School Committee Meeting - 3/18/2026

001Good evening everyone. Thank you for your patience. This is the public hearing um of the fiscal year 2027 school budget for this Cohasset school committee. We'll begin with a roll call vote. Um Mr. Evans >> present. >> Mr. Squad >> present. >> Mr. Mlen >> present. >> Jen Leleski present. We do have a quorum. Um a public hearing has been scheduled for today. Um the hearing will be held in learning commons um Quasa Middle High School and via Zoom video call. Purpose of this meeting is to invite public comment as the law requires on the school committee's deliberation and certification of the proposed fiscal year 2027 school budget. We'll begin with a brief presentation um from Dr. Sarah Shannon. >> Thank you. Um and I apologize for those who are going to be here and

002at the meeting itself you're going to hear this update twice. So I appreciate your patience. Um, so the budget process has been a process we've been engaged in since November really. Um, and it has been a lengthy and arduous process this year as we worked to find ways to counter and fill gaps that are a result of structural deficits and structural issues. um with how schools and municipalities are funded. Um and we've worked really collaboratively as a district and with the town to minimize the impacts of those structural deficits. Um and each week, sometimes daytoday, the situation got better from the beginning of our process to now. It is still not in a place where we are completely level service which was our initial goal. Um however in our work we are in a same

003in the same place as we were last time we met. So, two weeks ago, um the district is receiving a 4.99% increase over our FY26 budget. That is more than we've received in quantum time in terms of our allocation from the town. And that equals just about $1.2 million. And while that increase is a substantial increase to the districts, it does not meet our financial needs to be a level service budget this year. So, it left us with a deficit or a gap of about $1 million. And we've worked really hard to figure out how to close that gap with um as minimal of an impact as possible. And so I will review tonight what that impact is um and where we currently stand. I will say though we're having this budget hearing tonight and

004our meeting tonight and that on the 25th which is next Wednesday we will be looking to secure a vote from the school committee for the FY27 budget. Um it does not mean that our situation is static. our situation will continue to evolve between now and I would say even the very start of the the school year. Um and that is because as some positions have been vacated for whatever reason that might be and some positions we need to rehire for. depending on who gets hired will impact our budget as we um move through the the rest of the process um of ending the school year and starting the next school year. There may be opportunity for us to, you know, Miss Owen's going to share our monthly budget update. If we get to the end

005of the year and there's a little bit of a surplus, we can pre repurchase some things for FY27. That will free up some space in the FY27 budget as well. So, there are still moving pieces for us to look at. Um, and so we can't give a a perfect this is exactly what it will be and what it will look like until we get closer to the first day of school. Um but overall this is our high-level line item overview that shows that to be level serviced we would need 8.82% increase. Um and this shows that we are looking to um you know increase certain line items where we know based on current spending we needed to increase things like utilities, athletics, transportation. Um also where we can find some inherent savings like retirement but

006also where we know now more securely what our budget is. we can consider some of our offsets that we typically offset at the end of a school year at the beginning of this process. And so those are factored in as well. So in order to close that $1 million gap, we are looking to make some reductions. Some of those are in things and some of them are in positions. Um, we will be reducing our technology budget by about $25,000. That will result in some lower contingency funding. Um, but we really do think we can manage that. We are reducing our supply PD curriculum instruction budget. Um, really a lot of this is in professional development and resources. We think that for this year we can we can get by with that as we saw some

007additional funding coming into two weeks ago. We did change this line item so that we were able to bring a few things back which will benefit students and staff. We are still looking to reorganize the central office which will reduce um an administrative assistant and also looking to reduce an administrative assistant position at the high school. Um we are still looking at reducing some administrative stipens across the district and then looking at trying to reduce our athletic budget by about $25,000 as well. Um you'll see we're reducing a half a class of not a half a class, it's a full class because it's a half day program. Um one class of prek that um you isn't necessarily seen as a savings on this side because it's actually um accounted for on this page and we

008can't double account for it. um but it is a reduction so I have it listed here but just not as a savings. We are still looking to match current teaching load with FTE at the elementary school with regard to specialists like PE art music library and so forth technology. Um that's still something that we are working on. a part-time music teacher at Deer Hill is still being reduced. Um, we're looking at redoing the Deer Hill music program so that students still get every student will still have general music. They will have chorus as a part of general music and students who choose band can still be a part of the band. Um, and we can still do and offer all of those things without that additional part-time music teacher. We also had another retire a

009retirement at Osgood. That position will be replaced. However, um, as we replace a a veteran teacher with a newer staff member, there's an inherent savings there. Similarly with um some of the other positions you see at the high school, we're not being very specific about which teachers yet and which positions because some of our staff members though they are ready to retire, they're not ready to publicly share that they're retiring yet and we want to honor their confidentiality but still capture the fact that there is some inherent savings there. Um we are looking at reducing technology at the middle school a 1.0 position that position was um primarily teacher support in instructional technology. There was some direct direct um instruction for students but we feel as if right now that's a position that we could

010reduce. Um, and at the high school, we still have another teacher who does a lot of technology work. This is an additional piece. And with the class sizes and the um registrations for courses next year, there's some room here to reduce those a little bit there. And in math as well, which increases some class size, but not extraordinarily. um art position at the high school is being reduced. We really feel as if we can absorb those numbers in our class sizes. Same with social studies at the high school um and science as well. And for many of these positions, while there's a reduction in a position, it doesn't necessarily result in a reduction of a staff member due to other retirements that have happened. And so that has been a fortunate outcome of this process

011um that we are able to maintain the talented staff that we have in in most of these positions. Um, so that's been good news. We, as you can see, this is a different list than what's been presented over the last few weeks, but it does reflect the fact that with the additional funding that came from the overlay account and some of the retirements, we were able to maintain positions that we were hoping to be able to maintain. Um, and so they are no longer on the reduction list. Many of these positions are still on our recall lists. So, as we continue to to see savings with some of the things I mentioned earlier, we will be looking to bring some of these back between now and the start of the year as we can. Um,

012so sort of in summary, these are the reductions currently that result in a loss of a staff member, which we know is unfortunate. Um, and not something we want to do and it does a help us get to that that $1 million that we had to find. Um so you know these positions along with some of the other things that are on that reduction list are on our recall priority list. Um and we will continue to keep folks updated as we are able to bring things back. And so we are just um grateful that the town officials and community members have been so collaborative and have engaged at such a high level with us throughout this process. Um, and we look forward to continuing the conversation as we look towards FY28 where we need to

013find a new way to bring ourselves back up to level service. Some of the reductions that we've talked about are reductions that are okay because of our enrollment numbers. Some of the reductions however are positions that or you know supplies or materials or professional development that we very much want to bring back because there are benefits to the district and so as we look at FY28 which you know we haven't even voted FY27 but we are already thinking of FY28 we want to find a way um with the support of the community to get to a place where we can have a fully serviced school district. And so that's where we are as of today, the 18th of March. um happy to you know answer any questions that the committee has >> or hear >>

014questions from the committee or um we'll start there and then if there are any public comments um and those of you who are online if you could just use the raising hand I'll remind anyone who is um making a public comment to state your name clearly please and your address before getting your com >> I just know add like every time we've seen this and we have seen this forward, but but it does change. And I mean I you know those changes um you know I think reflect a lot of careful thought that you've done um your administration has done and you know every uh $25,000 is something and um it must be must take a lot of patience and a lot of dedication to kind of just keep looking at the same numbers and

015trying to find the the nickel, the dime, you know, the penny. I mean, we're really, you know, you're really scraping that layer. Uh, and um, so for us, we just get the the update, but I know it reflects hours of work on your on your whole staff. Same thing with you, Miss Owen. So, um, thank you for putting the effort in to get us where we are today in understanding, in preservation, in communicating. Um, I think we are we're in a much better place than we were months ago. Uh and um this all hurts. It does. Uh but it hurts a lot less because of all the effort that everyone has done. So thank you and thank you to the teachers as well who have been you know partners every step of the way. >>

016Sure. Um, yeah. I mean, it's been quite a process. I'm really grateful for everything you've put in and you and your team and then, you know, on the town side as well, you know. Um, it's hard because we did have a really big scare in February and we're in a better place now, but I do think there's still some really major impacts. And I think, you know, similar to what I said a few weeks ago, you know, we got we got a glimpse of what it would look like if we're able to stem some of the problems and some of the downsides associated with this. Um, you know, there's less loss of human capital now, but there definitely is still, as I know you pointed out, major impacts on students from the budget that we

017have to adopt. So it's just something you have to be aware of and you know even though we are in a quote quote better place >> you know there is still an impact to be felt and something that needs to be overcome. >> Any other public comments or committee comments some time >> as a followup. So >> yeah, absolutely. >> Um on the side looks like we are >> Can you go back? Can you show the recommended budget reductions chart again? >> Yeah. One second. So >> Mr. Before we do that, can we make I just want to make it clear that Sherleski was just inviting public comment as well before before you did the follow-up question. I just want to make sure no one here wants to make comment. >> Oh, okay. So I

018just like to back up. >> Seriously? Yeah. Yeah. I agree completely. Thank you for saying that. >> Should I go up there? >> Yes, please. >> Yeah. >> Victoria 1.5 Dome Street. This is more just a clarification. Um because I think for me just really understanding that the reductions that we had you had mentioned just don't >> what does it equate to programming and if there is any potential risk for loss of programming just flagging that for everybody's awareness. Yep. Um, so the reduction in the prek class, that's a full class, >> right? >> It is. However, our enrollment, >> okay, >> did not our our enrollment numbers are down and so the need for that additional class did not preclude um it our enrollment numbers match what we are going to be offering >>

019based on those who have already put in their application for the incoming. because it already has um the application window sort of has come and gone and closed. >> Okay, I was just looking at it from just those in need of early interventions perhaps that maybe don't know that yet and that potentially there's how would that work? >> That's already been accounted for. Um and Mr. Stapleton has accounted for, you know, as children turn the right age for testing, there's still some room for those students to be enrolled should that need to rise. >> And then just my my other question was the reduction in $25,000 for athletics. >> Where is that reduction being found? Is that >> Yep. So, um, athletic director Ro Tundi has been looking at things and right now there's some

020consideration that we have some very small number of students in a couple of co-ops um, and potentially sunsetting those co-ops. Um, it does not mean that the students who are currently enrolled in those athletics would have to stop because what the MIAA regulations would say that we still support those students in their athletic endeavor until they graduate, but it would minimize our costs moving forward. Um, and then looking also at a potential JV program that's that's significantly under involved. >> And what can you explain what a co-op is in this? >> Yeah. So, we have several sports where it's us and hull for like so like I'll use hockey as an example and we are not reducing hockey just to be clear, but it's a combined sport. Hull and cohasset make up the team. You

021have coaches from both communities, players from both communities, and they are one team. And so we have other co-ops with other communities. We have some co-ops that have multiple communities, not just us and somebody else. So that's what a co-op is. And it's a very formal process that is undertaken through the MIA. And then my one last question, and this is just clarification on just the headcount and the the loss of staff. It was really three teacher or three >> 3.4 teachers that are student facing. >> Um does this also reflect anybody who has a reduction in their hours as well or were there additional folks that are impacted by overall reduction in their e? So we're actually still working through that process. um the majority of the other staff. So like the specialists at

022the elementary schools if they have seniority over other staff members, many of them are actually maintaining a 1.0 0 position even though the FTE at a certain school has been reduced because they can teach that FTE at that school, say Osgood for example, and then pick up the additional FTE to get to 1.0 by teaching some classes at Deerhill. or they may have been able to make a choice to maybe not stay at a part-time or a 0.93 position at Deer Hill, but take a 1.0 position at the middle school. And so there are a couple of teachers who may have gone from a 1.0 to either like a 0.93 or 85. Um, but we're still trying to figure out what that looks like because of um how our contract reads with our reduction in

023force language. And so there's there's several timelines there. And so we're not quite at the end of those timelines where people are making some decisions. Um, so there will be I'm going to say one or two, possibly three who've gone from a 1.0 to a 0.93 or a 85 or 87. But the majority of our specialists will maintain a 1.0 te >> and there's no room for that to potentially shift out back to a one. There is, but we're we're not part of we're not there. >> I guess the biggest concern is if they had to walk away, so they have their own cost of living they have to maintain or even their loss of potential pension eligibility if if they weren't maintaining that one. So I just I just been trying to consider that

024too that it could actually be leveled up beyond the 3.4 just because of life those individuals. So yes, it it could potentially go from a 3.4 to closer to a 4.0. I think it would still be it would be closer to like a 3.7ish. Um >> but but in terms of bodies >> in ter so they if somebody chose to not stay because of that we would still be replacing those positions. >> Okay. >> So we wouldn't be just not filling that because we still need the teachers. >> Okay. >> And the hope is that they would stay um enhanced employees. >> Thank you very much. Yep. Thank you. There any other public comments? There are none online. Please come forward. Welcome. Means I live at 22 Atlantic Gav usually on the other side of

025the screen. Um and often like I don't know if you felt it, but I'm like nodding along. Yeah. So, thank you all for your thoughtful consideration of all this. I know it's been a difficult thing to witness and feel as a community member and a parent of students and I know it's been challenging for you all too and it seems like we're making slow but steady progress. Um my question is I I just can't help but look at this problem not just as a year-to-year issue and I think I'm not alone in feeling like this we need to sort of not do this every year. It's too painful. It's too hard and it's just too much volatility for the community. Um, and so really looking like stepping back and looking at the really big picture

026like we're in this for the long haul and looking at the need for a new middle high school building. I'm wondering about I mean I think it's a whole different conversation, but um just wondering how that has factored into this year's budgeting conversation. Does this budget that is being proposed or kind of where we're at now with the budget, is that going to impact our ability to continue with our middle high school process? Does this mean we have to slow down, rethink things, or are we able to continue ahead with that in parallel? >> So, we can continue ahead with that in parallel. Um we will so we have something called uh school stabiliz school facility stabilization fund and the funds right now in the school stabilization fund are earmarked and have been voted upon

027at the last town meeting to go towards the Osgood roof um In that process, it was estimated that that roof would cost us a little over $5 million in total. That actually is not the case. The roof is going to cost much less than that. Um, which means that when in July hopefully what will happen is the school committee and the select board will come together to vote to say yes, we want to increase the school facility stabilization fund by another $1.2 million plus the additional 2.5 in taxes that were added this year and then next year. So, it ends up being like almost $1.3 million. Um, and then that money will be used will will be going to town meeting to ask to the community to vote to use that fund to then support

028the feasibility study for the new middle high school. So that's its own bucket of money that doesn't actually that bucket and the operating budget which is what we're talking about here don't actually connect overlap and you can't use one to fund the other and vice versa. And then what will happen is down the road, couple years between probably 24 months to 36 months down the road, we'll be looking at trying to fund actually the full school building project. Again, that would be a whole debt exclusion override would come to the town meeting for a with a a warrant article for that. it would have to pass town meeting and then that would have to pass actually a um ballot vote as well, right? And again different buckets, different processes so we can run what we're

029doing now in parallel with the filter. >> I'm sure there was just some portion of the budget that >> feasibility, you know, so that's great that it really is all separate. >> Yeah, >> you really don't have to. It's all money from the town but yes separate. So great question. Thank you. >> Perhaps we should also add the element of the separate sort of operational override that we will likely be collaborating with the town on for the bigger picture as you put it for years to come so that we're not reing processes like this every year. So, we are anticipating that the town is going to collaborate on something like that for likely that special town meeting, which is typically in fall, November. And that is something that I think all departments are working together

030on creating a comprehensive package for the town's consideration or a tax increase to fund the departments. um all of which are in need um for a more long-term solution or whether that's like you know five years or something where all the all departments have come together and said this is where we think the numbers are going to be this what our need's going to be and you know be a sort of comprehensive presentation plan about that that will be an operational override that's designed to avoid situations like this that will be done um I think and um when it's presented Ed, I think people are going to need, even though they're different buckets, and as the superintendent just explained, it could it could impact how people feel on a large capital vote down the road

031because schools aren't the only department asking for major capital improvement. Certainly nothing will be the same size as the um secondary campus anticipate or contemplated project, renovation, rehab, whatever we end up doing after feasibility study. Um but after the operational override, which will not be insignificant, people may or may not have the appetite for larger capital projects um including but not limited to the secondary school project. Obviously, there are a lot of different considerations in that type of project. Um, beyond just a tax increase, there's the the long-term impact it has on the teaching and learning and um, it's our major community asset. And we're currently invited to the core program, which is partial subsidy. And if we do not vote in favor of that, that that assistance may not come again even though the

032price of the school may be 2x when we ultimately have to do it because the roof is caving or something like that. So all kinds of different considerations, but so they are a little bit linked in terms of people's appetite for it, but they are as super I think very articulately explained different processes. They're distinct. There's and just to build off the the gap every town warrant for town meeting the last page as a projection which we get from the state of future revenue. So you can look I think it's four years or 5 years ahead of time and you look at those numbers and from here on out um the state is projecting a 3 and a half% increase in revenue. We saw 3 four weeks ago what three and a half% means. So

033we already have the numbers to say okay like we you know the town has found us 4.99 that was largely from them cutting their services on their side and you know there's only so far you can you can cut until until you reach you know the bottom. Uh but we can look forward and say well if we know that 4.99 still gets cuts 3.5 is really catastrophic and we already see that in the projections. So the conversation that we have to start having and and I'm glad all of you are here is we need to figure out what that number needs to be, right? That number needs to be, you know, 5 and a half% or whatever it is to level service and then we have to get everybody to go vote. Uh historically, if

034you look at uh a lot of these votes for any type of extra taxes, they're typically very close. You got about a thousand people in town that always show up and say no. Uh so we need, you know, 1,200 show up and say yes. And um considering the district is 1400 kids and a lot of families have you know two or three kids the math is difficult. Uh but if you project three and a half% versus another percentage it starts going like this and it it gets really really scary really fast. So thanks for paying attention and you know understanding what we're trying to do. Any other public comment? >> Deputy Saunders, 10 Stratford Terrace. Um this may be bigger than we can answer in this meeting but just looking at the losses from FY26

035will those um increased fees loss of um loss of some staff then as well will those be on a priority to bring back if there is an operational override? I think some okay I think if there was a some of the reductions if we can live if we have lived and we don't feel like we need to bring them in um they may not be some might be um and then I think a a broader conversation about the fees will be a part of the process >> would there be a mechanism for like community input outside of a form like a open meeting for some of those things because I think there are a lot of feelings and input people have about especially the fees all around >> there'll be a lot of meetings and

036a lot of feelings. Yes, that's really >> every direction. >> Yeah. >> But those are the voices we need to hear, right? Because those are important. The more families that that My apologies. the more families that say we need to because again we have to get 1,200 1300 people to vote for something. Uh and you know I'm kind of agnostic. I I will give every dollar I can like I I I I love the schools. I I love everything. So um you know I don't need to be convinced but there's other people we need to convince to show up on that day and and vote. And if it takes whatever it takes to get there I think is is is part of the package and um because that's the only goal. So, we're gonna have

037to talk about everything. >> Thank you. And Mr. Evans, did you have a followup comment if there there any other public comments with Oh, a bunch of flying online. Here we go. Feel like I'm on game. Um, all right. Um, Vivian, um, if you could Oh, okay. That your screen name is Vivian. Uh, Theodora Amara, 75 Pleasant Street. What specific actions can parents and community members take to effectively advocate for increased or sustained uh school funding? >> Great question. >> First thing, paying attention tonight, >> knowing what we're looking at and if you're hearing us, the plan is to start an effort now over the summer to build numbers and then start a campaign in the fall. So, you hear about it now. We're going to try our best to communicate every step and keeping

038aware of when select board meets, advisory meets, when the election is cuz we have to go both town meeting and approve it and then go to the ballot. So, you're going to have to show up twice. Um, penciling in those dates, getting a babysitter cuz I mean most of us have kids, so getting to town meeting is hard, but you can get two parents, >> not just one. >> It's that kind of stuff. It's really the logistics. It's like a get out the vote campaign that's really we need you paying attention, we need you showing up >> and and talking to your friends and neighbors as well. I think that that's the way to sort of spread the word that keeping those conversations going on the soccer fields um for and to your neighbors that

039maybe don't have school age children at the moment. >> Sorry, Mr. Could you specify the campaign about what what are we going to be doing a campaign on? Like I I I think you're referring to the override I was just talking about, right? >> I am. My apologies. Yeah. just so people understand like what the timeline is, when that's going to happen, and I think a major point of all this, he's asking how can they support this is showing up to town meeting and being heard on that. But can you just specify like exactly what you were talking about in terms of the timeline we're going to be rolling out to the community the I think >> correct. So over the summer, what our hope is on the financial committee is to build a five-year

040plan of what we need. Uh because again, what we've seen in other towns is they do an override for one year and then they're kind of in the same situation the next year. And a lot of overrides, well, it's very typical and again it's not in in it's not a law, but a lot of overrides pass with an agreement to not have another override in a certain amount of time. So we saw what happened actually in Hangingham is they passed an override but there was a limit to say you get an override today but next year your school budget can only grow by three and a half%. So they pass an override and still had service cuts still had to lay off teachers. We don't want that here. So, our campaign starts by building a

041five-year model, starting to communicate that again, people paying attention, and then we're going to have the discussions like Miss Saunders referenced about what needs to be in that package and the campaign is communicating it, scheduling meetings, scheduling town meetings, scheduling uh uh as you said, the ballot vote. The campaign is is really a communication one and a planning one. Is that good? >> Culminating with a vote at town meeting when >> perspect >> in November probably in the fall. Yes, got >> none of this is definite yet but this is the anticipated sort of contemplated timeline November special meeting and then there'd be a vote. >> Correct. We and we have to work with and this whole process there's a lot of very antiquated levers and steps here with uh filing with the state with

042getting different projections with being sure everything is done properly. The override itself has to be phrased properly because when you collect taxes, we have to figure out what goes where. So if we do an override, it can't be we get a million dollars and we don't see any of them, right? So there has to be clear language that's discussed. So all of these things are going to be part of these communications. And that's why we're starting now is because it's going to take months uh to be prepared and then months. >> And we do have several more questions and we're running a little bit tight on time if that's all right. I and I want to make sure everyone's voice is >> is heard. Um, Melissa Slagger um or Slagger um 174 Forest A. Hi,

043I want to make sure I understand what was just discussed. Are you suggesting a tax increase to close the school budget deficit? >> And that answer is yes. That would be a vote to >> Well, there is no deficit today. >> Yeah, there's no tax increase for F27. We are not operating in deficit environment at >> Right. >> We can't vote for that. >> Can't spend more money than we have. >> Okay. Um, and then someone also then said, "Vote for override at town meeting, question mark." >> I think that was the same person from the first question. So, yes. >> Great. And then we have um Patrick Molrron um 386 Oak Street. Can funds not be reallocated from other town departments to offset the shortfall? Cohasset collects significant tax revenue proportionate to our population.

044It seems like education should be the top priority and it's disappointing that we're in this situation over $1 million. >> So I'll speak and then it looks like maybe Mr. >> No, either one of us can say what we're going to say. >> Yes. >> So I think a couple things. One is that the town has made cuts in order to support our budget this year. And I think that's important for people to know. They have also allocated funds that are truly only one-time funds to support our budget this year. um and they can't allocate those next year because they've allocated them this year and so they won't be there next year. Um so the town has made concessions and reductions to support our budget this year. Um and I started the presentation by talking

045about structural concerns that impact schools and municipalities. So the structural that it's really a structural problem that is the major concern as a full community not just a school community. Um the amount of money that the the town gets from the state it doesn't cover everything. And so we really need to look at a a bigger solution that will help us bridge that gap. Um because I don't disagree that the schools are in my opinion one of the best parts of the community but we are also a community. Um I am a tax payer. If I have a fire or I need police, I want them to be able to respond um appropriately. So, I think we need to be cautious while still advocating for the schools um and looking at the townwide concerns as

046well. >> That does bring us right to 6:00 on the nose. We have no more open questions online. Um I believe we've answered most questions. Hopefully public questions here and that committee members have said their piece as well. Okay, fantastic. Then I guess we'll go for a motion to close the um public hearing fees. >> Move >> and a second. >> Second. >> Um Mr. Evans. >> Hi. >> Mr. Sprito. >> Hi. >> Uh Mr. >> Hi. >> Jen Lesky. I We will take a quick breath and move right into our school committee. >> Um welcome to the regular meeting of the Cohasset School Committee. Today is Wednesday, March 18th, 2026. So we'll begin with a um roll call. Um Mr. Evans >> still here. >> Thank you. Mr. Squatri, >> Mlullen, >> present. >>

047Chanleski present. We have a quorum of four. But all those who are going please stand for the pledge pledge of allegiance. >> Motioning Senator. >> Oh yes. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America >> and to the republic for which it stands. a nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Well, um thank you everyone. Um thank you for those of you who participated in our budget hearing. Um it's actually really heartwarming um for me at least to have this many people engaged um in our school committees uh committee meetings recently um over the course of my tenure. that has grown over time and that sort of engagement is what makes us great truly. Um so thank you. Um we have a wonderful guest here with us tonight. Um

048both Senator Patrick Okconor and Representative Joan Machino. Um and so we will hear from them once we have any public comment. Okay. Seeing none online and none here in person. Um, we would love to welcome our representatives and Senator Con I see I didn't see Rep. Machino is here yet. >> Uh, she's actually they're voting today. The fair share supplemental budget. So, she will not be joining us. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And I can share your um >> Do you want me to share it online too? Yeah. Okay. Stay tuned. Yep. Maybe you'll just tell me when you want me to. >> We'll do. >> Great. >> Thank you for >> So, good evening everybody. Uh, I'm Pat O' Conor. I'm the state senator for Cohasset. Um, I've been privileged to be in the

049service role for almost 10 years now. It'll be 10 years in May. Um, you know, just kind of off the bat, this will be a rundown of where we're at right now in the current fiscal year, as well as what's being proposed for next fiscal year. Um, coming from municipal government myself, I did 12 years in the council in Wayouth, uh, I understand how difficult this budget season is and we're trying to do and I'll try and highlight more uh, from the state. We know that the state needs to play a much bigger role here and do as much as we possibly can to really ease the financial strain that's going on right now, not just in Cohasset, but in the vast majority of local municipalities across this entire state. As you can see, as

050we get into this, this has been something that um is not new. This has been brewing for quite some time. I was privileged to speak at the superintendent um Mass Association of School Superintendent meeting a few weeks back uh where I highlighted this and I'll get into some of my concerns. Um, this is something that is a major issue. I I believe there are some drivers to this and some light at the end of the uh tunnel here that I'd like to get into, but generally speaking, um, I understand how how difficult this is for all of you and for basically every community that I represent. So, some good news to start. Uh, today we had the uh 84 enough advocacy day, which is a national day for education on uh advocacy against uh nicotine,

051tobacco, vaping products. and we had two students from Cohassid come up and join us today. Uh so there we are outside on the uh the Senate balcony. We share that with the governor. We were able to hear from these students and every year I'm just so impressed with what Safe Harbor is able to do and with what our students were able to do and go up there and advocate for things that um you know when I was in high school these were things that that we were doing. Um so to see the evolution of advocacy especially amongst our students is is so encouraging. um knowing that what we have right now is is quite a difficult situation inside of government. But I'm really encouraged that we have future leaders that are going to be stepping

052up and fixing and and assisting in a lot of uh the problems that we that we currently have. So I just wanted to highlight that we had uh Sari Reyes and Dominique uh Vicola and Emily uh Lewig from Safe Harbor at the state house today. >> So where we're at right now is this is the second year. Um, for those at at home, uh, we are in two-year cycles in the legislature. So, every two years we we go through elections and the House and the Senate get reelected. And this is the 194th session. This is the second year of the session. The governor filed her budget, which is technically called House 2, on uh, in January uh, the 28th. And right now, the House is in the process of formulating their budget proposal. Their budget

053proposal is going to be passed by the end of April, and then the Senate picks up right from there. And then we pass ours by the end of May. And then what happens after that is there's a conference committee that's appointed of three members of the House and three members of the Senate. The last seven years have had the privilege of being one of the three members of the Senate uh to pass what's called the conference committee report which the final budget we pass along to Governor Healey and then the state runs on that budget for the fiscal year. Our goal is always to get it done by July. In the seven years that I've been on there, we've got it done once before July. uh and typically sometime in the first couple weeks of

054July just off of how long negotiations take and the differences between the House and the Senate. So this year we're running on a $60.9 billion budget. This incorporated $43.6 billion in tax revenue. So, I I always put that up there because the delta is made up from federal funds and federal funds have been obviously talked about quite frequently as far as if they're going to remain as robust as they have been, if there's going to be cuts, where those cuts are going to be made. Uh, as of right now, there has been some reduction, but we haven't really felt a lot of what could be coming. And again, at the federal stage right now, everything is so unpredictable that it's very difficult to pinpoint how and when these these cuts will impact our state budget.

055But as of right now, through the fiscal year, there has been, you know, I'd say substantial programmatic cuts that have been made, but nothing that we haven't been able to um backfill the best that we possibly can. We understand that there's some direct from federal government to local municipality funding that has also been uh reduced. But right now, I would say that this fiscal year uh we've remained, I would say, okay, despite pressure from the federal government of potential cuts. $16.4 billion of that is made up from the federal government. Uh and as I said, unclear what the federal uh the federal cuts are going to mean. Our stabilization fund, our reserve accounts at $8.1 billion. uh very robust. Uh most economists tell you to keep your reserves around somewhere around 10 to 15% of

056what it costs for your overall uh budget. So it's it's definitely within if not above that range. 7.3 billion for chapter 70, which is our education funding formula, which was a 7% increase to our schools from fiscal year 25. That increase came from $104 per pupil to 150. We also had a $15 million literacy launch initiative, which I'll get into a little bit later because we've now passed the legislation that is associated with that. $124 million uh increase into circuit breaker, which is a 22% uh increase, and $180 million to school meals, which is a 6% increase. And we tried looking for the number uh for fiscal year 25 because we figured the controllers office would have that. We couldn't find that. In fiscal year 24, the town of Cohasset received $489,854 from uh the

057free school meal program. So, uh in in addition, $1.3 billion in unrestricted general governmental aid. This is basically a um a source of funding that we send to our municipalities that they can do whatever they want to do with it, whether it be schools, fire, police, DPW, um paying bills. Um, we also lowered the child care cost for families by providing $475 million in assistance into the C3 program, which allows for a higher um asset limit, income limit for people to be able to apply for and receive subsidized child care as we see childcare costs go through the roof. And we also continue to fund free community college for all Massachusetts residents and $30 million we allocated to the METCO program. so cohasset in the in the budget where we saw the most direct spending

058that came to this community. Um, Representative Mossino was able to get $100,000 for the Southshore Arts Center uh in an earmark, a member directed earmark that they had requested. I was able to get $30,000 for Raising Hearts, which is a unbelievable organization that helps uh children and families um with children with autism and just provides basically, in my opinion, a model for what an autism resource center should be. $5,000 the social vote had asked for for new equipment. Uh state and federal entitlement allocation grants for coass were $432,82. Chapter 90, which is our road and bridges, uh was $418,881 uh $811. Circuit breaker, uh which is a total of $675 million statewide, which pays 75% of out of school placements. It's $1.3 million for the Tanico asset. Special education transportation was $269,563 and additional library

059aid was $23,418. Here is sort of year-by-year as you can see and as I've talked about in to this school committee before here's the year-over-year increases that we've seen in both chapter 70 and unrestricted general governmental aid. I think when most people think about state aid they think about these two major resources as the the funding mechanisms in which the state will be uh providing local aid to our communities. As you can see it's been going up about $100,000 every year. This has been something that I have talked about how inadequate I think this is for our communities especially with the rising cost of almost everything and unrestricted government aid as you can see you know 15,000 $16,000 has been the norm as far as the increase year-over-year and again that has also been something

060that I voted on amendments and advocated for increasing that line item those line items as well for every community. So from the comprollers's office is where all these numbers have come from. uh $5.7 million was total uh allocated to the Tanico asset in fiscal year 25, the fiscal year um that ended July of last year. And this year, so far through the receipts that they have, and they're typically a month or two behind, it's been $3.7 million to the town of Cohassid from uh the state to the community this year so far. So now uh the revenue picture where we're at and why I think that more help could hopefully be on the horizon. As of uh March 4th, the do commissioner has released numbers. So every single month during the middle of the month

061and at the end of the month, the state tallies dollar for dollar how much money came in compared to our benchmarks and also compared to last year. So, in February, um, which is the last month that we have, we brought in $28 million or 9.8% more than actual collections in February of 2025. And $59 million or 2.6% above benchmark. Benchmark's important because that's what we set our budget on. So, all of the months, the 12 months combined, they they separate into what the average tax collection is based off historical data. and then they provide us with a month by month as far as how we can basically track along to see how the state's doing. So in February we exceeded $59 million and we thought we needed in order to set our budget year to

062date. Right now we have collected 26305 billion of the state which is $817 million or 3.2 more than collections from last year and $589 million or 2.3% above what we set our budget on. So right now we're running a surplus of about five well we're running a surplus of $589 million through February of 2026. So now um to talk about sort of where we're at. So we know where we're at for the previous fiscal year and the current fiscal year and what's being proposed for next year. I would say that the biggest issue that we have as a state uh in a community and I would even say as a country right now is healthcare. Uh healthcare is driving all of these decisions up on Beacon Hill and they're make they're in my opinion largely

063driving a lot of these decisions being made at the local level. So the healthcare cost trends um since fiscal year 2014 the average individual uh per capita spending has increased 47% for healthcare. Right now, the uh the last uh accurate official data we have from the um health policy commission has been $11,000 per capita in healthcare expenses. Again, a 47% rise. Mass Health, which is the Commonwealth, and we cover um all of that cost um with federal reimbursement, but we cover a significant amount of that cost inside of that $60 billion budget because all that's caked in from the feds. We had $2.53 billion dollars in new spending in Mass Health in fiscal year 26. And from the increase that we had from fiscal year 25 to 26 as a budget for the entire state,

064that increase took up 60% of all the entire increase we had as as a Commonwealth of Massachusetts. And then impacts in Cohasset. In fiscal year 19, the healthcare budget was $5.1 million in Cohasset. Fiscal year 26, it'll be $7.2 2 million which is a 40 40.2% increase since fiscal year 19 and fiscal year 30 projections is a $10.2 million which is a 97% increase in 11 years and I put this up here because I believe that this is the main factor. We have a robust stabilization and the state should absolutely do be doing more. But we really need federal action on healthcare or this problem is just going to continue. And no matter how much the state provides an assistance to communities, it will continue to eat up the state's ability to provide that money.

065And then on top of that, it's also going to be a drain on a lot of those resources the state gives you because the health insurance number is just going up so dramatically. No other percentage baseline item in any single budget that I've looked at from a town perspective or a state perspective is going up as much as the percentages of healthcare costs are. >> And I would also say that this plays a compounded role when you talk about collective bargaining and when you talk about people paying 47% more in the past 10 years for health insurance. 4.7% a year their health insurance is going up. But when you talk about collective bargaining and you're talking about 2% 3% 4% raises, most of that is going straight to healthare. So this problem then turns into

066not just a health insurance line item problem for a community. It also turns into a salary expenditure line item, which it's fair, absolutely fair for our employees to be asking for more because their health insurance is going up dramatically. But it really is compounding the healthcare problem is compounding all these financial decisions and all these financial issues inside of our communities. And no matter how much the state steps up, we wouldn't be able to solve this without the federal government really fixing healthcare once and for all or at least putting cost controls on it. Our goal in the state is to cap healthcare expenditures year-over-year by 3.6%. We have not been able to do that in the last 5 years. The governor's proposed a very modest budget for this year 62.8 billion. I know that

067saying modest and $62.8 $8 billion the same sentence is ironic, but uh compared to the basically $61 billion budget, this is the least actual dollar figure year-over-year increase that we've seen in a long time. We anticipate $44.9 billion in tax revenue stabilization uh would be projected at $ 8.2 billion. So basically a $1 million deposit from the previous fiscal year to stabilization. $7.6 6 billion for uh chapter 7 funding, which is an increase of $439 million. It also sets aid at $75 per pupil. It's my full expectation that it will be increased significantly higher than that in the legislature. The governor's budget is usually the baseline and then we build upon it both in the House and in the Senate. Circuit breaker reimbursement will be fully funded at 75% at 682 million. That's up from

068550 mil uh 550 million and that's due to the increases we're seeing in uh the amount of students who have out of school placement as well as the amount of costs that out of school placements have have risen over the years. $25 million for the early literacy initiatives, which is up from 20 million in fiscal year 26. And then unrestricted governmental aid will grow by 2.5% which is pretty standard year-over-year. We grow at 2 and a.5% and send um you know basically that equated amount back uh to our communities. 30 billion for Medco and Mass Health is going to be $22.7 billion which is a 7% increase over fiscal year 26. So, just to give a perspective of the 62 billion, $22 billion is going to healthcare for for the state. Uh MSBA update, we

069got some good news here. I know that we've had MSBA down uh to take tours uh quite frequently. I think three or four times now. Uh on the 27th of August of last year, uh the Ozgood School was approved the accelerated repair program and was awarded $1.8 million for the roof project. And on December 12th, the MSBA approved Coasset High School into the eligibility period. And again, per this announcement, there are obviously steps and a whole process that has to take place, um, including the formation of a local billing committee. We've been able to build um, schools in Situit, in Hang Inum, in Weimouth. Um, so far since I've been in office those 10 years, we've been through that process. Any help we can be, uh, please let us know. We know in some instances

070like for foster school in Hangingham, it was approved before CO then COVID happened and construction stalled and prices went through the roof and we were able to secure them more money from MSBA because of those extreme, you know, crazy conditions and circumstances. But please let us know how we can be helpful. We want to see the best educational environments we possibly have for our students all throughout the state and especially here in the Southshore which I represent. So the uh the early literacy bill both the house and the senate passed a early literacy initiative. This came after years of data that we saw Massachusetts students in third grade uh falling when it comes to literacy. We were still number one in the entire country, but our our rates uh were slow were slowly deteriorating to

071the point in time that legislative leadership decided that they wanted to do something about this. And so we put in place a new uh curriculum which is going to be approved by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education featuring uh phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension. Um, and in in addition to this, which it's still still currently in conference committee, the Senate also included $25 million for one-time funding uh from the the fair share tert, the millionaire's tax in order to help school districts buy this equipment um and the professional development that teachers uh could potentially need for the the new way in which the state believes that literacy should be taught. The conference committee is meeting the House and the Senate. I serve as the ranking member of the education committee and I've been appointed to

072that conference committee. We met once uh kind of talked about priorities between the House and the Senate and my hope is that we'll get this done well in advance of the July deadline that we have and hopefully um have this be something that in the following um school year we will be able to to start. We understand the time constraints and when we get this bill done and when the effective date will be financial literacy. This has been one of my biggest issues for about eight years. We want to see financial literacy in all of our schools. We don't want it to be an unfunded mandate. Uh we have in in our legislation a financial literacy trust fund that would help assist school districts in paying for this. The House passed the financial literacy bill

073which also in included the financial literacy trust fund and the components of their bill are very similar to the ones that we would like which every student inside of uh middle school and high school would be uh required to take a a course in financial literacy. One of the things that we have had and what we've been working with some of our uh financial literacy leaders from across the country has been really integrating this even at a small level from kindergarten all the way through 12. Kindergarten could be figuring out what changes what dollar bills and $5 bills the difference between those things and you can work it work its way all the way up. So there's a good foundation. I know that a lot of school districts already do this. One of the concerns

074so this legislation as I said we've been working on for the past eight years. One of the main concerns this legislation has is that every time it gets passed, it doesn't have a mandate component to it. And I feel like if it doesn't have a mandate component, we're going to basically have the status quo. The school districts that can provide financial literacy will, and those that can't won't, and we'll be basically back at the exact same point that we were. Financial literacy from everything that I've read, from everything that people have told me is one of the key tools to put in the toolkit of a student graduating. No matter what their next step is after graduating from high school, having a sound foundation in finances and loans and banking and investing and all the

075things that come with financial literacy have just paid huge dividends in states that have already done this. and we are behind uh the majority of other states in instituting and mandating financial literacy. I think that it's the next thing to do. We've done since I've been up there genocide education as well as civics education. We've seen good dividends in both of those. My hope is that the next mandate, and I don't like mandating things, but I do think that the way in which financial literacy has come out with the school districts do it if they want to doesn't work. Um, I think that the financial literacy mandate is the next one we should have. And all the data as far as support for this shows wild support all across the political spectrum that this is

076something that that people need and all again the data outside of schools and how much success this brings to kids. But the data as far as what we have as a country when it comes to savings and when it comes to debt and credit card interests and student loans and everything else, it's it's a lot. Um, and to be able to use our education system to give those kids that foundation and those tools, I think is critically important. So, education funding reform. Uh, the last four years I've uh filed amendments to our state budget to increase the circuit breaker funding by 5%. I believe that this is the most um equitable way in order to increase education funding for every single school district. Right now it's at 75%. The goal would be to get it

077to 80% the following year 85 90 95 and then fully funded. And then I think there can also be reforms into how um out of school special education placements and uh general uh generally everything when it comes to special education out of school placements should be made. Um we've seen far too often school committees and parents go headtohead, teachers and parents go headtohead. um special education administrators and parents. And it's sad to see. You know, we get calls too often from parents who don't believe that their child is getting what they should be getting from the school district and the school district's making a determination based on the individual educational plan and and other factors that come into that. And my overall goal with this is obviously to get as much money as we possibly

078can back to our communities. But I do think that there can be a way that we reform out of school placement to make it less expensive, improve the access to that education and separate the strain that it's putting on people who live in the community and the people who choose to volunteer to serve the community. In addition to that, I've filed a chapter 70 inflation bank. So inflation's capped at 4 and a half%. It's unfair. It doesn't realize what real inflation is. And so when inflation was at 9% basically 4 and a.5% of the inflation that you saw was not counted by the state as far as when they determine how much money you should receive. I believe that in doing the numbers we couldn't just put it to inflation. Um it would significantly strain

079the resources of the state. What we wanted to do is put a bank so that communities could take 4 and a.5% bank it uh and then use it when inflation is below 4 and a half% to realize full inflation at some point in time and hopefully get those banks to zero at some point in time so that every dollar and the inflation component of those dollars is accounted for. And again for the past four years we've been doing that. Every year I think we've been gaining momentum uh to these but this has been really our our war cry for quite for quite some time now is that we need to do more to send more money back to communities and the best way in my opinion the fairest way to do that is through chapter

08070 and then outside of that to realize the real dollars that communities are spending. Just because we c it at four and a half percent doesn't mean that you know curriculum didn't go up 10% or that other circumstances collective bargaining you know didn't didn't get increased. We banned cell phones in schools in the Senate. The House has yet to uh take that up yet. But this was a bill that uh I had last year um or last session I should say. There were no bills on banning cell phones in schools. This year there were seven that were filed in the Senate by seven different members of the 40 member Senate. And I think it really goes to speak to the growing concern I think and awareness that's around cell phones in schools. We give a

081lot of flexibility to the school districts. Uh basically we we tell Desi to come up with guidance and recommendations on best practices, but most policies that are currently in place. I would say the vast majority, if not all of them that are currently in place and flexible policies with school districts would be something that we encourage Desi to approve. And so I don't think that any school that has something already in place would have to worry about uh fitting in within these guidelines. But what we're really trying to do is have kids pay attention, have students pay attention more to what's going on in our schools and make sure that cell phones are not the distraction that that they're growing to be, not just in um in our students, but in everyone. You know, cell

082phones are such an incredible uh source of technology uh and and good, but uh it is such a a a drain on time and resources. And we want our kids paying attention when they're in school to the teacher and learning as much as they can to do whatever it is that they they dream of doing when they grow up. um in actuality to retirement uh plus this is a the house was able to pass this in July. I'm a co-sponsor of the bill, but um my hope is that we were able to get this done in the Senate this year. The House also passed this last year and we did not bring this up. I I don't know why uh to be perfectly honest with you. It's something that in my meetings that I have

083with Senate President and others, I continuously push for retirement plus. to a lot of educators on the Southshore who are really looking forward to the day in which we enact this. Last session, we enacted a buyback provision for our veterans as part of our our big veteran bill that we did. Any veteran who missed out on their opportunity to buy back their years of service were able to open up a window and be able to buy that back. And we had our fire chief in Weimoth actually served in the Air Force and then once he got out of the Air Force became a firefighter in Weimouth and bought a house, had a family and never realized that he missed out on the opportunity to buy his years of service to our country as years of

084service in the community. He was able to go back in and buy that back. I see no reason why educators shouldn't be able to do this as well. And then um the IM bill, which is the disposable menstrual products bill, this has been something that I've been a huge sponsor and proponent of. It has passed the Senate. Uh this is sort of the reverse retirement plus. It's passed the Senate uh two sessions in a row, but has not passed the House. And this would provide uh feminine hygiene disposable menstrual products at homeless shelters, schools, and all of our houses of corrections inside of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Right now, uh, we're working with an organization, Free Period, which is out of Hangingham. Kenzie Blackwell runs it, who's amazing, out of St. John's the Evangelist Church.

085For the past 3 years, we've been able to, uh, through an earmark, secure them over a million dollars. And with that million dollars, they have provided over 6 million products to school districts across the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts. And the reason why I did this was to really build the infrastructure so that once we do pass the IM bill, it will basically go off like a hitch. um to be able to have the to have the distribution network in place as well as have the contacts and the school nurses and everyone else on board with how we're doing this and then just shift basically the financial uh responsibility off from a member directed earmark to the Commonwealth. And here's our contact uh information. um both Representative Mossino and Harrison and Jane who work in her

086office as well as myself and Greg, Tom, Mike, Megan, and Elizabeth, who's behind me right here, uh who work in my office. And I just want to say thank you again. I know it was a lot of information all at once. Um but we wanted to get through and we wanted to at least give a handout and some visuals to folks at home cuz I know that when communities struggle when it comes to finances, it pits a lot of people against each other. And I don't think that it should. I think that there's a major issue that we have out here with healthcare and we need to address at the federal level. There's very little we can do at the state level. As I said, we've done as much as we could to put cost

087controls in that limited 3.6%. We've been unable to achieve that just because of thank god advancements in modern medicine, but those advancements are incredibly expensive as well as uh more and more people going on to and being eligible for Mass Health. My fear is that we'll get into a situation where we'll see consistent attempts at overrides. You already saw it last year. I think this year you'll see more. And I think next year you'll price even more than that. And what I don't want is for this to become the same situation we had in the 1980s. In the 1980s, Brockton sued the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for not cherishing education, which is outlined in our Constitution. And they won. And that started the process of creating our chapter 70 funding formula. The chapter 70 funding formula

088worked for a long period of time. It doesn't work anymore. All the metrics that go into building that just don't equate and don't represent what school districts are seeing right now. A lot of it's largely driven by healthcare. But I also just think the times have changed since we put chapter 70 in place. every year. In addition to those um circuit breaker uh reimbursement increases as well as the inflation bank, every single year we also ask for the foundation budget review to be opened back up. This year we were able to get um some concessions on that. Not enough. Not enough to do something substantial with, but we really need the best minds in education and economics. Working together right now to figure out what the most equitable solution is to provide our school districts

089with the resources they need. Because picking a number, whether it be 75 or 104 or 150 out of the air and applying that to the vast majority of our school districts and say this is what we've determined for your need to to meet that need. I think it's irresponsible a state government to do. And I think it's illogical. We're dealing with in every single community the number one biggest line item that they have is their education budget. And what we need to do is at the state level, we need to reform Chapter 70 once again to reflect the real needs of what's happening in our communities as well as the the real finances of and pressures of those finances. In addition to that, um I think we there when I talked about the light at

090the end of the tunnel, we have in uh Governor Patrick's administration, he put in place a unfunded pension liability uh mandate. So every community has to contribute every single year and it goes up 4% every year money to pay for unfunded pensions. And so before Governor Patrick was doing this and there were a couple attempts um by previous governors. Basically communities could set what they thought their pension liability for that year was going to be. Almost every single community underfunded that line on them and it led to a tremendous amount of of deficit inside of uh pensions. So, they put every single community on unfunded pension liability schedule. Most of these schedules are set to expire somewhere in the 2030s into the 2040s. um depending on what county you're in or if you do your

091own retirement system or how the market performs, there's a bunch of different factors that come into this. But I do believe if you look at that line item, I don't have it off the top of my head for coacasset, but it does free up a significant amount of resources because once it's fully funded, then all of the past liabilities are off the book and you basically fund from there what you now know as an actuarial as far as what your numbers are. So that is going to free up some money and I think in the meantime we have to create as many bridges as we possibly can from the free school meals to increasing circuit breaker to uh you know a couple of these other initiatives that we've already undertaken to get as much money

092back to our communities as we possibly can to um really thrive during the period of time that we need to get to the unfair liability mandate. And in addition to that we need to pressure the federal government to fix healthcare. Um, none of the division and argument that's going on right now is doing any good for us. And we have major real world issues that the federal government needs to figure out and the stall tactics and stagnation in my opinion of our federal government right now is uh is very concerning because these federal issues are starting to pile up. We saw it with the migrant crisis that happened um which is still going on but it happened in full um full momentum about 2 years ago which ended up costing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts over

093a billion dollars in two fiscal years. And so we're seeing the inaction of the federal government really start to impact uh our budget in a major way more so I would say than even the threatened cuts. the inaction is is is more drastic. >> Senator Okconor, thank you for spending time with us tonight. Do you have time for any questions or comments from the committee? >> I just the circuit breaker, right? I mean, you just for some context, >> the slide you showed showed how much we got. Um, but it didn't show the gap of what we did. Uh, and I think that that number really is the number that that we're concerned with. Um, and to your point about choosing things, you know, an out of district placement can often cost the district more

094than one FD, one more than one teacher. >> Yeah. >> And so it it's it's frustrating, heartbreaking. It's whatever emotion you want to choose to be faced with a decision of like you referenced a student getting what they're need what they need and ensuring enough educators in general in the general population, general education. That's a Sophie's choice. I mean, that's I I don't that's a little dramatic, but that's just it's a terrible thing. Uh and to be to put districts on and especially if we're as a as a state going to have out of district placements, out of district schools that can pres provide services. This is a state, the state needs to be at 100% for these things because otherwise you're asking small districts to make this choice where it's bad both directions. I

095>> agree. >> So, I think the 5% is great, but you're we're going through something now. we need faster um on that front and I think that's something where I think chapter 70 you have get equity issues a lot of other things I'm sitting here just advocating for my own district but I think the circuit breaker thing is something which is so clear and so the solution is so direct that I hope that you can find some ways to increase that effort um because that would really be near-term impact I mean it's next year it's the year after that will improve districts like ours, every district. But my but my pitch for for assistance on that front. >> Yeah. No, I I completely agree. Um as I said, we've been trying to do this for

096quite some time and and we need to and my opinion on on circuit breaker and when communities are faced with, you know, out of school placements and and the rising cost of out of school placements, >> I my personal belief is that those students are are our responsibility. Absolutely. um collectively and we're a Commonwealth and I think that the Commonwealth should be the ones that are having the financial um resources allocated to those students and for it to be on local school districts, especially smaller school districts and school districts with declining enrollment as Massachusetts continues to age in population I I think is inherently unfair and that's why my hope is that we can get to a to a point where the state is providing 100% circuit breaker reimbursement and then it's easy for then

097the to just take that in. >> And I think with that bargaining power um to be able to go to the 766 schools and and advocate for better educational access at potentially you know uh lower uh costs to the state and provide um you know those students with the direct access to the direct care that they need is a much better model than what we currently have right now. >> Thank you. >> No, and no offense to the special education administrators or anybody else. just it it doesn't make sense uh to me with with all the different things going on right now. It may have at some point in time, but it really doesn't make me >> Mr. for your presentation and everything you pointed out. Um, can't say I have much to add other

098than I think the one one thing that I think there's kind of like a lack I don't like using this phrase, but a lack of awareness about is that we aren't really a state aid community. And that was something that you raised a lot in your initial budget presentation. And even if we were to, you know, double chapter 70 overnight, it would it would help us. but it wouldn't, you know, save us forever, even if it's a doubling of like the largest, you know, state education aid program. So, you know, it's hard because we have as a community a lot of individual responsibility over what happens to the district and it's just, you know, as we repeatedly said, these structural issues that we are unable to overcome are just things that are very antiquated and,

099you know, have to be addressed at some point. Right. >> No, I agree and I'm glad you pointed that out because we've worked these numbers every which way to try and see what the best, you know, way to to solve this municipal I mean it's a municipal funding crisis. There's no sugar coating it. And as you said, even if we doubled our commitment to chapter 70, which um I I don't have the numbers off the top of my head, but it would be a significant amount of state resources. It would it would it would help, but it wouldn't solve the issue. and then next year or the year after that you're back to this. The state has less resources to give you because they've spent it and health insurance continues to climb. I mean, when

100you talk about what what could matter when you look at all this and why we've really deducted that it's healthcare that's driving all of this is that if healthcare wasn't going up 98% over 10 years and only went up 30 30%, let's say 3% a year over those 10 years, that'd be about $7 million that this community would have in additional dollars rather than what they have right now. And that's that would help and that and that's why you know and I I get it and and I heard at the Mass Association of School Committee um and we hear it in you know public hearings from other schools about you know the state has to do more. We absolutely did and we've come up with some, I think, unique sort of out of the box

101ways that we can do more. But at some point in time, it won't matter how much the state's there to provide communities if if we have one line on them continuing to rise completely out of control and really then driving all the other decisions made in town when it comes to employee compensation, which is the largest driver of the budget. I mean, it's it's just a it's a vicious cycle. over here, Mr. Mlen. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Senator Okconer. Uh, I've worked with you for many years now. I know you'd be highly intelligent, capable, responsive, accessible public servant. Thank you for everything that you do for Cohassid. I think that you're one of the bigger champions in our legislature for educational needs. Um, evidenced by I think you've been screaming from the

102mountain tops for a while that I mean, I've listened to this for years now. you know, you're you're advocating for changes to this chapter 70 formula, which is I I think um probably the utmost priority. Uh you know, because just cited, I mean, even if I generally think that the Commonwealth needs to prioritize education more, that's what you were just alluding to when you're, you know, going to superintendent meetings and all that. I mean, it people are always saying that. That said, as you just mentioned, you get to a point and it doesn't matter. Even if you double it, it's not going to impact district life that much unless you figure out um you know, a solution to that to that formula that yields more bottom dollars to our communities. I mean, you know, you

103look at to me the the the lack of priority is evidenced by the percentage of our overall, you know, allocation of to education to chapter 70 from the overall budget, right? we're like it's like 12% or something around that the overall budget. So um it's dwarfed by the and I think I think education is the second largest allocation of the budget. Um if you look at like you know categories >> yeah we healthcare would be the first thing >> and it's and it's dwarfed by healthcare. I think healthier is over 50% of of the the allocation of the budget please. It's huge and because of the problems you're citing and you know I I I don't you know yeah we definitely have issues at at the federal level um and and these things fluctuate from

104election to election and and how that works out. I I just I I I guess I've been in here for, you know, seven years listening to presentations from and you you have the unfortunate um you know, unable position of being sort of our our representative of the legislature right now here now tonight right here and and I think you and you know doing a good job for us. Um and obviously legislature consists of many more people than just you. Uh we also will never hear from our executive branch ever coming in here from the executive branch that we can complain to. So I think that unfairly you're a surrogate for the executive bring on >> um because I think a lot of it falls on on >> No, I want bring these stuff I want

105to bring these things back. So >> no. So I I think that like some of the um I mean especially your chapter 70 legislation that again you've been you've been trying to push for years the inflation um bank is huge. I mean that's a great idea. Um increasing a circuit breaker um it needs to happen. Um I just hope you can do it. I mean I I just it's it's been a long time. I mean it we we haven't seen advances in this area and I don't know why the com isn't moving with more solarity here because what's happening is we've we're getting to I think a a sort of breaking point here where a lot of districts are now facing you know um uh riffs that that they you know that are inevitable they

106can't do anything about and and those riffs are impacting the quality of teaching and learning districts throughout the comm including cohasset you know as you have to lose and jettison teachers you know educators from your budget because you're left with no other choice and I don't think it's all it all comes down to the chapter 70 funding mechanism there Massachusetts loves unfunded mandates senator you know there are a lot of unfunded mandates and and it push it pushes these costs onto districts small towns like the can't afford it and you mentioned like as you're contemplating new programs like the financial literacy like the cell phone bans. That's that's well thought out legislation, right? Because it's it's envisioning either, you know, funding mechanisms or it's being uh at least it's taking a a fairly open-minded approach

107to it where it's not going to be very strict in terms of these specific programming but allow districts to have some discretion like the cell phone ban or with financial literacy. There's going to be a funding mechanism. But we're talking about the literacy curriculum. We're we're talking about, you know, um like, you know, special ed transportation, you know, there's there's no there are no funding mechanisms for this. It's just do this and enjoy the cost. And it and it kills us. It kills small districts like that. So, you know, I just I just ask that, you know, and I know you already do think about it. So, again, it's kind of unfair, but I I don't I I guess I'm I'm feeling I'm feeling very frustrated by the fact that there really hasn't been much

108progress. And again, it's not your fault because I feel like you're one of the few that have been you identifi you're constantly identifying education as one of your main priorities every single year, year after year. And you probably feel like you're just treading water, too. And you're probably frustrated about it as well. But we have to, as a Commonwealth, we have to prioritize education more than we do. And yes, there are always going to be challenges that are going to be difficult to confront that we need federal assistance in order to more uh effectively confront, but that's always going to happen. Like right now, I feel like Cohassid is confronting challenges that should be answered by the state more, but we're dealing with it in the in in whatever ways we can, right? And and

109and hoping that there will be some sort of some sort of help on the way um you know, from the state and then the state is looking to the federal government. I I don't I don't know. I don't know the solution. I'm kind of just citing follows. But um I I think one thing is we really really need to we're always in my students we're always bragging about great our education is and it is great but we need I think to I I really think we need to put our money where our mouth is and I mean if we're allocating 12% of our budget to education you know even if we made that 20 it's going to make a big impact. And so like one of the things we do in cohesid right is in

110confronting the challenges of you know that are presented by you know a lack of state assistance that I feel we get our departments came together and coalesed around the schools and and cut so that they could provide the schools more money so we could mitigate the reductions we are facing this year. Well I think the commonwealth should take a similar approach when it comes to education. You know are there transportation costs? Are there some health care costs? Are there public safety costs? Are there other all these things are important but are there are there some are there some allocations that we can redirect to education because I can think of fewer things that are more important than the education of the next generation of Massachusetts residents of leaders and you know of you know the

111next generation of human beings right in Massachusetts there are fewer things important healthcare is certainly one of them because if we don't have people it doesn't matter if they're educated or not but um I just I guess I'm just getting frustrated at the at the at the inaction. There's just it's it's you're saying the same thing over and over again because you're trying to do these things and I feel like we're not getting anywhere. I I feel like I've heard you say this about chapter 70 for like at least the last three or four years. >> Yep. >> You know, and I what I mean what what do you think the can the districts can we start making noise? I mean, how do we how do we get this how do we get more action

112here? >> I think you have to make noise. I think the uh the school superintendents mobilizing the way they have been I think has been excellent. Uh the school committee I know that the mass association of school committees is meeting up at the state house relatively soon. I think that that needs to be a call for action and I think it needs to you know continue to trickle down to the parents and just continue to put pressure on the legislature. One thing and I agree with everything you said. Um, one thing that we do have as far as another opportunity is that the Student Opportunity Act is fully funded in fiscal year 27. So, this is the last year, and for those that don't, it was a 7-year program, $1.5 billion. Majority of money basically

113went to about 22 school districts, the most underserved school districts that we have in our state. And they've they've sent those resources that way. Every school district got something um as far as increases in charter school reimbursement, school transportation, couple other line items, but nothing as drastic. The majority of those funds went to those school districts. >> Yeah, very minor. >> My hope is that we've proven that we can increase education funding over a 7-year platform by $ 1.5 billion. That funding being fully funded this fiscal year, we should be saying, what is the next seven years? where do those next $ 1.5 billion investments go and how can we spread it across every school district because every school district is hurting right now. Obviously, we need to focus on school districts that are underserved.

114But if we continue along this this path and I forgot I was went on to something else. But when I talked about this happening in the 80s, Brockton sued they won and we had to create the chapter 70 funding formula. That that that situation is going to happen at some point in time when school districts are continuously faced with deficits. You have two or three overrides that fail. the logical next step four, five, six years from now would be a lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts again to that they're not cherishing education because they're not providing the resources to whatever community is that decides to follow suit and we'll be back and have to be forced to do this. What I'm proposing is saying let's be proactive. We see the hurt that's going on right

115now. Let's do this as we can. Let's let's know that we have this runway that to build this bridge to get to the unfunded pension liability and that gives us you know more years after that to then hopefully get some action down in DC to healthcare. I do think at some point in time if you track this out the health care cost is just going to balloon everything. So hopefully we get something done at some point in time down there. But in in in the meantime we have to do something. The communities are hurting and there's division like I've I've never seen before in local communities. needless division cuz we do have the resources to do something in the state and we have to. I was talking with one of my colleagues. He's out in

116the Springfield area just before coming here. He was at a school committee meeting last night who's actually on the school committee. Uh Senator Oliver and we were just talking about just spitballing back and forth on text, you know, earlier today. That that's that's where we're at is just any idea that we possibly have to put on the table to ease this strain that's on our communities and create more funding mechanisms. The best one I came up with um as school commander Evans had talked about was the 5% of the circuit breaker. Other ones that have come up with is the free school meals. You know, that's it's it's not a ton, but that's one strand in that bridge that we need to build and then circuit breaker on top of that. Then being able to

117back inflation on top of that and then you know maybe some assistance in health care from the state through you know creative problem solving thinking from people who are much smarter than I am on you know healthcare stuff and just continue to build that bridge to get to unfunded pension liability being exhausted. But we we need to do it every year and it can't just be all right, we're gonna we're gonna up it from $104 per kid to $150 per kid because I represent some school districts with tremendously declining uh enrollment where it doesn't matter if you're going to add, you know, 46 bucks a kid and that's that that in in in you know that in total is nothing compared to the increases that they're seeing in fixed costs. And it's just going to

118continue to go that way. And my hope is that we make enough noise this session that we do something significant about this. And I would say the first step we need to do is foundation budget review is going to take years. Um student opportunity act took like 18 months to get the whole all the stakeholders together put a plan in place. They put a plan in place. Senate and the house couldn't agree on that plan. We then had to go back to the drawing board and do it again the year after. So they're going to have to put a plan in place. And then on top of that, we're going to have to find uh common ground between the House and the Senate on how that's going to work in the future. But we have

119to start realizing actual costs and understanding that all of the metrics that make up the chapter 70 funding formula, which is ridiculous, by the way, too. Um all of them that make that up are are out of date with the current financial conditions that school districts are facing. and you know taking all the estimated income and property value and all of this stuff. There's easier ways to do this and I think that government especially through technology inside of government could streamline this process to actually give school districts what they need rather than arbitrary numbers based on an outdated formula and a pie in the sky number we choose every year. >> Just frustrating totally frustrating so much of a collective effort that I just it's it's going to take forever to get to get it

120done. Well, I think there's there's things we can do now. I think that upping circuit break 75 to 80 is the most logical things we can do because it hits every single school district on a very even uh playing field and it will provide immediate assistance. Now, then the next year another 5% 5% on top of that until the number that that Cory brought up is covered entirely covered by the state. give some thought to regulation of certain areas too where there's unfunded mandates like for example special education transportation you know it's kind of like the wild I mean you know school districts have to carry those costs and should we need to make sure our most vulnerable learners have all all resources they can possibly have indeed but you know we're we're we're basically

121know victim to whatever these vendors want to charge you know there's only so many of them and we they know we have to do it right so um thinking of things like that too where the state can step in say, "No, you don't get to like gouge public school districts for this." >> Yep. >> You know, um just something, you know, something to think of, too. Just again, every little bit helps, right? >> Yeah. No, I remember being on the council in Wayouth and uh we had our school bus, not special education, but our regular school bus contract come up and first student was the only bid that came in and I was like, well, they could just put whatever they want as far as the number. >> Exactly. Exactly. >> Yeah. No, I I

122get it. So, yeah. You know, >> thank you, M. >> Thank you. Um and I will just close out with my thanks um for being here tonight. Um, as an educator myself, I will certainly be following the early literacy bill, um, because systematic research-based um, literacy instruction is so incredibly important um, and hoping that that we support that um, to the core um, for our um, youngest learners. Um, and likewise the reform of out of school placement. And I care that our um kids who need to be elsewhere get to be elsewhere. Um but to do it in a way that is sustainable for districts. >> Absolutely. >> Um but finally, I love the idea of making noise and we have this wonderful group of um families um mostly in our district that are really

123paying attention to what's going on with schools right now. How can they concretely make noise? Should they be writing their US Senate or US senators? What what is the most effective way to to do that? I think the most immediate circumstance before us right now is the budgets. Both April uh is going to be the House and May is going to be the Senate. My guess is that there will be somebody who files the uh circuit breaker increase inside the House. It's having all these people and I would say the collective group outside of Cohasset, the school committee members you've met in other communities. Everyone really has to get in and start pressuring the legislature to take on the extra 5% of circuit breaker cuz it's not going to solve all the problems overnight, but

124it's going to provide some breathing room. And I think right now what we need while we research the long-term solution to um chapter uh 70 is some breathing room. And that that's what I would say. So, in April when the House gets going, put pressure on all the budget writers as well as all the members of the House to pass an increase. And then the same when it comes to the Senate, cuz I know I'll be filing it again, which will be the fifth consecutive fiscal year. We've gained a lot of momentum just because this issue has has grown um and is really, you know, dividing communities. I mean, we are in a a full-blown municipal funding crisis. the uh Mass Municipal Association put a um a publication out, 13-page publication. It's called uh perfect

125storm and it's about what's happening right now in our communities and it's very thorough when it comes to our percentage of you know typically 15 years ago we were about 22 23% of every community's budgets on average. Now we're about 18%. So costs have gone up but the state hasn't been able to increase their commitment. Um yeah, but that that's what I would say. And as far as long-term, um, long-term is getting Chapter 70 reformed at the state level, having it more equitable, getting to that unfunded pension liability, being fully funded, and hopefully getting a functional Congress down in DC, um, that will fix healthcare because if healthcare wasn't an issue, um, as much of an issue as it is right now, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. >> Thank you. Um and

126thank you for spending so much time with us. Um appreciate it. >> No, anytime. Thank you everybody. I really appreciate it. >> Thanks. >> From there we will move on to our superintendent report Dr. >> All right. Thank you. All right. Um, so first I want to thank everyone for their patience on Tuesday morning. Um, winter's not over. It may be warm, but we're still having storms. Um, >> I think there was a collective Oh my god, the phone number. I know. Thank you. >> I know. I tried to give the headline up front. There is school. >> Well, I saw that come through though trying to make breakfast. >> Um, but I especially want to thank our transportation manager, Kim Stoi, and our families who were impacted by the storm most significantly. Um, Tuesday

127morning, we had families who buses could not get to them and they actually couldn't necessarily get out either. And so Kim personally called all of those families and using the new smaller bus that we have. She got out there, she worked with them on alternate locations and she got all of our kiddos to school on time and the day went off without a hitch even though trees and power lines had their issues. Um so we're grateful for her efforts and for our family's flexibility. Um, also on Tuesday morning, in the midst of all of that, there were several of us who were pulling into the school at 5:45 a.m. to allow our high school juniors and seniors who are part of Model UN to gather and board a bus to head to New York City

128for the Model UN conference. Um, it's a conference of high school students from around the world actually. um and they come together to engage in simulated UN experiences and meetings. It's a great opportunity. I can just tell you from a parent perspective, one of the things my son loves the most about participating is that he gets to meet and interact with students from all over the world. Um, and so they are actually there I have going to just share a couple of photos. Give me one second because they arrived yesterday and they were able to go to the UN yesterday, the actual building, and do a tour. Um, so I'll make this a little bit bigger so people can see, but you can see our students who are at the UN. And then they actually

129went to go see The Outsiders on Broadway. And today marked the start of the actual Model UN events. Um they started with opening ceremonies and they will be working well into the evening um the next few nights. For anyone who hasn't had experience with model UN they actually are in committee meetings and working in collaboration with one another sometimes till 10:30 11:00 at night. And so it's a busy trip. It's a very much a work trip. um and they gain a lot of experiences. So, they return on Saturday, so we're excited to hear more from them at that time. I also want to provide an update on our assistant superintendent search. We had a really great committee that came together. Um, we had to put all of our process on hold the week that we

130were all out due to the snow because that was the week that we were supposed to be holding our initial interviews. And so we had to postpone all of them. And so we had our interviews last week. We had 38 applicants and the interview committee considered bringing in 12 of those applicants for first round interviews. Um, one of those applicants withdrew and so we interviewed 11 candidates and the committee worked to identify three finalists. Our three finalists will be coming in next week for their finalist rounds. The finalists are Rob Powers, Terry Smith, and Beth Wilcox. Um, each of the days is the same. It's one day per finalist. So, on Tuesday, we'll be seeing Rob Powers. On Wednesday, we'll see Terry Smith. And on Thursday, we'll see Beth Wilcox. Um, each of them will

131start with doing some school walkthroughs. We'll walk through elementary and secondary a little bit. Um then there'll be time for each candidate to meet with members of the central office. Um mostly myself and Michael Stapleton. Um, and then there'll be opportunities to engage with students and then other leaders at the in the district and then there'll be staff forum and then we'd like to invite anyone on the school committee who'd like to participate in the process to be participants in our community forum that will be accessible to the community either in person or on Zoom and then they'll wrap up each candidate will wrap up their visit with um time where the candidate and I will have conversation. Um, following the three finalists, I will use all of the feedback we gather in all of

132those forums to make a decision. I will call references. Those will inform the decision as well. And then my hope is that in early April, either our first meeting or our second meeting, I can present to you our um my final selection and recommendation for hire. Um, I would very much like to thank Jen Leleski, Michael Stapleton, Alex Sullivan, John Scarleti, Lisa Porteriss, Beth Owens, Rigby, Karen Johnston, Katherine Yendra, Sean Turner, Taban Casey, Olivia Lingjabin, Cassandra Dragon, Arshambo, and Stephanie Saunders for all of the time that they dedicated to this process. Um, this was a lengthy co process and it required a lot of attention outside of our meetings because it there were 38 applicants and so it I will say that this was a great committee to be a part of and I greatly

133appreciated all of their efforts as we came to a place where we now have three finalists. So again, I encourage everybody to be a part of that process and we'll look forward to coming to you with further updates at a later meeting. Um, and to ensure that everyone has our all school music nights on their calendars, always great nights, I want to invite the community to the all school chorus concert on Tuesday, next Tuesday, which is actually the 24th, um, at 7:00 p.m. and the all school band concert on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m., which is after our special school committee meeting which is at 6:00 which the only agenda item will be to vote the budget and then we can all travel up to the gym for the concert and so both concerts are

134held here at the middle high school gym and they are great evenings. Um, so we look forward to seeing folks there. And finally, I want to share with everyone that our next school committee meeting, which will be held on April 1st, will be held in Boston at MECO headquarters. And we're excited to take our meeting into Boston and to spend some time focusing on MECO and our MECO students and families. And as a reminder, anyone interested in joining me at the MECO Gala on May 1st can reach out to me or purchase a ticket directly from MECO online. And so those are all the updates I have for you tonight. Great. Good job. And then um time for meeting member questions or comments. U Mr. Evans. >> Thank you very much. >> Mr. >> Small

135logistical question. Are we planning to hold a special meeting like we did for director of finance or >> assistance? So not this time conversation with Cherki. um it was really hard to find one night with the calendar and the concerts and all of those things and so that's why we're hoping people can come to that community session. >> I will be on those Zooms. >> Great. Thank you. >> Dr. Jar, could you be crystal clear as to when that community session is going to be? >> Yep. Um, so it is from 4 to 4:30 on Tuesday night the 24th, Wednesday night the 25th, and Thursday the 26th. Yep. And then finally, um I have a question about logistics as well with that uh with our candidates coming in. If people are participating over Zoom, how

136would they share feedback with you? >> So they'll get a a Google link, a Google form link, >> um and they'll be able to fill that in. >> Fantastic. Thank you very much. >> Further questions? Great. Um we'll move on to teaching and learning with Dr. Scolinsman's. Neat. Uh last Friday was a half of professional development day and so our teachers both at the secondary and elementary level they continued to work on their curriculum maps. They finished their ones that they use for their work but the public facing ones they finished working on those so that we can get those up on the website and our plan is to have those up by April 27th for the secondary uh elementary a little bit different. So those will be up before the school year starts. um

137theirs just looks a little bit different, has a little bit different kind of work that still needs to be done. Uh special education teachers worked on um IEP compliance training and we had a teacher PD for writing the writing process for students with um disabilities. And so both uh teachers and ESPs worked on that and our related services worked on some individual PD opportunities as well as the nurses worked together. So um it was a great day our lots of people getting a lot of work done and um and so it was a very productive day and then today most of the female districts and business building leaders attended the women in education leadership network Network wellin which is part of the Massachusetts association of school superintendent and what how many did they say what

138what one was it today I I couldn't remember how many times they've done it I've done it a lot so maybe 20 years. >> Yeah. So, I would send in a bunch of them. Um, but they're a really really amazing time for uh female leaders to get together, educational leaders. And today the theme was authentic leadership, empowering vulnerability and confidence. There were over 500 women leaders from the state there. Um, and it's just a really inspiring day of listening, sharing, and learning together. And, you know, we get to see people that we've worked up with in the past or have been in meetings with. So, um, it's just a really wonderful day. and to have all of most of our women leaders there was terrific to have almost a whole table. Um so it was

139wonderful. And then last Tuesday, I mean last this past Monday, you may have remembered it was very rainy. We got a call on Tuesday, but the Osbor Elementary School had some very special visitors. They had barnyard babies and share it out with you because there's always fun to see kid and animals. So, let me just share my screen real quickly so you can see their faces. And let me that big so you can see them. And there they are. So, hopefully you can see them. So, um they bring in all of these amazing animals from bunnies to puppies to chickens to pigs and um and then they get to hold them. And I it's just u if you can see the bunnies, they're all wrapped up in snuggles. >> Um and so they're just the

140children. It's just such a wonderful moment. They learned a lot about animals, but also there's this really just wonderful experience. They were feeding goats and brushing them. They learned how to care for them. And then just their absolute delight. This was um uh um Mrs. Beth Rigby um Riy's Owen's class. And so they were just great and it was such a wonderful thing to be able to experience. Um last year Dr. Shannon and I were lucky enough to go down there, but um today I was it was just so anyway just wanted to share that with you. >> Sad to miss it. >> I know it's you know well because the children are so lovely. So >> uh thank you for that really lovely counterweight to budget >> um any comments for Dr. Stalins? Mr.

141Evans Mr. Well, I already just revealed myself as referring bunnies. If I could have brought them here for you today, I would have bunnies. They're all sleeping. So, >> fantastic. Uh, we will move on to uh budget resources and governance. Um, and beginning with our monthly update um from this is Sue Owens. >> Good evening. So, I will be brief. This is just a quick financial summary and budget outlook for the month of February. Um, we are holding steady. I giving you an update of what our actual expenditures are, which is we have to date spent $14,220,928. We have a little almost $11 million in incumbrances, which means things that are on a purchase order being held that we know are coming. Um so that total committed meaning that that the balance that we know

142is is going to be spent at this point is 24,950,157. Um which is a budget utilization of about 99.87% um compared to last month was 99.9%. Um the uncommitted balance is about $30,432 and last month it was 23,333. Um the change is basically if you know we put in purchase orders for anticipated costs when the actual um invoice or bills come in it's at it's at a lower amount so it frees up some money um and and that's hopefully the plan moving forward and I said we're holding our own and not they're not spending anything um unless it's necessary necessary for the classroom for safety reasons. So we're in good shape there. Um, you know, as usual with the overall budget nearly fully obligated, we have the several cost pressures that we've been watching, which

143is utilities. Um, we continue to monitor our utilities expenditures closely to ensure we have sufficient funds to cover us through the end of the year. Um, we'll know more in the next month or so because the last month was pretty significant month um, probably costwise just based on temperatures. And then the athletics which we've been watching closely um we have not yet started collecting spring revenue or if we have it hasn't been allocated um through February um but our shortfall now is approximately u - 27,212 so that will easily be made up when the remaining of the spring registrations come through. Um so all of our accounts um revolving in budget will be running in the positive um as long as we don't have any significant anticipated expenditures come through. Um then any shortfalls would

144be addressed through transfers of available funding um rental costs as well um the number that we stated in the last monthly update. there's approximately 97,000 in salary segments that will be available to help cover some shortfalls and that number has not changed since our last uh report. So, we are in a good place at the moment. Um and we hopefully that we're going to continue that. Yeah. in athletic fees should just about all be in because spring sports started this week and so it won't have been realized because they just all came and I wish you see that in the next >> month next month's update we'll have >> yes >> updated the utilities >> yes you will >> and this okay so next month will be >> hopefully it'll stay the same but they

145may >> thank you miss Owen I will just make a comment. We have some users online who are raising their hands. Um oh, thank you for typing in a question. Um but we'll um we'll address your question, Zoom user, in a few minutes. If you could please add your name and um your address. Um we will read your question aloud after the committee has the opportunity to ask questions or make comments. >> Uh Mr. Evans, any questions or comments from Miss Owen? just comment this you know we're going through these monthly and it's an important exercise but if you look at the timeline and how accurate Ben it reflects that when we're looking at FY27 and FY28 and FY29 Dr. Dr. Shann and Miss Owen have properly identified what it costs to run this district.

146So to the point where we're going to be within 1%. I mean that's considering you're trying to project again, you're actually projecting 18 months out, right? We're doing a budget cycle for something that hasn't even started yet. I just want to reinforce that cuz it's a lot of work for you guys that you've done that and that when we go and we talk about what things cost, the numbers aren't made up. They're not just in, you know, inflated. They're not just guessed. They're based on the work that you guys did this year. So, thank you for doing the extra work this year. I know it was laborious. I know it's could be stressful, uh, but it gives legitimacy to when we argue for what we need going forward. So, thank you for all that. I

147hope that next month looks good. Uh, and then the top line was about the special education transfer. That's the town supporting us with the extra $150,000. That was huge for this year. So, thank you to the town. >> Uh, and hopefully we see some support from the state as well. >> Thank you. >> Um, Mr. No, thank you. And it was very digestible. So, >> Mr. Mlen, >> no. Okay. I um I have more questions either. Thank you for um your continued um watch over our budget. Um and our um our person who is watching um and has a question about the athletic budget. Um we do need to know your name and your address. So, if you could please type those in as well into into the chat feature, the Q&A feature, um that

148will allow us to read your question aloud and I'll monitor that. Um but we will continue to move along. Um with the budget presentation, we did that earlier. So, I would ask if you want me to repeat the presentation or >> uh committee members, anyone need to repeat? Anyone in the audience need to repeat? Okay, we are the vested interest. I do have one quick question if if I may. >> Yes. >> Um, when we're talking about technology maybe being eliminated, that role being eliminated at the middle school, is it possible to include that um course content incorporated into STEM, which I know is is also part of a the middle school programming? >> So, it's it's something we're looking at. I think that's a long-term longer term conversation. Um because I think two things

149one currently our STEM course is limited in length um because it's it's a it's a special um so to add to it we would need to sort of take something away. Also, currently that course is designed to supplement the science courses and to make sure that we're hitting all of the science and technology standards. Um that said, as we look at it moving forward, I think that is definitely part of the conversation um that we will be having and we'll be looking at sort of technology and computer science as a sort of K through 12 strand and where we need to do things a little bit differently. >> I think that's sort of what what the the underlying um interest in in that question. Absolutely. Um >> particularly thank you. Um so we will >>

150support information where um we did have the budget presentation on the agenda just noting that um the public hearing on our budget d for for those folks that are just tuning in or maybe didn't make it earlier uh the public hearing on our budget was did precede this this meeting and and Dr. Shannon um it was all recorded um Dr. Shannon gave uh the most recent budget update and for efficiency purposes we're not doing that twice because a lot of people are are watching the meeting from that point. Uh but you can uh go back and view that that budget update which will also be posted um and available just like all the other updates have been. Um just so you know why we just decided to forego the second presentation explaining that people that

151may may have come on here look at the agenda and we're waiting for the budget presentation. It occurred earlier at the budget year >> and I would also say that really nothing has changed from our last school committee meeting as well with regard to the budget. >> All right. Thank you both. Um, community relations and communications any reports from school committee subcommittees and liaison. >> One question noticed is this a new format for the uh for the um agenda for our >> I got feedback. I think some of the feedback, some of the the the the involvement we have today, >> yes, >> did excellent. Really, really nice. This is a huge upgrade. I don't know how much it was behind the scenes, but I think it's just much more digestible. And I heard from

152people, oh, this is great. >> People that have never opened up before. So, thank you for that improvement. >> It was a direct result of our subcommittee, our communication subcommittee meeting. And um I would give all of the credit to Lisa Porteriss and Jen Seris. um they've worked together to make that happen and that is the way it will come out moving forward. >> Excellent. >> Yes. And that I believe that was your um suggestion, Mr. Evans. So, thank you for that. >> Yeah, I think it was the group, but >> it was great. Um hey, any other updates from committees? Seeing none, we will move on um to governance. There are no topics not reasonably anticipated by the chair. We have no minutes to approve and no reason to move into executive session. So

153at this point I will take a motion to adjurnn. >> So >> a second >> second. >> Thank you. Uh Mr. Evans >> I >> Mr. Squatrido >> I >> Mr. Mcclullen. >> Jenleski I. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you all for your participation. >> And you got the steering wheel on top. The whole thing is just >> the whole thing. >> The magic of technology. Yes. It's also good cuz