Weymouth School Committee Meeting & Public Hearings, March 13, 2025

001elcome to the Waymouth school committee meeting of March 13 2025 please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you our first item on the agenda is the consent agenda chair I make a motion that we approve confirmation of Warrant 36 2025 uh dated March 3rd 2025 in the amount of 1,310 48178 with money to pay I also move that we approve minutes from budget subcommittee from February 26 2025 an executive session from February 27 2025 and regular meeting minutes from February 27th 2025 I second the motion any discussion all those in favor say I I so passes our next item on the agenda is

002the report of the superintendent with superintendent uh Mrs carton thank you chair I was just looking to see if Katy Montero is up there no that's our first celebration um Katy Montero this week was awarded the mta's educational support professional of the Year by um the MTA we are so proud of Katie um that is such a prestigious award um it shows her hard work and commitment to our wouth families our students our staff everybody um Katie's compassion and her professionalism is just felt at all times and um I can't tell you all how lucky we are to have her in the district and how proud We Are of her um let's see uh I want to thank everybody um all of our guests for read Across America this uh past week was a great

003experience at our elementaries we had a lot of special guests thank you to everybody here at the school committee um that volunteered some time um we I wanted to also uh commend our Waymouth High School Theater Company um that has yet again made it to the semi-finals um with their uh show of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tain um they are going to be doing a free open rehearsal tomorrow night I think 7 o'clock 7 o'clock and then Saturday they'll be um competing at Chapman so we're hosting the semi-finals this year so they'll be competing at Chapman at around 3:30 yeah so congratulations um to the theater company um next up I want to talk a little bit about our new assistant superintendent we um I can't tell you how excited we are about the

004new superint the new assistant superintendent um This was um something that we waited for um when I was um appointed the interim superintendent um in June I think Brian and I we talked a lot over the summer um we talked about posting um for an interim assistant superintendent which is a tricky thing to do right because when to leave a principal role or to leave whatever role you might be in as an interim is very um challenging right because it's not a it's not something that's guaranteed um so the more we thought about it um we kind of kind of kept chugging along and and instead realized you know we're probably better off just kind of getting through the year um and then having um waiting to see if I would be appointed and and

005go through that um process uh at that point and um I'm I'm really glad we did all of that right I'm really glad that we were patient um everybody at central office kind of chipped in and and got the work done this year um and we we did post um if you if you've been at any of the budgets we did post that um we will be um hiring the assistant superintendent um but to decrease our level service um at the end of this school year the executive director of Elementary education will be that spot will be eliminated so tonight we are introducing Lindsay frat coming to us from West August the principal of West August Lindsay has over 25 years I was just saying she looks way too young to have 25 years of

006and I I don't know if she's the Doogie hoser of Education um but uh lindsy frat we are extremely excited to welcome her to our team um she has so many amazing skills and qualities but the the biggest one that stood out to us and our team is how um she treats all of our staff and our students and our families with care and compassion that is first and foremost um above above all of her other skills um but besides all of the amazing people skills Lindsay is going to bring to us an extensive teaching and learning um experience um as well has a special education experience at West Augusta um she has already started to work on um some of the things that we have on our plate for next year she's already kind

007of starting to jump into the library block and a little bit of that steam piece um she's already mentoring two of our newest um new principles this year um so she'll continue to work with our assistant principles and principles next year so we are super excited to welcome Lindsay welcome so happy to have you was so excited thank you it's extremely exciting and I'm very very grateful for the opportunity to work with more students and families and staff members and it's been an emotional time with Wes ausset it's been my home away from home for 25 years but this really feels right um supporting more students and working with Mel's team so I'm very excited thank you we we're so excited to have you thank you thank you just one comment Lindsay yes I remember

008all those years ago I forget your maiden name but can you just pronounce your last fralo fralo okay CU I remember it was McHugh one of my first students mothers is here a thousand years ago that's right although we haven't aged right all right that M FR AO excellent well welcome I mean not welcome but you're gonna move on up and do a great job thank you so much thank you congratulations thank you thank you Lindsay um and Jeremy burm HR Director has already started with the screening committee for the West Augusta principal um I think they start interviews next week I believe and uh We've surveyed staff and families for some input on that as well um and then we hope to do U probably some site visits and wrap this up by the

009end of March wonderful the end of March Yes W yeah oh it's flying I was like I have to check the date in my head it just seems quick yeah they're working hard yeah that's it for for me thank you thank you chair our next item on our agenda is the subcommittees of the uh the committee um budget sub is first with uh Danielle thank you chair the only update I'm going to give because Brian and um superintendent curtain are going to go over the budget presentation is we are cancelling the March 19th meeting because there will not be change um to the budget in that time and you wanted to give an update about the gift correct and we did we um talked about that extensively at that budget sub meeting is that the

010um the ask is not changing from this meeting to next meeting so we canceled that 319 budget sub meeting we will have meetings after that of course um the gift um the gracious gift from the M family in their memory of their son jack um before it comes back to school committee for a final vote um and the family will be here uh we do have to go through Town Council just in terms of looking for the mgl if m Mass General Law chapter 44 section 53 and 53a and a half and the code of ordinances for the town wus section 5-38 um the council will accept the gift more more and uh more regarding the expenditures will happen each year because it's over $5,000 a year that the expenditures will be so it'll go

011through Council on March 17th will'll likely be referred and then we'll be back here on March 27th with the family it goes to full C not a subcommittee correct I believe they refer to budget management okay okay thank you br uh our next item is collective bargaining with Rebecca nothing report chair policy sub with Dana thank you chair uh there is no scheduled meeting for March our next scheduled policy meeting is April 8th which is a Tuesday at 6 PM in the Adams conference room um athletic subcommittee with Mary Allen and Rebecca we will be meeting on Monday the 24th at 6 PM in the Adams library with um basically a one item agenda of the booster organization time is that 6m Adam's Library um Wellness committee with Rebecca yep shair the wellness committee um

012the district Wellness committee met today and unfortunately I had a work obligation popup but the committee did um go over uh further go over changes or proposed changes to the district wellness policy which they're Pol uh polishing up and um getting ready to send over to our policy subcomittee wonderful thank you and CPAC with Danielle a few updates from CPAC they have began the planning for this the unified games this year that will take place on um May 1st I believe um and the rain date is May 2nd planning started this week so if there's any families that would like to give input to um on those that day for that day you know reach out to seec they can bridge that gap of communication with the planning committee they also have several things planned

013for the month March of month of March March 18th via Zoom they will have they will have a presentation on disability history this will explore the rich and diverse history of disability advocacy and rights um on March 27th they will host a caregiver coffee hour at the Wildcat Cafe that's at 9:15 you have to pre-register for that that due to security reasons um they can you can find the link on their Facebook and then they're ramping up their planning for their annual resource Fair which will take place April 9th from 4 to 6 at Chapman and that's it right our next item is um new business and we have the presentation of the proposed Waymouth Public School FY 26 budget with superintendent um curtain and assistant superintendent Smith thank you thank you thank you chair

014um just a little bit of overview I know this has been a for us um a process that we've been um engaged in for some time now but some of the um people that are just joining us tonight just a reminder of the process um that we've been engaging in um first and foremost I want to thank Brian and Alyssa bossy uh for their tiess work that they've been doing with this budget I think with they're providing us this year with the real And Timely numbers and how they're giving us this ability to be completely transparent um and engage our community in this process um is is something that we're very proud of of um and I I think we're I feel very fortunate to be working in a town and having the engagement that

015we're having because an Engaged Town um is a great town right and so we welcome that engagement and that feedback and we are super appreciative of the collaboration of the school committee um mayor hedin Chief of Staff langel uh the Town Council um Mike Murphy president of the wa all of um the the work that we do together I don't think there's any anyone um not in this room um that cares more about our staff um than the people that are here tonight um and we excuse me we've talked a couple of um a couple of different nights about um some of the major factors that are affecting our budget not just our budget everybody's budget across the state um we've mentioned um that the Esser funds or the co money has um now ended

016um we've talked about the growing needs of our students um tied with inflation that everybody is feeling everywhere and also um the declining revenues in our town and everyone else's towns and I think what's important to recognize as we go through this process is um we recognize the emotions and the fears that this process brings to everybody um we feel that in our own homes and um we certainly feel that here in our schools and um I can promise you that we are all um putting our full attention into this we understand that when we're having these discussions yes it might be about money but it's we know that it's about people's careers it's their livelihoods and when we talk about cutting positions or moving staff uh we understand the impact that that has um

017and we take that very seriously um so we above all are doing everything that we can to provide the very best educational experience for all of our students within the budget that we are given um I'll turn this over to Brian at this point Thank You superintendent as we start here so this presentation will also be in our full budget book that will be releas released in a few weeks um I'll try to go quicker through the first half um and then focus more on the second half of the details with when it comes to the budget so we always like to begin with just some of our stats um our operating budget this year was 87,4 72,000 uh we support roughly 50 600 students in District and that's supported by just around 1100 staff

018members we are a large District we have 11 schools which we maintain 1.2 million square feet across and we are the 33rd largest District in Massachusetts which is roughly the top 10th percentile so as we began the budget season we looked at our goals for this year and one was to maintain level service um in working with the town um because we are one large Department of the the town of wouth um the directive um with the mayor's budget process was um try to come up with your base budget um for FY 26 as we're thinking about sustainability going forward for us that's really level service and in addition to level service we have to look at sustaining um compliance needs we have whether it's Transportation compliance or um Staffing compliance needs for special education

019and then the last piece is the prioritizing the future growth and we talk about prioritizing future growth um last year and we anticipate this year Cuts right so we've we've brought back the needs list and on that needs list we prioritize our compliance positions but then we also have on there um positions that prioritize future growth um for when we do grow again as Mel mentioned just the process right so encouraging the particip participatory process um you know it's been great to see a budget sub the number of um folks that have been coming to participate asking great questions making great comments um because that makes a difference in making this budget process better for everyone just a little on the calendar so we we do um we look at some of our Concepts when

020we talk about budget we have our financial procedures review every year we have Capital planning which we'll talk about in a moment um we do forecasting each year which helped us in identifying the fiscal cliff several years ago and then we have our annual budget documents and procedurally we follow a a development process we have a calendar uh that's publicly shared and then we have to submit the legislative bodies whether it's school committee or Town Council and then uh the ongoing monitoring and just you know we're always living in three years the last year reporting current year expenditure and then future year projecting and building uh interesting with when it comes to school department and a town is we're also running concurrent with a state budget timeline um so here's the state timeline I won't

021go through the details but uh the point being that we don't know yet revenues from the state or feds so that's part of the the problem we have when we're trying to develop a budget that's six months from now in a new school year our budget specifically you can see the timeline here again it's I think a 10 and a half month process of our budget timeline um but we really focus on the three months um January February March and as we drill down in those um three months you know where we are in the process now we're at the public hearing right so the public hearing is this evening um we then have a a potential vote hopefully approval on March 27th we submit our budget request to the mayor's office the next day

022and then we go through the town process through the mayor's office and Town Council um with a hopeful vote of in June for our fiscal 26 budget one thing we've been working on I I have to thank um Mel's executive assistant Kelly powers um instrumental in our communication strategy um public and I I have to give her credit for all these slides by the way because I I can't use can but like she can um so our meeting schedules the annual presentations all of our slides our documents everything posted on our website um and then even through our our Zoom account making sure that we're recording subcommittee meetings and posting them as well and um soon to coming soon is um an app that she's worked with um Brett and James and Ed Tech on

023um that uh We've tested it out and it's I think it's going to be a nice tool for families to use um in the future so funding let's talk a little bit about funding we talk about our general funds U which is you know for us our operating budget in addition to that we have special Revenue accounts uh we have grants both federal and state and just given the the news we're hearing this year we want to focus a little bit on the federal grants and the state grants um in this presentation and then as always we have revolving funds that are funded by it's activities it's school activities funded by um fees to families you can notice no longer do we see the Esser funding on there so grants um we have our Essa

024grants and then our Ida grants uh so Elementary and secondary grants um which I believe going back to LBJ in 1965 vot into law that's our entitlement grants we go by Title 1 2 3 and four and then we have our federal Ida grants um that's for individuals with disabilities Education Act so uh these grants we rely on for both Staffing we say staff and stuff so payroll um and then other things that are non-payroll related in addition to these um federal grants and all these grants come through Desi um at the state level we also have other grants um we have the Immigrant Grant which we've seen decrease over the last couple years for us our CTE Perkins Grant mckin vento uh and then we have other grants cfce is for our you know

025our prek children and then the school health Grant um managed by a health services director so all those grants come to a total of 3.5 million so what does that mean for our daily operating budget so we have our operating school budget of 87 million this year in addition to that to supplement we have grant funding at 3.5 million and then the revolvers I mentioned whether it's Athletics food service um prek CTE 2.5 million so our piece of running way with Public Schools is it's $93 million and I'll get into the other costs in addition to that but it's just I think it's important to note that um we have an operating budget but in addition to that we have costs that are funded supplementally by grants and revolvers that really make the cost to

026Runway with Public Schools day-to-day almost $94 million capital planning I won't spend too much time on what we're looking for because just based on what we're seeing for revenues um we don't anticipate a lot available but I I will say that um you know part of the project and you can see our prek um our prek playground there uh that principal perz um parent councel uh worked with the mayor's office uh to get that playground in uh so you can kind of throw that under the capital Improvement piece so we do have a process for Capital Improvements um here's here's kind of the parameters around it um and for us for next year we do have a a list of capital items we'll go through the process through the town um but we're focusing on

027our two top priority items are our Chromebooks and curriculum um for ELA our Chromebooks uh in terms of replacement cycle this would be about a Year's worth um and then for curriculum we're really looking to um not change we're not changing just want to be clear on that we're not changing our curriculum but what we're trying to do is get funding and then go through school committee and Town Council to potentially solicit a 5-year contract to save money for our curriculum needs in the future um in the past so past 10 years we do track this um just because of the you know great economic growth we've had um we've been able to through the town invest roughly $10 million I think just under $10 million in 10 years um to our Capital needs that's

028buildings that's grounds that's equipment uh that's Vehicles that's Chromebooks um that's modulars so we we did the modular of classrooms when we brought fifth grade back to the primaries and we've been approved to get uh seven more which we just had a meeting this week and um superintendent curtain in an upcoming meeting will update the committee U but our seven modu of classrooms at West Augusta Hamilton and Nash um are on time schedule on budget schedule uh and looking to be um in place and used starting this September um and in addition to all this we obviously know about the the Chapman project um and then the Adams renovation project that was done a couple years ago Chapter 70 so piece of our Aid comes from Chapter 70 um and it's a decreasing piece of

029our our budget I'm not going to go through this in great detail but basically the state determines what it costs around our district they come up with what the local you know wayth can pay for um and then there is an amount that's dedicated to us in terms of Chapter 70 funding so the net School spending amount is what is required of a district um to spend to educate children and I'll get a little bit into what that means but basically um by law you have to at least meet n school spending so this is a look back to last uh two fiscal years so in August this past August um the numbers were published for FY 23 net School spending and we don't really look at the projected for this year and next because

030until we've gone through our end of year report and Audits and desie posts this we can't really we can't really project too much about the next school sping so we always it's always a a two-year look back and it's posted prior August as you can see so for us if you look at the that first call under school committee that's really our operating budget day-to-day um this year we're asking for a proposed $92 million operating budget but you can see enough by 23 what we actually spent was around 78 million in addition to that um net School spending counts certain costs that the town pays um that is attributable to the school department so in FY 23 that number is 23 million and it's things like um you know our SRO our amazing SRO in

031the police department certain maintenance lines the big the big number you can see in the middle there is our retirement numbers for insurance and then are just insurance for um our staff and so that's a number we're looking at closely because we don't yet know what that number is um but anyone who experiences health insurance increases um it's been going up significantly so we'll watch that number or actually the town will watch that number and let us know what it will be but you know with that being said our net School spending for FY 23 were at 113% so basically um we spent 133% above what we were um required to by law as we look at FY 26 and you look at the minimum contribution and you look at the state aid our projected

032net School spending number is 103 million so 103.9 million is the number um like I said our when we get into our budgetary ask um operating that'll be a $92 Million number but in addition to that it's all these middle column numbers that you see that's allocated from the city or town it's a very complicated um the formula is very complicated and it's very complicated process but um but that's there it is and there's some key factors in that formula so enrollments is a factor um inflation is a big factor um by law inflation has to be factored in but inflation's been greater than what that has been um calculated in the past the student Opportunity Act if you remember that a few years was really trying to address the formula uh that calculates our

033Chapter 70 so what we anti ipate for next year we call it the cherry sheet um our state aid so for Chapter 70 we're looking at a small increase to get us to about $30 million and our Chata tuition reimbursements um are about a million dollar and if you notice there you can see it doubles and historically it's been more around the 4 or 500,000 Mark so we're going to look at what's what's driving that that half a million dollar increase it could be that um millionaire tax tax is being supplemented to the budget for this year but that's one-time sources so we have to consider that um for next year that that we might not get that full amount two years from now and then of course we have assessments for Charter for charter

034school and for school choice so when we look at both those assessments and and what we're going to get from the state for for um assistance it's our Chapter 70 increase so for next year the state's projecting or is budgeted for to the govern's the governor's um budget a $437,000 increase at $75 per pupil state laws $30 minimum Aid um so the proposed from the governor is $75 per student child tuition like I mentioned um has doubled um the reimbursement to us has doubled so it's going up to about million so it's a $550,000 increase and then the sending tuition has also increased which is a negative budgetary relase so we have to account for that and so our net increase from the state is just under $400,000 in terms of our budget our current

035FY 25 budget it's a 0.45% increase $68 per student so it really shows the Reliance on local um funding to fund our budget I believe our Chapter 70 funding over the last 10 years has gone from I think roughly 35% down to 29% so 29% of our operating budget is funded by the state uh it seems simple right budget the definition of a budget but for us as we mentioned um the estimation of Revenue is very tricky and um we we work constantly with the mayor's office I'm trying to estimate what that revenue is and we'll get into what our ask is and what we might see for Revenue that will create a shortfall for us and then our expenses again we're planning for six months from now a September school start um expenses so

036this there's a lot of um moving Parts um but I just wanted to you know talk about what the budget definition is and how it relates to us and really this this year um it's kind of The Perfect Storm like it was last year of just new challenges um anyone who's doing this you know School Finance after um a pandemic end of Esser enrollment shifts um so you can see a number of things that you know as we and this is um from a Georgetown University study uh so this is what what they're seeing across the state for uh the landscape and so as we've talked through challenges um you know there's the discussions around impending changes of federal funding we haven't we don't have anything concrete yet so we just have to operate in

037the assumptions that we will get the same Ida grants we will get the same entitlement grants um limited State support So tightening revenues um but the real challenge we see is that last PLL which is budget downsize how do you and Mel touched on it how do you develop a a budget that addresses the strategies prioritizes spending and has the least impact on teaching and learning and that that's um we were tasked with this year and that's what Mel will touch on at the end of our presentation here I won't go through all the budget drivers but there's a number of them um and you know everything from increasing costs to um decreasing revenues to the end of Esser funds and so our approach this year like it like it is each year we you

038know level funding is the same fun in so you have a $100 budget this year the next year's a $100 budget level funded doesn't work uh in education because our costs are are increasing and to maintain the same Services is an automatic increase in our budget so we always strive for level service funding and then in addition to that we maintain a needs list we ask for additional Staffing um which we've received with this great economic growth over the last 10 years that everyone has seen um but that has now switched in the last couple years so I tried to demonstrate the fiscal cliff the best I could um so bear with me a minute here so the blue dotted line is that would be typical two and a half percent Revenue growth um year-over-year

039what you see in that orange is our actual growth so year-over-year it's been about 3.8% you know compounding um we I think we've increased about 25 million million dollar in the last 10 years that red line that you know that curve up is the onetime money we've introduced and added in addition to our operating budget so at the peak where the arrow is pointing up is where the the funding went away and at the same time inflation happened and at the same time Revenue started to decrease so we were faced last year with a fiscal cliff of $5.3 million I'll touch on how we addressed that but melon my and the administrative team goal is how do you soft and land that so you see the arc going towards you know fiscal 27 how do

040you you know soft land that that fiscal cliff so that you don't decimate the district um like like a lot of areas had to do last year so here's our proposed budget you know again budget book uh we have 20 cost centers we have our 11 schools we have other departments special ed maintenance Athletics you know this will be in the budget book with pages and pag of backup down to the the dollar of who the staff is what the expenditure lines are but what I want to focus on is um the fy2 budget was the $87 million and then as we fast forward to where we are now projecting for next year it's $92 million so what does that look like in terms of um a funding request well first we have to talk

041about the factors again and Mel touched on the factors of last year and then this year and and the reason why we keep repeating competing ourselves because these factors are the perfect storm of where our budgets are going and have been the last year or two so end of SRM money and also in addition oper money we received a number of dollars from the town so those funds are gone uh we have the growing needs of students we have inflation we have declining revenues and when I say declining revenues it's not just local it's state it's Federal and they're going down so our proposed budget for FY 26 if we look at what it cost you know in today's you know Staffing levels and everything if we project it to next year it's $92 million

042and and how do we get there so our budget for fy2 was $ 87,4 72,000 we then increase what our level service costs are that was just above 3% and then as we look at what our budget was approved for 25 versus what it is going to be potentially for 26 is we have certain positions we've added over the year for compliance we also have positions that we're anticipating um for next year also compliance and then we have um cost in particular related transportation that we used for the first time circuit breaker to fund those that's a one-time funding source we have to factor it into next year um into our budget ask so basic above level service is 1.9 million the total projected budget for FYI 26 if we do nothing in terms of

043cuts is $92 million so in talking with the town right now you know we're comfortable it's not a guarantee but we're comfortable that it could be around three% I just mentioned insurance cost so we don't yet know what insurance cost is going to be so um if we were to get 3% in funding and we're asking for 5.27% that's a 1 9 million shortfall so that's what we've identified through this budget process to date is that if if we don't get 5.27% it's a shortfall of 1.9 million now we're realistic we we we're watching we're talking to the districts we we understand that the idea of getting a 5.27% it it's not realistic so even if you get onetime funding to get that number you just push the problem out the year so that's where

044we spent a lot of time to date really focusing on how do we get to that $1.9 Million number and with that I'll turn it back over to superintendent curtain to talk about that I actually before we do that I do want to explain the shortfall again because I did mention earlier the the fiscal cliff so that fiscal cliff um last year that was identified was the $5.3 million so where we are now is $1.9 million shortfall why is that happening well we had a fiscal shortfall of $5.3 Million last year and and through a combination of cuts increased Revenue support and one-time funding sources we able to push the problem out a year right so now that 5 million $5.3 million shortfall is a $1.9 million shortfall so how do we address that and

045it's going to be this the same exercise of looking for increased revenues you know one-time uses of funds and see what we have in revenues and then likely having to make cuts to get to that number and again that's just about the shortfall but with that I'll turn it over to superintendent CT thank you Brian so I think just to reiterate um the budget that we presenting is $92 million right um and I think again trying to walk through this process a little bit earlier and a little bit more transparent is we are asking for $92 million but we are also being realistic and we want to be clear with the community if we don't get the $92 million what will happen right so that's kind of as we start to plan for that um

046we talk about our priorities we have to have a plan for what happens if we do not get the 5.3% increase that we're asking for so we talk about the sustainability plan you look at some surrounding districts and what you're seeing is they're closing schools uh they're eliminating entire programming um they're doubling fees they're creating new fees um we are trying to work very very hard to make sure we're focused on a well-rounded education um that still includes a strong Core Curriculum the Arts the wellness the enrichment opportunities that um we're very very proud of that we have across the district um so what we're working on is how we can make thoughtful adjustments um that align with our priorities and what will that look like so in part of this sustainability plan we kind

047of offer some of the things that we would have to do um if we're not given the $92 million right so we start to plan for that um we I talked about a little bit earlier uh tonight that the executive director of Elementary education will not be filled um upon the retirement of uh Rich bransfield uh the director of fine and Performing Arts uh she resigned and we will not be filling that position um we have seven Elementary instructional coaches that will return to the classrooms um and in that we are also considering um when we look at our elementary instructional coaches we understand the work that they do so we have to consider where does that work get picked up so we're not sure what we're going to do there we're talking about potentially

048as adding one or two coordinators to pick up the professional development um making sure that our instruction stays um cons like uh consistent across eight elementary schools uh the thing that we fear is that when you cut all of um these supporting positions that this the district can start to set a drift in our eight elementary schools start to um kind of drift into their own silos and we want to make sure the hard work that we've been doing over the last 10 years does not dissolve um and then we're also looking at approximately 20 positions at the secondary levels um from grades 7 through 12 and including uh postgrad um and with that uh we're also looking at the increasing of all fees um to account for the inflation um that we're seeing in

049all the different places um and then U Brian was talking about that's the onetime funding of using uh the arpa funds and so on this slide here um just want to show Trends um and again this is from the Ed genomics from um from Georgetown University it just shows the the um increase in a decrease should say in in student enrollment and we always talk about wa that our student enrollment has gone down roughly 20% over a 10-year period um but we're seeing that not only level up but grow at the primaries and so um that's why we're seeing the module is being put onto the primary schools and in our budget we have to um fill three of those classrooms next year with with staff um to accommodate the students that will be going

050into those classroom spaces um so I just want to go back to this slide just to summarize um again the proposed budget so our level service ask is $90 million but then we add in compliance last year compliance this year um onetime costs that are being covered by circuit breaker for transportation our our projected budget for 26 is $92 million that's what we're asking the committee to vote on next next meeting um to put it into perspective you know that level service number of roughly 3% you know that where we see revenues right now that's that's probably more of a realistic number right now versus the 5.27 but to put some perspective on it we did note about a third of the way down the nine-year average so I mentioned earlier that our nine-year average

051of revenues um was just about 3.8% I think when you add in a 10th year with a supplemental budget that happened at back in fy16 it's probably over 4% so we've been getting for the last 10 years over 4% um and then now we're looking at a budget that is growing 5.27% with declining revenues so that's the that's the budgetary problem we face right now as we go um through the committee to the the town process so with that open that's our presentation thank you thank you very much so I'm G to open it up to the table first and then we will open it up to public Rebecca so uh I might have a question later but this is my first one are the is the summary of the um the recommendation from administ

052ation that we we vote on is the uh 5.27% increase numbers that's the 92 million it is um so you recommending that we send that over to the the mayor's office so the N we're recom we're recommending the committee vote on the $92 million what that what that includes for cuts I did highlight there so Mel had mentioned that the two the executive director position the F of Performing Arts um those two cuts have already happened um but the other cuts that she mentioned you know the instructional coaches the 20 positions at the middle and high school increasing the fees and using onetime money that's not factored in the 92 million so yes long answer to your short question um we're looking for a vote of our projected budget for FY 26 is $92 million

053um excellent so yeah and so then I just want to make it clear because I feel like there's some um there's there's a little confusion so the rec recommendation from Administration is that the committee takes up uh the 5.27% increase and that we vote on that um and I think uh so realistically you have to do your jobs and so in case that doesn't happen um the slides that came after this one that's you're you're you're planning for for the what if what if um correct so that yeah I'll just stop there and so that's just to be clear I think that's the plan that you're asking us to take okay anybody else do you have any questions Mar so I guess to piggy back off Rebecca the slides that you're going to present to

054the town is not that slide you put your mic down he's asking so I just wanted it is this so This slide because this is again because this isn't the slide that I would present to them to be honest like I wouldn't want I I want to show them that we're asking for the 92 m791 18 without that so um when we um when you vote next meeting and we send over to the mayor's office the memo it will be the number you voted we this this slide here helps us identify and you know again it's conversations with the town already about what we're looking for revenues so this is essentially the backup to what will be sent over to the commit to the mayor's office so the mayor's office you guys will vote a

055number we do this every year we send a memo over with the backup attached so you're your whatever number you vote that'll be clear that that's number you're voting if that answers your question yes it does thank you nothing yes thank you so so everybody's doing their job you us and we send it over there thank you okay thank you very much that changed I know that changed those over just so we able to see everybody so we're going to open this up to um the public hearing part of the budget um we're going to be changing things up a little bit so that we'll have people come up to the podium talk we are going to be able to um get some we hope to get if people have questions um you can ask

056questions and we hope to get those answers for you um about the budget about the budget this is just about the so the first thing I'm going to do is ask for a motion to open the U public hearing for the FY 26 operating budget um public hearing sure I'll make a motion that we open the public hearing tonight for the FY 26 budget I second the motion does anybody have discussion all those in favor I the public hearing is now open and I just ask that you raise your hand if you want to be recognized we will ask that you state your name and your address for the record and um with um respect to the process you'll be able to ask questions to me through me to the superintendent if we are able

057to answer those questions um and we do have a time limit so we really want to hear your questions um and anyone want to come forward Mike sit if you don't mind hi uh Mike Murphy president of wa um before you stop my time uh I just do want to say and and go along with what the superintendent said uh and a big congratulations to Katie Montero who is just the world to us here at the wa into the way the public schools and I appreciate the acknowledgement on your part um second thing I do want to congratulate Lindsay I don't know if there's a better candidate out there so I wish her all the luck and um and the wa support for her um so um now you can stop my time good um

058first of all um I I I want to U um show my appreciation to um not only central office but the committee um for working on this budget especially over the last two years in particular we've all been around long enough to realize the roller coaster that we are uh that we we do in wayth with the budget and we've always been kind of uh we fought the fought fight the fought fought the fight um with you um and with uh other um entities out there to find more money to keep people to keep staff to keep programs and whatnot um but I honestly got to say here that I don't think the fight is with you the fight is with the town and I think this year among other things um we have to

059take the the battle to their uh to them and I'm I'm not quite understanding why we don't um that we don't suggest a larger budget to find a middle ground or a larger budget to produce what we need to have in school to make it all work I know you all are um with what the superintendent tells you what's happening in the schools we are hurting in terms of our programs uh the and I'm talking most mostly about the primary uh about being overcrowded in the classes the safety concerns the people that are getting hurt not only the students but the staff members because of overcrowding issues which is not your fault it's not our fault we have wonderful staff but there's just not enough resources out there and when you talk about the town

060side who has built everything on the planet to be Progressive um what they've done is invited the fact that we don't have the money because that those people haven't moved into town they're not paying the taxes that the the mayor has said we haven't seen the big influx of money and I think it's on their shoulders to finally look at the school system as a priority our mayor through the board because he's not here ever uh our mayor has decided and made it very very common to everybody on Facebook that wants to listen to that that he's never reduced the budget well guess what he's never added to a budget either because he doesn't care enough to be here to understand what's going on and I tell him right now if he's listening which maybe

061is I hope he is to come down and talk to the people that I talk to every day the people with concussions the people that are don't know find the time to do the reports that are State mandated um to find the time to get the proper curriculum in to find the Staffing at at the administrative level much less the uh staff level we're going to lose 20 plus people again this year quality young teachers and why not because of anybody here's fault but because number one and I've talked to these people a lot of these people many of the people who thought about retiring so you can get that breakage money uh coming in and now looking at the the overall economy in the country and saying why would I leave now so I

062I'm asking you from from the perspective of um a wa president person who who who dearly invested in this district and in the schools and in the staff members and for the last year with you particularly um to please reconsider the budget and bring to them what is needed not what we can afford Ward not what we think Ted thinks we can do make Bob headlin make a decision for once and let him come out in public and say we can't do it or we can because the schools affect everyone the fire the police the DPW everybody and if you let it go down we offer all the programs we have the housing it's only going to get worse thank you Ashley we'd rather you stand so we everybody can see you nice and clearly

063good Lord I'm a little short for this all right um hi Ashley dickerman 846 Pleasant Street um I'd like to Echo everything that Mike said um he did a great job and I couldn't have said that better myself great job Mike thank you so much um hi I did write a statement tonight which I typically don't do um so I'm going to be kind of reading off the paper um hello I'm up here tonight to clarify a com well I'm up here for a few reasons I'm up here to tonight to clarify a comment I made on um 226 at a budget sub meeting and to also drive home a couple of points uh first of all on 226 I use the term babysitting in regards to the steam issue taken out of context that

064comment could have been offensive to the esps and I want to apologize for that to them and we've discussed that but I want to make that very clear that I never meant to demean anybody or make anybody feel bad um I want the public to know that esps are not the problem here when it comes to steam they are working exceptionally hard to fulfill a need in the district that they were asked to fulfill thank you to them for going above and beyond uh for our children we have some amazing esps who have changed the lives of our students the are awesome and I hope that they come back for more cookies um the point I was trying to make in the 226 comment was that teachers contractually need a prep time esps contractually have

065certain guidelines to abide by desie requires a certain amount of time on learning and then we have an insufficient budget when you combine all of those obligations together what was done was the gray area was found to find a solution for the elimination of steam and that gray area isn't working it was unfair to the esps to be thrown into a situation without proper support and it was unfair to the students we have eight elementary schools and there is uh no equity or consistency when it comes to that block that this isn't a conclusion that I made up and created sitting at my kitchen table writing this this is a fact that we discovered at townwide parent Council meetings one school may be doing one thing and one school may be doing another thing and

066those things are not even closely related I'm not saying to micromanage the curriculum because there's Beauty as an educator in having the freedom to be creative and match student interests what I am saying is that the steam block was poorly planned and parents parents need exact answers on your plan to fix it maybe rename it maybe put a teacher in there who is allowed who is allowed to teach maybe ask the parents what they would like to see done with that block to gather feedback and work as a team to decide how that time is going to be used maybe reach out to the parent councils to see how we can support you in your efforts we have ideas and good ones I'm not here to finger point and blame that is a waste of

067time what I really want to say tonight is that we need to come together Truly Come Together to fix the problems in front of us wayth is an amazing Community we have amazing staff amazing students amazing families that live here I am proud to live in wayth and I grateful to have a community with so many opportunities my place of questioning and criticism comes from a place of love when you love someone or something or a place you want to see that person or thing or place be the best it can absolutely be you see the potential and you see the strengths and you raise the bar because you care I would not be spending the majority of my free time at meetings and researching funding I hate numbers I'm a reader and a lover

068of words if I didn't care I don't want want us to waste our time trying to blame or have someone take responsibility for what has been done I don't want excuses for how we got here I simply want us to come together as a community with Open Hearts and open minds to fix the issues at hand that is where our power lies as a community instead of turning against each other in a time of stress we use that energy to drive us together to fight for the thing we all want no matter what role we play in the school system a budget that reflects the true needs of the school system thank you hi I'm Kelly camon I'm at 65 Belmont Street I have a first grader at Murphy Elementary School um so first of

069all I just want to say and I want to Echo a lot of the comments that are being made that I I truly do love the school system so far I have one child he's in elementary school and a lot of great teachers up here um who are just absolutely fantastic and I would I would hate to see that that neighborhood School feel that amazing um that amazing experience that we've had so far change in any way so I do have a question and I apologize if this is information that has been shared and perhaps I just missed it but at the last um budget subcomittee meeting I was at the principles had come and they had shared some asks that they had for their budgets for 2026 um and this may be a naive

070question looking at what we are looking at but are any of those asks included in the 2026 budget or is this budget strictly looking at keeping things flat as they are today than Mr chair go right ahead thank you thank you for the question um so in that um number the compliance 2526 at 399,000 number there is some of the requests so when we look at our needs list some of the positions are in that number um and it was based on the prioritizing um that working with the principal and what they made so uh that full list was at budget sub it's online and it will be in the full budget book when that's published in a couple weeks okay thank you so much for the clarification thank you good evening uh Ben Crosby

07128 Norma AV um I am the proud father of a Murphy kindergartner and Early Childhood Center prek student and I would like to also note that I am nothing short of thrilled with the attention the education and the experience that they receive with the Educators that they deal with on a daily basis um my wife and I could not be more in love with the Educators that they see and I think that is a testament to the type of people that we bring into this town and we bring into our school system I also want to note that I want to thank all of you I'm fairly new to these meetings but I am not naive to the efforts and to the difficulty of your job and how difficult it is for you to kind

072of sort through this process um but I do have a couple things that I wanted to bring before uh you and ask and pontificate about if I may um for uh I wanted to express my sincerest agreement with Mike for what you spoke about I thought you said it very well and there's two main things that I want to bring up now first is kind of a question we talk about level service what is the Baseline and that's actually that's not meant to be rhetorical I am curious what is the Baseline to determine level service I can answer that oh yes right thank you for the question I um having two children go through Murphy's school I completely agree with how amazing that school is um so level Services basically you take all the staff

073and services that we have today next year what will they cost so it's only a one-ear look back it's it's a it's a one-year projection based on contractual obligations of staff and contracts for services okay electricity such so it's that's basically what it is okay and I asked because this is um I like to read but numbers are my jam um uh when it comes to the terminology level service agreement I feel like that's misleading and because if the Basel line is today and we're projecting one year you're we're not taking account changes that have already happened and so you're the way history has gone we are suggesting that we can ignore the cuts and the cuts and the cuts in the cuts that have been forced to happen to then say today oh but

074we are projecting to keep things level when in fact we are actually going very much downhill and that is why I I dislike the term and I'm I know it's just nomenclature and I know it's just a term but what we're seeing is not an effort to keep things level what we're seeing is an effort to not rock the boat that is leaking and the effort and and so well that was point one um and that my issue is not again with with you folks the second point that I wanted to note is that I just went through a whole SE situation of going through feedback with some staff of mine and feedback has to be direct and so my question to the town and my question is how to support you all is how

075do we make the town realize that we should not be settling for mediocrity the educ Educators in our schools are full of nothing that is mediocre but what is completely mediocre is the effort of the town to provide our school system with what it needs to adapt to the changing needs of our community to fend off the future changes and trajectories that we're seeing with Charter School movements with you know the general sentiment with the fact that wayth continues to fund students less than the state average when we're surrounded by towns that don't when does mediocrity become something we don't want to wear on our chest when does and so I my question this is more rhetorical but what do we need to do with you to get them to the point of pushing that

076needle because I see 92 m79 th000 and I think okay we're asking for some but I don't think we're asking asking for what we need we're not asking for what we need to move out of mediocrity and back into the driver's seat and back into moving forward and I would like us to see and I would like us to move to that town meeting and tell them no we need those steam teachers because that's unacceptable that our students are not getting that anymore we need the ass of these principles because the education system is the foundation for how our community responds it lowers crime it increases is all statistics of livelihood and so I guess yeah my question to the town hall is when are you going to be okay with being something other than

077mediocre because right now this is kind of dismal and kind of disappointing but thank you all thank you anyone else I I shouldn't have gone after him [Laughter] but my name is Kristen Morrison I'm at 16 Harland Road um he's actually one of my neighbors and I agree with everything he just said um I'm still new to all this I have a first grader at Murphy school and I absolutely love the school and I of the community and the people I've met because of the school and some things that were brought up I just I don't understand how our budget it said that we're in the top 10th percentile of the state and size and I don't understand why our budget doesn't reflect that um we need to ask for more I don't believe the

078budget accurately reflects what the schools need I think they're undervaluing greatly um there's still seven years of kids covid kids going through the school system that need so much more support than other kids in the past and I don't think that's even taken into account thank you anyone else might as well come here Lisa Wickland 81 Aster Circle here in wouth I'm the library ESP at Murphy um surprised and humbled by the amount of support coming out to um say how much they love our little school it's my neighborhood school it's also my home school my husband went to school there my kids went nieces and nephews and I'm still there so um I have a question um through the chair to our friends here who have worked um stupendously hard to try to make

079sense of all of this in the um really rapidly changing World we're living in now um I am also a word person not a money person so I'm tried to go on Desi this afternoon to look at what the net student spending number is for wayth and the website is down for maintenance so um my question is not being a numbers person I tried to do my due diligence but the state was not um allowing that to happen what is I don't think I heard the number I tried taking copious notes but I can't keep up what is the number for wayth and how does that ref um compare to what we're asking for great question and again Murphy School I agree I know Mr Smith you're I had your children they were delightful like

080all my Murphy babies mine too oh yes I had Mike's I had Mike's children as well um and so did ly I apologize for the small print so that's okay this is also I'm in my bold so I might Bob around a little to try to see this is from August this past August and it's fiscal 23 right and Desi's data is always lagging um because of the reporting and the auditing and so basically to answer your question the nesal spending number for fiscal 26 is million 900,000 it's roughly rounded 104 million is that net School spending number okay so if I understand correctly desie feels that we should in wayth be able to afford to spend almost $104 million on our school budget or 103 I'm sorry what number correct so with Chapter 70

081money in the local Aid the net School spending number would be 104 million now let's just say you got the $92 million budget in addition to that there's other costs that they're in the middle column there so in FY 23 they total 23 million so just out the gate if if you get 92 million plus the 23 million you're way above that that net School spending number okay but we've been running so I I started in 18 and a few years before that um Waymouth was below that they were for a long time yes and so since then through economic growth and investment locally state level um we've been growing more than the net School spending number and it's been in the the the 11 teens I'd say I think it's gone from like 108

082to 112 and so to answer your question um 103.9 million is the net School spending number our operating budget ask plus the additional accounts that the town covers that they can attribute to schools Insurance our SRO certain maintenance lines right that total number is what our net School spending is okay so what we're asking for we can we can't control what the city and town that 2 23,000 number from the previous thing is we can't control what they're actually going to give us for that so we don't ask for the whole 104 million we ask for number less than that because that City and town number is going to be added to it is that reasonable is that am I is my thought process following you 100% okay and um what we ask for with

083the school committee votes is that daily operating budget they don't vote the middle numbers in terms of insurance and they don't okay scho doesn't vote that daily operating number I'm writing notes sorry don't count cost my two minutes okay thank you that clarifies a lot for someone who doesn't do big Finance like this I don't understand so when I go to the next meeting with with the town with the mayor and the counselors and things that 92 million is a reasonable thing for me to be pushing them to to agree to I mean or should I be asking for the 102 I it's knowing I mean I just so the I don't want to be unreasonable but I also want to not short short change my ask from the town so the 102 is sort

084of it's an additional piece that's not what the school commit is voting they're voting the 92 which is what we project the cost to educate would be next year okay all sry I just want to make sure when I go hassle the Town Council and and the mayor that I'm haggling for the right amount of money um I also want to say um my appreciation for the attention that was been given during our professional development during the library um pair Professionals for people like Lindsay and Jeremy burm coming in to see what we need um obviously it's been a lot of back and forth as a learning process for the library esps as well as the administration to try to figure out the best practices for that time and it varies deeply from school to

085school because of existing staff shortages especially in the building substitute positions um I know one school in particular they have three of each grade three classes in each grade and they only have five slots during the week because we only go to school Monday through Friday so they have their unit a and Unit D um Library people The Specialist positions are taking a class and a half at a time one day a week each to make sure that this that the the contractual needs for prep time is met as well as the kids getting their special times so I just want um the people who are here listening to understand that um not just the library ESP is under pressure but also the unit a Specialists and some of these schools are seeing class sizes

086of 30 to 35 small children kids that are in K through five you know 5 to 11 years old can you just pick yourself for a moment in a small room with 30 eight-year olds no who haven't had snack yet or recess um it's not sustainable um it's not sustainable so whatever the plan is and whatever money we have to work with I would hope that the money ask includes I know it's not their fault that they can't hire building Subs but like maybe that money needs to come up a little what we're offering there and perhaps um re-evaluating what the true cost savings is to us to not have those Unit A Specialists for steam in there because the cost is not just monetary um it's going to be I'm going to use the

087word ugly going forward if we're going to have to continue to have class and a half in some of these buildings um it's not sustainable and it's not fair to the students particularly but it's also extremely um taxing for the staff no matter how much planning we put into it no matter how much we're given for materials to use it the children it's not Su you just it's not sustainable okay so when I go to the mayor and the Town Council I'm going to be using some examples like that to say level Service as my um parent said earlier is not acceptable and I know that it's the only reasonable ask we can kind of expect to get in this economy but I don't think we should go down without a fight asking for a

088higher number thank you thank you hello good evening um Elizabeth Foster Nolan 54 House Rock Road and I need to start out with a comment from Lindsay's first grade student her first class at West auset which my son was lucky enough to have her when I told my son Will of uh Lindsay's promotion her his comment was that is great for her so I wanted to convey to you that your kids don't forget you um and if anybody is interested I might have a few pictures of Lindsay from that first year just saying might be a butterfly or something that you were so on to this to the budget as all of you know um there are four main responsibilities for the school committee second one being as you have listed the budget and what

089it says is to propose budget that meets the needs of the schools and matches the values of the broader Community I think that's pretty telling when I look at elections for school committee I expect the school committee to be doing the best for the children of wouth as well as the town of wouth and I think that hits on the values of the broader Community I think the broader community wants wayth to be in the top wants wayth to provide everything possible and again these are difficult times nobody's going to acknowledge that they're not but I really think that's key and what I really would love to see and part of this is education for our town is what is the real number that the town needs to give the school to meet the needs

090of the schools and matches the values of the broader community that is your charge I think a higher number needs to go to the mayor that then goes to the budget and then there's discussion there that is really what we need to do because most people see this number they see the budget hearing and they're like okay that's what they asked for and I understand we've been doing this for years where there's been a number the school committee has done a Yan's job of figuring out how to plug in everything for that number I think we are at the point where we need to ask in this school committee as part of their obligation of being elected and representing us and additionally while they don't vote for you you are representing the children of woth

091and to ask for that higher number okay we can be realistic it's not going to happen right away but what is wrong with letting them know that we need it so per chance we don't know what'll happen per chance there's a grant out there per chance there's something else that comes in they can say well look the schools need this like this is this is an identifiable need and some of these needs may be compliance needs we need to educate Our Town counselors on what you really need and I and here's a question I don't know does that needs list go to the Town Council with your budget book and I think that needs to be highlighted I mean I think I think a lot of them let's be honest they don't always look at

092everything they have a lot of budget hearings but I implore you to really think before you vote next week on what's going to be sent over to the town why are we not doing what we really need for the children of wouth and that is your charge that is why people voted for you because they felt that you were going to do the best for the children of wayth I have no I have really no stake in this this game my child is well out of the school uh system but I live here I worry about our community I want our children to be well educated I want our staff to be treated well I don't want them to be you know experiencing too much overcrowding or as Mike had said you know some issues

093with discipline and and having staff who potentially are fearful to go into their class and I understand that but please really think about giving a higher number I know it's not been done in the past there have been a few who have requested it over the years it's been shot down but what's wrong with doing that with the caveat as you present this it can be presented in a way that we understand but this is really what we need if we want wayth to be up there in the top educating our children and making sure they are getting absolutely everything they need as as well as the staff and everyone who is involved and I give Kudo kudos to you Brian and to Melanie you've done an amazing job I've been at budget sub may

094not be there in person but I'm watching um you know it's not easy I get it it's not easy but please really consider that we deserve it as do the children of wouth so thank you thank you thank you hi Alis and noera at McKinley Road um I have two children at Academy actually I'm sorry one at middle school now and this year's gone by fast um and one in second grade at Academy um I have a couple things just real quick first I just wanted to let you know um I've been going to the budget sub meetings and and whatnot and um I just left our parent council meeting where our principal did overview this plan ahead of time which was really very nice and very transparent and I just appreciated that and I

095think that comes from the top with transparency so thank you for that um I guess I have two main points or questions um one is a really direct question and if you can't answer it I do understand has the mayor ever told you why he doesn't come to these meetings can you answer that I don't mean to put you on the spot and if you want to plead the fifth I understand but I just it's a really direct question he is on school committee why does he not come to this he's never expressed why to me anyways I don't know what other members okay I think I may be speaking for the broader Community I hope he's listening that this has been such an education for me to come to these budget Subs listen to

096these hard decisions that you all have to make understand why cuts are made why you know just where why we are where we are and I presume that and I know you speak to his chief of staff often but I presume that he receives as the you know overall leader of wayth 92,000 $92 million and that's it and isn't looking down into the weeds to understand where all these decisions have been made if he had been coming to school committee every single week and going to budget subcommittee meetings then he would understand where you all are with the financial barriers here and what we need as a community to be um educating our students in the way that they need to be educated so that they can get into colleges or they can go into

097trades or do whatever their whatever their goals are for their lives if they're not being educated what is it $75 per student was that what was that right that's the that's the increase we're getting from the state yeah I just it's not not enough and I wish the mayor was here so that he could understand why we need more money for the schools so I just wanted to say that real quick um and maybe he'll send me a Facebook message and tell me why because he gets on Facebook a lot and you know yeah he tells that he's never cut the school's budget so I I do hear that I'm almost done I do hear that he's never cut the school budget but I think that goes back to ask for more and make him

098say no so that was one quick thing um the other just this is actually a question do you ever look at school districts that are the same size as wayth and compare wayth to those districts in terms of how much they spend on like per pupil and are we in line with them or are we below them and could that be a way that you can argue to the mayor that we need more money for the schools of wayth and that's it thank you thank you thank you so much I'm glad you went before me because that's what I kind of want to say too um Mary bath Shay 100 Thompson Road and a parent of a third grader at West and I'm going to miss Mrs fat but she's awesome okay um I wasn't

099going to say anything about the mayor I really don't have anything to say except that he did go on my on Facebook and say something to the effective um it should be noted once again schools will be getting a higher percentage funding increase than the overall budget and the State education Aid not keeping Pace with teacher salary increases fuel cost overall inflation blah blah blah well I feel like you guys like she said you guys get in the weeds of that and you guys tackle that and you talk about that and you plan for the state aid to not change because we can't change what's going on you know in the state capital but we can deal with what's right in front of us in wouth and that's you guys doing your job so other

100people should maybe step up and do their job as well but one thing I wanted to say that it kind of already been reiterated tonight but you mentioned we're the top 10% in size the 30 third biggest and then you brought up comparing you know our size to what other schools other districts our size well I know Gus is going to come up here and say probably what I'm going to say which is if you look at all the numbers from the net spending booklet goes to page six you go all the way to page six and we're like a few up from the bottom for net spending so that answers your question top bottom 25% right in spending but we're the top 10% in size that's right are you proud of me okay and

101that's just it and like you guys are doing the work to like improve that right and I think it will bring home to some of those people that sit here for Town Council to say and I said this at one meeting and people like maybe don't do that but like what is hangam spending what is you know what El what other thing is our size like I I don't know but other towns that are our size and like reiterate that home because it seems that other people that sit in seats like yours care about that you guys care about this and that's very much clear so that's all I wanted to say on the record too thank you thank you um appreciate all the comments and questions I do I just want to touch on

102one thing you know when we look at just financially building a budget um when you think about the grow of budgets you know we have prop two and a half so really the the town can only grow 2 and a half% and then anything above that is New Growth it's local receipts it's fees um so it is it's hard to you know when you see a 5.27 I've been doing this for a long time and it's you know I've always approached that when budgets are growing two and a half to 3% given the restrictions of the two and prop two and a half and the laws that are in place it's it is difficult so the way Mel and I approach it is that certainly the 9 92 million you know you can ask for

103for more funding too but we just learned it with Esser money that when we got a infusion of roughly 12% of our budget one time with Esser and it goes away so do the jobs associated with it so we we're trying to build sustainable budget so I I hear the asking for everything we need and more I hear that um and then you try to balance that with the the the realistic world of of what the laws of the state have so you know it is a local issue but it's also a state funding problem that that is really a big part of the problem in my opinion but um thank you for the questions and comments oh go right uh Christa trap 75 Alpine Road um definitely was not planning on speaking at all

104have nothing prepared but you all are extremely inspiring I am so thankful y'all spoke before me um I have a eighth grader at Chapman a fifth grader at pingry um pingry is also an awesome School in case anyone um I just um I'm sure a lot of you have seen the fundraising that mayor Headland um has been doing off of his I found extremely funny joke about renaming hangam Harbor the Gulf of wayth and all of his excellent reasons why you know wayth is better than hangam and we should rename the hangam harbor to Gulf of wayth and if all if he strongly feels that all of that is true then we should be funding our schools like hangam funds at schools and I know you have heard me say this before because I spoke

105up um when the teachers were negotiating um their contracts people go to hangam and pay those taxes because they know hangam schools are excellent and then when their kids are out of hangam they move to weth and they vote against the taxes that we need to fund our wayth schools and I hope that we can um Express this concern at every town meeting we have from now until we get this um appropriate budget approved thank you and Amy you said we have some on um Zoom okay thank you thank you madam chair East for last everyone's done a great job up here uh advocating for the school budgets um Road North wouth uh let me just first start by saying that uh it is exciting the level of hope that exists in the community and

106um for all those of us that have been involved for a long time to see our new Stellar leadership at the helm of women public schools in the in the the likes of uh superintendent curtain and uh her partner in an effective team Mr Smith as the the CFO co uh I think there's great promise this you know we've been through a number of leadership changes in the district we all know that and I think now we have a team that's uh Rock Solid committed experienced with the issues in the town experienced with the issues in the schools so we have a lot to look forward to um with them at the helm I have a lot of respect for them now uh just to address one issue there's been a lot of conflict around

107whether the town has uh done their their uh a good job in terms of improving School founding school funding over the years the answer to that is an unquestionable yes they have um when you look at the last decade when we first got involved in this 10 12 years ago when we were third from the bottom in net School spending out of 351 districts in the Commonwealth that's where we were when this whole action originally started 12 years ago since since then uh I'll go back to the low point in fiscal year 11 we were 97.2% of n schal spending that means we're below the 100% minimum required back then since then to through F I'm going to go to fiscal year 23 because fiscal year 24 is not entirely finalized in terms of the

108state um uh data finalizations that went to 11.8% that means in fiscal year 11 wayth actually spent 11.8% above the required 100% minimum on schools in terms of dollars it's significant back in fiscal year 11 uh way spent $60.4 million on schools in terms of the n school spending number F schal year 23 that increased to $2 million an increase of $41.5 million over that period of time there's no there's no doubting that uh this Administration under mayor helin has done a good job of getting us out of the seller uh and increasing the investments in schools that's they deserve credit for that there's no question about that however the data when you look at it still clearly shows that despite all of those improvements waymoth still Trails the state average in net School spending

109by tens of millions of dollars 10 to 12 to 14 millions of dollars on average that other that the that the vast majority of the districts in the Comm spend above and beyond what wayth spends in terms of those numbers when the mayor asks the when the questions are asked about when he says the school budget has not been cut that's a true statement when he says that school spending has increased that's a true statement when he says that schools have been given what they asked for that's a true statement sadly and you're going to hear me and I'll talk about that in a little bit those answers are all true all right the spending has absolutely increased but we still Trail our peers our the state average people are asking if we take a

110look at peers all of our peers spend more money on schools than way it does we have never broken the 25th percentile out of 351 districts in the Commonwealth when it comes to n schal spending never that means 75% of those 351 districts spend more money on schools than wayth does and that remains that remains that remains true but those three questions you know has the budget been cut has money increased that th that's not the right those aren't the right questions here's the right question does the budget meet the needs of the students in the district that's the right question that's the question that needs to be asked for all of you for our administrative leadership for the mayor for the leaders on Town Council that's the question we all know the answer to

111that that is a resounding no over the past years the answer to that question is no and this budget for fiscal year 26 continues to to perpetuate that the answer to that question does this budget meet the needs of the students of the district the answer is no and I'm talking about just basic needs I'm not even talking about excelling we'll we'll address that in an issue the problem is that the way that the budget gets developed and the way that you have you present it over the years I've been asking for 12 years and you're going to this is deja vu all over again as the saying goes ask for what you need this number when you're asked about why is the mayor not here because doesn't feel he needs to be because he

112already knows that number these numbers are dictated to the schools they are you're you're providing a budget that's being already pre-formulated and pre-communication is not here what's missing in this whole exercise is a communication that identifies the true dollar need for the in order to meet the true needs of the students in the district from presentations and past action the needs list that exists right now is not really a needs list that's been missing for a number of years a needs list would include we need increased nurses to improve the student to nurse ratio we need we need to reinstate the mtss providers that were laid last year we need to reinstate the coaching positions we need additional positions in special education for the challenges that are there we need to increase the numbers of

113esps that are in the classroom across the district we need to be able to talk about what we need for True inclusion for True inclusion we need to talk about what needs to happen in terms of Staffing for True co- teing models in ac across the district we need to address the issues of overcrowded classrooms we need to talk about the issues of how do you how do you resolve the issues of safety issues and staff injuries in those classrooms where are those on a needs list no one knows about them because you haven't put them there so what you're not doing is you're not educating you're not communicating to the community to the public but more importantly somebody said it earlier you're not communicating and educating Town leadership about the realities of what's actually

114happening in the school district you are simply capitulating a directive that you've been given by the town instead of and I'm speaking the school committee here instead of fulfilling your statutory obligation which is to do the best possible job to serve the needs of the student in the district that's not simply accepting one single option from Administration it's demanding various options from which you can choose as is done in other districts I'm just going to ask you to start to wrap up a little bit well over the three I'll be I'll be the only one then okay that's fine um with respect to that point it was disappointing to hear a couple of comments what's the point of this public hearing if we hear Mr Smith say next week's budget subcommittee meeting has been cancelled

115I'm trying to quote here me get be accurate because the ask number is not going to change so what's the point of holding this hearing having the public come to the mic and talk about their concerns their issues their requests what's the point of this public hearing if we also hear the superintendent say we're going to develop a budget based on what we have been given what's the point of the public hearing if you've already closed your minds to potentially listen to Public public commentary about the fact that you need to do some that you need to do something different I'll finish up other districts present options to school committee you've only been provided one Al Newton for example presents a variety of levels their High option level is called their thrive budget where's Way's

116Thrive budget it's not 92 m79 118 it's something else it's higher that's what should be being proposed options to school committee not the single not that single number at one point it would be great to see what does a wh Public Schools Thrive budget look like so it should be okay to to to request from the town additional numbers to really make the district the Stellar one that it can be I I would suggest that you reschedule next week's already cancelled budget subcomittee meeting reconsider this approach toss a higher number to the town because that's actually what needs to happen and then discuss and vote on a different budget option when you reconvene to vote on it next week the children deserve it the parents deserve it the community deserves it thank you madam chair

117Amy we're gonna go to zoom oh it's Katie yay Katie Katie can you hear us yes I can hi Katie you're on hi um sorry to follow all these amazing speakers um I just wanted to say a big thank you for the recognition I appreciate um Melanie speaking out and and um recognizing me and I'm sorry I couldn't be there but um I'm a Mom first and homework was just a lot tonight uh so I just wanted to um say thank you again for the the recognition and I'm very very honored and humbled and um it's not just for me but it's for all my esps of weth who work wirelessly um and and don't necessarily get the credit they deserve so that's it's for them so thanks again and um have a great evening

118congratulations Katie we're proud of you thank you is there anyone else on Zoom no um anyone else on the table that want to have a comment I um I also agree that I I really do think that we should have the budget sub meeting meeting next week um I I had kind of mentioned it CU I saw it on the agenda when it came out that it was still there and I was like oh good it's still there um but then to see it removed I would like to meet again so that we can discuss the comments that the public has brought to us um and that we can you know just all firm up on what we want to send to town hall um had another thought and I lost it oh my other

119thought is I would like us to put together a letter from the school committee that we send to the town hall um from school committee and also send it into the state house so they see where we stand and that we are willing to fight for our students Happ just a couple comments through you to Brian if he has it do we know when the annual town meeting is going to be held I I try to look up I don't have that date okay so that's the town's public hearing on the complete budget it's held at uh well used to be held here in the auditorium I think where is it it's Town council chambers now because not too many people come but um that's the meeting to look for the annual town meeting we

120still have that even though we're a city we still have our annual town meeting it's usually in April um it's usually I think in May but it's um okay typically yeah so I didn't see it on their calendar but if we could get that out to educate people about that could I just address that sorry real quick the if I could just address that piece so in usually mid April that's when the mayor presents his budget to Town Council it gets reversed referred to budget management the town meeting I think is typically in May all right um the only date I know in May for sure right now is Mel and I will be presenting to budget management as of right now May 13th okay okay um and uh you know thank you all for

121coming and speaking you know we have been doing this for a long time I agree with um Everybody um my only comment is yes it's a town problem but it's also a state problem and we can Advocate to the state we've been having $70 $75 for uh per pupil for 18 years or you know we need to increase funding the state can find money they can find billions of dollars for other programs but we need them to do better for for all of US states and you know so we do have us the town and the state that's that's my thought thank you thank you and I too want to thank everyone for coming out and taking the time out of your busy schedules to come and advocate for our children so I really appreciate

122it at this time I'd like to um take a motion to close public hearing CH I'll move that we close the public hearing on the FY 26 budget second the motion any discussion all those in favor say I I public hearing is now closed um I would like to take a motion to open the annual public hearing on school choice CH I make a motion that we open the annual public hearing on Massachusetts school choice very well second motion any discussion it is for 2025 26 school year um all those in favor I I thank you um so I'm going to read this little descript ion every year wayth holds a vote on school choice as Massachusetts school choice as required by Massachusetts education Reform Act and outlined in Massachusetts General Law chapter 76 section

12312b this program allows allows non-resident students to attend local schools on a space available basis without paying tuition tuition is paid by the sending District a key as ECT of this law mandates that communities participate in school choice unless a vote is taken not to participate given space cons constraints in our school buildings I recommend that wayth public schools withdraw from the obligation to enroll non-residential students referred to as Massachusetts school choice for the upcoming Academic School year beginning the fall of 2020 25 I will now open um the meeting for public comment at the table first I have a I have a question go right ahead and I'm sorry I for um been doing this for eight years and I forgot about the previous seven years do we vote so this is the public

124hearing but then do we actually vote on this at the next meeting no I think we can vote it in the same meeting oh we usually do we do we vote it in the same meeting oh I'm pretty sure those is the procedure it is yeah yeah all right great that's uh what I had to say right now is there anyone else at the table is there anyone at the in the public that would like to speak on behalf of this not seeing so um I would like a motion to close public comment or the hearing the comment or the hearing um you're just going to close the comment you just say it's closed close public close public comment um and then take a motion to adjourn the public hearing on school choice great oh

125chair I will move that we uh adjourn the public hearing on school choice I'll second that motion any discussion all those in favor say I I um at this time I would take a motion for a vote chair I'll make a motion that way Public Schools uh withdraw from the Massachusetts school choice for the year year of um Academic Year of 2025 to 2026 and then I'd like to discuss after I'll second that motion discussion Rebecca I just want to say I uh the reason I'm making the motion that we withdraw from the state school choice is because uh of the overcrowding issues that have already been cited tonight and the fact that we are getting seven modular uh to address that overcrowding so um it's not it's nothing against people who would like to

126send their kids here it is a space issue any other other comment on discussion on that um all those in favor say I I that motion has passed we will not be participating in school choice for the school year of 2025 26 all right um I open it yeah okay I'm going to open the um public comment part of us so this is anything that's on the agenda or that someone else wants to bring up to public comment okay yes um can I just wanted to mention um it wasn't mentioned in the um superintendent's message um report that I just wanted to do a shout out to um Maria Weston Chapman band that um had their concert last week um it was amazing it was music to the movies um it wasn't a very long

127program it was wonderful um brought tears to my eyes I always feel for the effort these kids stepping out of their comfort zone and Performing to a full Auditorium of kids they were amazing um and I just the the teacher and I'm I'm not sure of his name because I Landry Mr Landry was amazing it was his first time out of the gate you would never know and um it was just a great performance so if anyone has a chance next time they do a performance please go because they were Absol Ely wonderful that's nice to know thank you sure thanks mam chair just very quickly still on the budget uh one quick thing um the FY 26 budget that number includes a 5% increase across the board in fees uh you know the conversations

128we've had around Athletics and we did not vote on fees sorry that count that's not in the budget that's right thanks uh can I make the comment or not oh you you can make comment I just want thanks I'm always open to correction folks everybody knows that so and I've got no issues with that right so thanks I got too much too many numbers in my mind and I'm mixing them all together Brian does a great job of not doing that uh the rest of us do not the uh the issue is this the fee increase that only it's only targeted to generate $120,000 that the Athletics Fe increas is the one I have a specific problem with you already have heard my comments about that incessantly I've got a philosophical issue with that but

129I've got a more pragmatic process problem with that uh it's only $10,000 and I don't think the case has been made for the fee increase specific to Athletics uh two weeks ago a presentation numerous presentations have been made of uh disappointing quality the two weeks ago the presentation was made said there was going to be a $56,000 shortfall in projected athletic fees the week after that the calculation said there was going to be a $16,000 Surplus I'll just leave that one as a primary example but when you start talking about the budget including the vote for the fees I would again urge you that the case has not been made for the athletic fee increase aside from the philosophical contradictions of forcing wayth high school athletes to pay to play to begin with thank you

130madam chair agree thank Youk you chair just right ahead D brings up a good point about the fee piece of this so if the the $92 million was funded there' be no increase to fees but part of our projected Cuts we were proposing increasing fees across the board um 5% so thank you for bring that thank you like to answer Kathy's question the annual town meeting is on May 19th okay thanks Elizabeth so I thought at least to get that out here yeah wait a May 19th May 19th is the public uh the annual meeting annual town meeting yep thank you does it say where it is Elizabeth it does not but I'm presuming it will not change it'll be a town hall Town Hall I guess thank you anyone else um have public oh

131sorry while we're talking about dates oh gosh this thing's weird um next Thursday at 6:30 there is a public meeting um between WPS and WEA and the education committee at town uh Town Chambers Town Council and that's a public meeting that was postponed I think that was postponed oh okay thank you mainly a question when we present the budgets like the school budget to town hall is there a budget narrative or like economic implications associated with that budget or does the mayor's office just see you know a line item budget um there is a preliminary budget book that's on our website now um the more detailed full budget book um will be available in the next couple weeks and all School community members get a hard copy of it all Town counselors get a copy

132of it and it's available to the public online and so that includes like impli implications of all line items and things like that details on every line item down down to the dollar of the expenditure okay um it doesn't it touches is on revenues but the revenues are really a toal conversation but all expenditures of our $92 million proposal are in that budget book so I definitely encourage you to read it yes absolutely thank you very much thank you while we are throwing out dates I would like to put a plug in for Murphy school tomorrow there is a silent auction fundraiser at Barrel House Z at 6:30 I would to invite all the school committee members everyone who is here should be a great event and obviously we have some money to raise so

133thank you everybody thank good for you um go ahead is there anyone on zo okay so we know that we miss steam so I just wanted to ask um and I I don't know if this has already been thought of I have not been able to go to the townwide parent Council meetings that's I'm gonna anyway so I'm going to try to start going to those so the um my question is I so I work at a a university um with engineering students and I've been trying to figure out like how to bust my students down to to to help these youngers you know learn about engineering get excited about engineering obviously that's not going to happen but I'm my kids are young they're not in at the high school level yet I have no

134idea what goes on in the high school do the high school students learn about engineering at all and can they as part of their service hours they have volunteer hours am I right um would they ever be allowed to have you know do hours at the elementary school like getting the elementary age kids like jazzed up about engineering it's just like a thought that I had it's something we talked about at parent council tonight and I have no idea I don't want to go down that rabbit hole Yeah if that's not even an option and know that I would imagine the timing would be a big piece because they're in classes themselves but makes sense I mean we always we always think of like community service so yeah um if they wanted to engage in

135community service if we had a specific school that they would probably leave here at 2:15 and maybe be there for the last 45 minutes or hour okay if they wanted to do that work yeah yeah yeah and I know that like we want to be Equitable across all the schools in wayth too so that's why I wanted to bring it up here rather than and as Silo with Academy so no I appr appreciate it thank you thank you oh okay yep sorry Lisa Wick again I just like to speak to what she said while it's out there um in the past at least at Murphy School we have had an after school enrichment program running anywhere from four to six weeks that we frequently have used our high schools um Juniors and seniors um to

136come in and do their science um passions with our kids with an adult Mentor I was for many years a mentor for my oldest daughter Amanda and for Cathy's um Paul whoever wanted to come in some other students as well um to do science related things our kiddos loved it they made volcanoes they did litmus test with they stunk up my kitchen boiling cabbage to make litus pH test stuff smelled to high heaven um but I was the staff that the adult Corey liaison to be in the room with them but the the the high school schoolers ran the program the kids loved it um with funding from our parent Council we managed to do it for free um my CH Lynn has been yeah Lynn did Lego robotics Lynn has been very involved in

137all the science things as well and she does the girls and science day here at the high school in the past so um there is the wherewithal if you work with your community with your parent counsel and your principal and you have staff that is willing to um volunteer sometime after school that generally took um about an hour and 15 minutes we would that's when school ended at 3 so we would go until about 4:30 which meant we stopped at 4:15 because it takes a while to clean up red cabbage stuff from the room volcanoes and things so um it's very doable and I would reach out and um encourage all the parent counsels to work with their principles and try to make that happen and it can be done very cheaply and those high

138school students are not only enthusiastic but they are amazing to work with and if they have the chance to go back to their Elementary School as my daughter and of the other KS have done um they feel like the big cheese it is a it is a big thing so um since she asks and I have personal experience with that I thought I would share so I know a lot of the schools do do um enrichment programs even not just the high schoolers my mom for many many years taught crochet at Hamilton after school when she was retired so yeah it's it's a great opportunity to connect and stay connected so so thank you yes hi Michelle cble 126 Thompson Road um I wasn't planning on talking at all but I just wanted just to

139reiterate for the people that haven't been to one of these meetings before the when you send this budget over to the town the only thing that they can do is take money away they cannot increase it the Town Council can only decrease it correct so if we don't really ask for what we actually need then we're we're automatically we're starting at the base level and we're just going to keep going down so please I know that you can't sell defer next week's meeting but if you could just or the week after that meeting if you could just reconsider and ask for more money ask for what our students really need we would greatly appreciate it thank you Mara ding 47 Grand View Road I have two children at West um the budget is from what

140my understanding is to sort of keep everything level um but I don't think that's really incorporating the burnout that the faculty are going to be feeling we have amazing teachers and anyone who works at our schools is fantastic and that is what makes my kids get to school every day they want to see their teachers they want to see the staff they want to see everyone there there are cuts that are going to happen there are going to be more cuts down the line but if we don't ask for more money the Educators and faculty that we do have they're not going to be able to give back as much they are going to be really burnt out I do a lot of work with trauma response in the workforce and I just want to

141be very protective of our schools and our faculty and just make sure that we're not just asking money for the kids I have two I love them um but we really need to make sure that this is an investment not just in our community but who people who are taking care of our community and I just really want to consider them when we're talking about this budget thank you thank you right not seeing any other hands I'm going to close public comment and uh our next agenda item is announcements um as we already heard from athletic subcommittee there is a meeting coming up on March 24th at 6 PM in the Adams Library I'm going to ask if anyone else has additional comments all right um next I will take an adjournment a motion to

142adjourn CH I Mo uh I move that we adjourn tonight's meeting I second the motion any discussion our next meeting is Thursday March 27th all those in favor say I I I and so move thank you thanks everyone for coming out