tax, it might be part dispensaries, it might be the GIC, it might be school choice. It might be some you know, a program in in the in the center of our community. It might be something that someone might not be happy with, but at the end of the day, there needs to be a grand bargain of saying we are contributing to the process as opposed to just saying no or we're going to draw from the rainy day fund at the local level. It's not sustainable. Thank you. Member Barrios. Uh yes. Um just to get into some specifics here from um part of the new requests or the a la carte requests, I feel um is necessary, absolutely necessary is a bilingual parent liaison at the the high school. So,

097I don't know if someone, please educate me, if I need to make a motion to to move that into the next budget presentation or if that's just an informal request. Do we need a motion? >> We we feel the same way. >> Yes. Okay. Yeah, I agree. I think we all do. All right. So, that's just yeah, I think that's might might be not speaking for everybody a unanimous consent type of thing, but that is definitely necessary to be dollar amount allocated in the budget next time around coming. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you, Member Barrios. Member Stories. So, this is my first budget. I've been taking a lot of notes of what everyone's saying. First of all, we're 388 out of 395 districts in the state as far as administration. I I was shocked when

098you said that. >> That's from data from 2024 and they're pulling from uh the administrative fund code that's reported to DESE from all the districts. >> But probably since that time, we've also eliminated our deans of students and and different other positions that were administered at the time. So, we're probably even lower than that now. So, I hope that stops all the rumors about how we're administrative-heavy and I mean that I was shocked when you gave that that number. That was just unbelievable. Um I just had a question for Ian if that's okay. I do have a question for you, too, but I'll do Ian first. How's asthma removal? The the budget, I'm sure we were way over what we budgeted for snow. >> Way over. I'll get to the exact numbers. Um I believe

099we budgeted somewhere around 175,000 and spent 350,000. So, about double. Where did we get that money from? >> Um we took it from salaries. You guys transferred money from salaries of unfilled positions, etc. Moved it over to contracted services in order to cover that. Okay, so we covered it out of our own budget. Okay, thank you. Um Listening to everybody talk about the state and the money that we may [clears throat] get, we may not get, we might get it. We have to figure our budget on money that we're not getting, but we don't know if we're getting it. We might I don't even understand how that works. I don't get it. We have 2 weeks left to balance our budget, but we have a figure from the mayor, thank you, cuz I appreciate that.

100However, that may change because of what you're doing on the city side. I'm I'm hoping that may change. The state has money, doesn't have money, they may delegate some money, they may not. How is any community supposed to do a a budget for their school department with with that I don't even know what to call it. I just don't even know what to call it. I'm shocked, shocked. I thought we were going to know numbers we're getting from the state, numbers you know, for grants, and it's just mind-blowing, mind-blowing. So, if you could help me with that, I'd appreciate it. And I also wanted you to touch on the 1/12 budget that the vice chair talked about and how that works. So, uh I to answer your first question, I don't think there is a

101good answer for that. Um the the the process that we have the whole system that we have uh at the level here in Massachusetts between the state and and the cities, uh it it really it's mind-boggling, right? Where we're expected to have these budgets in place, but then we have uh for instance, last-minute infusions of support uh like we saw last year, like we'll probably see again this year, uh hopefully. And so, you know, there it's like a constantly moving target, and it's almost like you have to settle on, okay, uh you know, the most conservative number that we possibly can, and that's where uh we're at in terms of uh trying to give a number from the city perspective. Um and what's also challenging beyond that is not only are we trying to establish

102a target for the schools, but that's based on also making significant reductions to uh the workforce in all likelihood on the city side as well. And it's just uh a very uh complicated process, but you know, we have to work within it every year. Um in terms of the the 1/12 concept, what uh the vice chair's referring to is this notion where rather than adopting a budget for the full fiscal year, uh you adopt in essence a budget that carries over your spending for uh in essence one out of 12 months of the year. The issue with that, um and the reason why it's something that, you know, I know uh we've discussed it before, especially during COVID when there was so much uncertainty about support uh from the feds and the state, uh etc.,

103where, you know, it was really I think it would to an extent uh difficult to establish a full year without knowing with so many unknowns. Uh so, um you know, the implications of that are an issue because of the fact that, okay, if you're only uh going off of uh you know, an amount for one out of 12 months, you know, that has implications uh too when it comes to looking at the year broadly speaking. And so, um you know, it's something that uh you know, the vice chair's been a proponent of, but there are some challenges uh that are tied to that uh that make it not um necessarily advantageous, but you know, again, with this year of all years, uh all options are on the table. But it seems like we're all pulling

104our hair out of our heads. Mhm. And then at the last second, >> Mhm. after all this worry, all this stress, cuz it's worrisome and very stressful. I I'm talk speaking for myself, but I'm sure it is for everyone else as well. And then this this white horse rides in and gives us what we needed in the first place. It's just makes no sense to me whatsoever. And I just feel Just one more thing, I just want to say that once again, combining classrooms for L, um making our classroom numbers higher, once again, we're being asked to balance a budget on the backs of our students, and that is not fair. It it's I don't I went through this budget several times. I'm for adding a few of these things that that we desperately need

105and that we're mandated to have. I myself couldn't find anything to cut. I really couldn't. I have seen, as the secretary that took the minutes for years, I have seen cut after cut after cut. We can't even afford to give a department a a half of a secretary? I I I just don't know when it's supposed to stop. We cannot continue to balance these budgets on the backs of these students. We finally got our class numbers down. People are talking about how much work we need to put into, you know, keep our kids at reading level, and and to now say we want to increase our class size because that's how we're going to have to balance this budget? I I just think it's it's just a bad a bad situation, and I don't know.

106I just can't see increasing the class size. We'll never go back again. It'll take us years to get back to where we are right now. Um that's just my thoughts. >> Yeah. >> And I'm also for um you know, member Bias mentioned it, but the half a bookkeeper for special education, the half a bookkeeper for student services Excuse me, for the senior bookkeeper for um the business office, the student service secretary, a half secretary um for those. I'm also for the risk program assistants. I'm also for the SEA positions replaced replacing the ETFs. These are positions that we need. We have to have these. The program assistants that we have to have to be in compliance. People that work in the school department are so overworked, it's incredible. And I can speak for myself when

107I say that. The number of jobs and positions that ended up in my role was probably four secretaries that got lost. >> Mhm. You have our FIC do all the registrations. They they lost somebody last year. Like it's just a constant reduction. And I'm not saying that laying people off at the city is the right thing because I'm sure you need [laughter] every employee that you have. I think a lot of these thinking-out-of-the-boxes, you know, down the road, this we need to come up with ways to make more revenue, but I just I do not see how we're ever going to get to cutting $8 million. That's the salaries at the high school. So, what do we do? Close the high school? That's that's a ridiculous thing to even think about. You could never do

108it. You could never close a school to balance a budget. You can never go backwards, and I just don't understand why every year we are asked to reduce, reduce, reduce, increase our class size. I just I don't know what the answers are, but I I when it comes to reducing the class increasing the class size, I can't see I have seen what this district has gone through to get to that point. I I I can't see doing that. Thank you. Yeah, we're we're not cutting from fat, we're cutting from bone. At this point, it's it's terrible. And the thing that I think is helpful for just this whole process is remember Willett has a background working in the statehouse, and so um you know, I think there's a lot of experience that he has to

109offer in terms of uh process and outlining that. I just had I'm sorry, may I have one more thing. Do I need to make a motion for us to um draft a letter to send. Can I just say to the state or we can just automatically do that? Hello. Can I just jump in on that real quick? I was just planning on on our next meeting um It has to be at the next meeting. On on at our at our at our next meeting I was uh planning on bringing an agenda item of a drafted letter that then we could approve to send out. Right. Yeah, we don't have it on the agenda for tonight, but at next meeting would be fine. Yeah. >> as a point of information, if you look at um MASC,

110they have a list of the proposed amendments. You can cherry-pick them. Doesn't mean you can't I don't know how many I pick up the phone and talk to a state rep on a regular basis. I hope everyone else does. Um so, if you go to the MASC site, and for those watching at home, you can see it, and there's a list of amendments that um MASC which we work with, we pay money for, and they advise us of amendments that people are trying to push through right now. One is moving um circuit breaker to 90%. You know, those are the things that we need to as individuals. Letters are great. We all need you know, but I think it needs to be more like build some relationships with people. Um we got the email today.

111It's wonderful. It's comprehensive. And it tells you some of the differences, but also you can go to a link and look at all the different amendments that people are pushing forward. Now we're hearing Oh, okay. I'll text him. Okay, so I just wanted to throw that out. It's really awesome. I see the the vice chair's hand raised. Yeah. Thank you. And and all of this is great great discussion, too. But, you know, ultimately, no, shutting down a school is not what we're saying here, either. And um that white horse that member uh uh um uh a serous member it it usually takes collaboration. It takes hours, days, weeks. The getting on the phone and talking to your senator, talking to your state rep. That white horse is usually all the state and local people actually

112doing their jobs. That that's the white horse. And unfortunately, that white horse is getting darker and darker. Uh it's getting drier and drier. And older and older. And if you don't have a state house that is willing to give back to its community you're never going to see the dime come back in the way it was in the past. This this economy has inflated so so high in the last 10 years that we are looking at uh leveling out and unfortunately collapsing a little bit. And we have to restructure. And uh to Mayor Bongartz's point it's going to have to be a governmental restructure. It's going to hurt. He's doing the right thing, unfortunately. And we're going to have to do the same thing on the school side. And that day school is probably one

113of the best ideas because ultimately that that is going to take over a school, and we're going to have to realign the schools anyway from an operational standpoint, too. So, the way that we know our schools may also need a shift. And I've been only saying that for 5 years. The undertakings that need to come from these conversations isn't just finding that white horse. It is actually sitting down and redistricting, realigning the schools, redeveloping operationally. And all we've done is kicked that down the down the street by hoping for free cash. By hoping for the white horse. So, I mean, we have to make cuts. We're the D-day is coming up. And going into 2020 uh seven is the hard discussions of what we need to do with the district, with our schools. I mean,

114I I see emails on the the bleachers can't even open up at the Timony during a pep rally. Uh you know, we and we had a a fully functional, you know, uh field house. Uh our fields look beautiful. But, you know, parents or or certain people on the council don't understand that water freezes this time of year. So, some of the discussions that are happening across our city is in you know, just inexperience. And that's another thing, Mayor. I don't know how you're dealing with this. Because the inexperience that I'm seeing upstairs right now is ridiculous. It's going to cost this city millions of dollars. Educating and collaborating is the only way we do it. Not arguing or worrying about me, myself, and I, and how I look at the end of the day on

115a podcast. We need to understand that we need to make tough decisions here, folks. Not on the benefit of us or the benefit of people we know but the people we serve. Okay? This isn't a punchline. This isn't somewhere we give a a speech and and and make Kumbaya moments. We actually have to make some tough decisions here. So, going around here, great. We're going to have to discuss it more and more, but this team needs to do their job when Lisa comes to us with the final number. And we can't sit here and say "Oh my god, we got to move this thing around." We can't play chess with this, cuz that's what I saw last year. Is a lot of chess. Lisa needs to provide us what needs to be done in a

116in alignment with the mayor's budget. And we need to decide if that's okay. We can give the you know, the the the the a la carte special. But we truly need to look at where we program and what is necessity. We need to give these kids a good education. Not a college education. A high school, grammar school education. Some of our programs are college level. I 100% believe that if these things are being offered in a 101 college program, unfortunately, we should probably look at those things to see if Neko or UMass Lowell or any of these college programs that we're doing are going to meet that for us in that cohort program. And and and we should probably look at how we can transition that out for a few years. There are some specifics

117that I am not going to agree to keeping and or getting rid of. Arts are number one on the priority of keeping. But I'm sorry. Uh these kids can't budget. So, finance and marketing, I would keep that. But do we need to do broadcast journalism? Do we need to do cybersecurity? For four grades. Could we do it for one grade? And could that be the college program? You know, there are some hard decisions that we're going to have to make. And it these kids need to read. They need to know math. And they need to be able to succeed outside of school. That's our goal. Thank you. In all deference to the vice chair, over the last 2 years, how many layoffs have we incurred as a result of budgeting? Is it Is it two

11824? >> Colleen would know the number. We're off the top of our head. At least 24? >> Yeah. Oh, at least. So, we made the difficult decision over the last 2 years of laying off 24 people. So, I'll match my conservative credentials to anybody who's ever served in the city of Methuen. When I served on the city council back in 2008 we received 10% concessions from the municipal unions in order to save jobs, and people were losing their homes at that moment in time. And we were buying them some time a breath to to be able to survive a major recession. The biggest problem I've said over the last few years is that technically we are not in a recession. But it seems like we're operating like we're in a recession. Now, that you could

119have the analogy of a a of a a skinny, let's say, horse, who would using the analogy of a horse, right? A fat horse is at the state level. A Clydesdale. They feed it. They take care of it. It's in a and it's a gray barn. They walk it, all that stuff, right? The municipal horse is is is dying. The local aid has been stagnant for like decades. Okay? Unrestricted governmental aid has been stagnant for decades. You look at Mass budget, which is left-leaning. You look at the Pioneer Institute, which is right-leaning, right? They will agree with you. Is that Chapter 70 has been woefully underfunded to account for inflation. Last year's budget, there were two amendments, and they were sponsored by members of leadership that would have added 200 to 300 million dollars to

120compensate for Chapter 70. I'm not witnessing that. I'm not witnessing any amendments that deal with holding our communities harmless for any federal cutbacks. There was supposed to be a promise that any interest from the surplus was going to be dedicated to hold harmless the federal grants. I'm not witnessing that. The millionaires tax was a promise to education. I'm not witnessing that to the extent of the original promise. There should be parity between the K through 12 schools and the millionaires tax and the T. The T is they're absolutely inundating the T with hundreds of millions of dollars, upgrading all the systems, expanding the system, okay? All the personnel, right? Without any of the reforms, okay? While we're laying off hundreds of people across the Commonwealth. Boston is going to be incurring hundreds of layoffs. We

121will more than likely have to incur a layoffs unless we have structural reforms. Other communities are doing overrides and I'm not sure if it's going to be even successful in Lexington. In the top end Lexington, they just opened up a brand new school and they're talking about laying off people to populate that school and then I think it was North Andover had a they had this whole talking about with the vice chair was saying the redistricting. That was thrown out the window because of budget cutbacks. So they had to delay a redistricting process. So I'm looking at the reality of the situation is that there's a a great amount of uncertainty with the state. The mayor might have the the closer number of what the latest surplus is at the state level. We were in

122the top three. It's Texas and I think might be another state and we're in the top three for having the the largest surplus. Okay? It is raining locally. Right? And if you have above average expectation with the millionaires tax, right? Why isn't that money being reallocated to the local communities? The mayor with the with chapter 90. I know it went from $200 million to $300 that's just a recent manifestation. Right? Imagine if the millionaires tax instead of flooding the T Okay? Imagine the local roads being repaired, what you could do if it was $400 a year, what you could do locally for the people, right? Um again, I don't want to cast aspersions to our elected officials. But last year, we had people at the podium giving speeches to us and then directing the uh

123at the city council, right? That's not the right approach. Because we will make sacrifices locally and I'm sure you can point to dozens of positions in the municipal side where you would love to fill certain positions. DPW, maybe the the water department, uh maybe in another uh services. Like I think the fire department, I think for our population, we're still below average, right? And we're still getting to the point of being what is recommended for the police department. Okay? Now we're starting to get some retirements and people departing from the system and maybe we can have the savings go back into the system. But again, the administrative costs, I definitely wanted that report so to dispel that rumor. We made difficult decisions. I just want to say that for the record, it was at least

12424 layoffs over the last 2 years. So I don't want to hear that garbage. There was a structural deficit which I don't want to have the same thing happen, but it's going to occur. There has to be a combination of grand bargain Okay? Of a package that people will not like but they'll accept it to save jobs, okay? Some type of uh spurs all from free cash. Right? A a day program and then like either you want to say a Hail Mary pass or a white horse from the state. It's going to be have to be a combination of everything. I foresee that it's going to be done. If not, we're going to be repeating the same arguments as years past. There'll be layoffs, people will be dissatisfied, we will have to fight for structural

125deficit, the mayor will present his budget, but it's going to be different what the school committee was going to approve, right? And I know there was some school committee members in in deference to uh member Sorois, right? That wanted to approve outright the superintendent's budget. That was absolutely going to wipe out your free cash in 1 or 2 years. That is irresponsible fiscally. So we know we all have like I want the res counselors. I want that. And the wellness and the nurses to be in compliance in the special education when I the CPAC meetings I attend, right? It's going to be very difficult decisions, but I'm not hearing any interest from like again, I say the unions or our partners of saying sit down and let's do some constructive reforms and concessions that we

126can work together and like I said, the state when there's a deficit with the GIC, they've always shored it up. When it's feast or famine, they take care of the situation. When you have to draw from a deficit for a number of cases, right? It's almost like a version of Russian roulette. And the same thing is with the circuit breaker. If you have 5 to 10 children that come into the system they will overtax your system and it's not fair to the workers and it's not fair to those families with the special education kids. But we have to do some structural reforms as well. Thank you. Member Bias? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Through you. Um So I just had a quick question for you guys and then a comment. Um in constructing this budget um

127did the finance subcommittee or administration um get input from school councils? In the in that and and how did how how did that work? Um I did go to the the CGS school council meeting. Um there's only one member attending that day. Um but uh we had a nice conversation mostly about the process and how how it works. Um but I would we we didn't formally seek input um seeing as we just presented to you. Um is that a requirement? I know that there's some mandates with school councils but um perhaps seeking that input as well from them would be would be helpful. >> Yes, when I travel around, I will do that. Um and so my comment is actually just for you guys as well. This conversation that we've all been having, I'm just

128wondering if it has been helpful to you guys and and or what where do we need to focus on our on our conversation today so that you guys can get something as well productive um tonight as well. That makes sense. Thank you for that question. Um what I what I envision happening is us going back um internally taking another pass at everything. I I think some of the areas you brought up we had been looking at as well. Um and then bringing to you, I would say on Monday we have a [clears throat] workshop with an a budget item. Um perhaps a a refreshed uh insert for your book of where we we stand after going through everything. Um I think I have a sense of in the new requests some areas that you're interested

129in. I think we have some ideas of of maybe how to to make a step forward in those directions even without maybe getting everything that we had been asking for. Um but at that point, I think I think that would be the really crucial element for uh us to to have your direction once we have gone through and and got to a place where we feel comfortable. Um where we go from there is going to be difficult. And something else that might be helpful, too, is maybe uh we can connect sometime tomorrow offline and and start to look at whether there may be opportunities for us to utilize the senior tax work out program and see if we can try to plug in some of those gaps. I know this is the union concern. Uh

130but um you know, we have that available as a resource that could potentially uh meet some of our needs. Just a thought. Member Sorois? Thank you. May I just have one clarification? So we're talking about the possibility of bringing a program into the school department that would save us money and maybe at some point be able to have students from other districts. That we're talking about coming from free cash. That's a discussion that we don't have to include in our budget right now, correct? Free cash we can go to or does it have to all be included in the same conversation? So >> [sighs] >> I mean in in in that context, you know, it's something that it would be a part of the broader picture for the full budget that we would talk with

131the council, not necessarily above and beyond. Yeah. That Just for the record, that's not included in what we've presented thus far. Right. That's what I That's why I was asking. I didn't know if it I knew it wouldn't wasn't included, but I didn't know if it was something that can be discussed The mechanism to get it forward. >> talked about accepted within talked about accepted within the 2 weeks that we have Right. >> balance our budget. That's what I >> Okay. I just And also to build on clarifications. So, what you bring forward to us will will it include like the uh $600,000 for the free cash that we talked about? Like will your will the information you include that? The um million dollars in savings if God forbid we have to increase class class

132sizes. I'm not quite sure what you're bringing back. So, I just want to be ready. >> out-of-district tuitions we would need to include because we need to pay for them unless there's another means to do that through free cash. >> Right. Okay. The positions that we would um look at reducing due to attrition retirement largely would be removed from what we're bringing forth to you. And you know, when you talk about retirement, do we still have any teachers on emergency licenses or have we passed that 5-year mark? You know, we hired so many during COVID. I'm just It just So, there's there's a couple different um measures for licensure now and one that um they're weighing heavily which would I think greatly open the field to getting licensed in terms of needing to pass essentially

133one MTEL. Right. Okay. Um so, yeah, we have we have some teachers who who are working toward it. Um others who have had those extensions um by taking the portfolio route from being close on the MTEL. But, predominantly our staff is is licensed. Okay. It's just a few a few niche areas of need where we have people working licenses. Well, real quick, I'd like to commend the team. I mean, the allocate it's a terrible phrase when we're talking about people and our children, but I think what you brought forward 90% of it seems to me based on safety and compliance. And you know, to see that once I think this is like the eighth year in a row that we are faced with looking at that STEM position that we desperately need because we're starting

134a new math program and teachers are screaming for help in math and science. I think we'd up to like year 10 or something in cutting that position. So, everything is about keeping our kids safe, helping them stay regulated, and I appreciate that. I think it probably took a lot of restraint. Um and where we cut from there will be interesting. I look forward to seeing your budget come out. Was that May 8th? Do you think we're going to hit all the dates? We have to. >> to have to. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you though. Thank you very much for what you folks have done. I know this is not easy and I know it's not easy for people sitting at home wondering what is happening. Just a point of clarification or inquiry, I guess, to

135the superintendent. That $600,000 from the outside tuitions are being absorbed. That's not a net new or net plus. It's going to be just absorbed and we're going to have to cut it from that number that we're we're we're we're really trying to chew away from, I'm assuming. Correct? So, I could I could might be able to answer that. Last year uh city council was gracious enough to uh approve a one-time similar thing. We had students who were aging out. It was to the tune of about $900,000. Um they approved it around this time or May at some point right around budget time. Um and we were able to back it out of our budget, so reduce our budget by $900,000, and those funds were moved over into the circuit breaker account so that we could

136use them this year for those those things. So, yeah, it would come out of it would be taken out of our budget knowing that that additional money, if approved by city council, would be left in um circuit breaker. Okay. And Mary, I'm not sure if you had a line of uh questions, but I just have one question for you um if I can get in the rotation. So, the the one question I have for you is I know you're saying citywide SRO SROs are are no go for me. We cannot cut SROs. I just want to be make that clear. Like SROs have done so much for our schools. It's an added line of defense. Uh they've been proven to be a huge advocate and and and a measure this last year alone and in

137previous years. I just want a commitment from you and the chief that that will be that will be safe. Well, school safety is absolutely paramount. Yeah, no doubt. So, that So, SROs are off the table. They're they will be all all the SROs will still be in place next year. Yes. Thank you. Member Donovan? I'm just wondering I'm just wondering if it's we've discussed as much as we can and perhaps it's time to make a motion to adjourn >> Do we have any other business from the committee? Oh, yeah. Um I just had a uh question for um Mr. Goslin about jurisdiction of like of the fields, the gates. I know that there was concerns uh today about the gate at the CGS. I was just wondering uh and just from my own education, um

138is that a city jurisdiction, a school, like what's that >> I honestly don't know whose jurisdiction, but I did make a phone call on my way home from work and it's been removed. Thank you. Any other business from the committee? If not, we'll take a motion to adjourn. >> Make a motion to adjourn. Second. >> So moved. >> All right. Take a roll call vote. Member Keegan? >> Yes. Member Serres? >> Yes. Member Willette? Yes. Member DiZoglio? Yes. Mayor Beauregard? >> Yes. Member Donovan is a yes and Mayor Yes. I called you Mayor. Member Fibers? Yes. All right. The time is 8:12 and we're adjourned.