001say, "Welcome, Superintendent Jim Adams. Thanks for sitting down with me today to talk about the proposed override." >> Yeah, you're welcome. Looking forward to the conversation. >> Great. So, I've got a few questions for you this this morning. Um, first off, and I think maybe the most important, what's driving this need? Uh, how did the district get into this position? How did we get here, Jim? >> Yeah. Well, it's a good question, right? And it's it's something that I think many districts uh across the Commonwealth are dealing with uh today. If you if you notice in the in the newspapers, there's many more communities looking to override situations. Um the Proposition 2 and a half certainly has limited uh communities in terms of tax revenue to be raised um to support local um government and
002schools. Uh so this is for me I think you know I've been here 16 years 17 I guess now and this has been in the making that long right in terms of we've been able to structure our our budgets um fortunately because the town has had some growth over a period of time and there was an adjustment to the chapter 70 funding. We're here today because Prop Two and a half just doesn't raise enough funds locally. Uh, and the state has sort of leveled off. Uh, we don't have the federal funding anymore um that we can rely on. And so when Proposition 2 and a half comes about, I think Ashlin raises probably about 1 2 million a year in the levy that could go up somewhere around there. It's it's not a tremendous amount.
003um we have, you know, 400 plus employees. Our salaries alone go up 1.5 million just in our educators, uh just in the teachers. Um so eating that up, if you will, uh just in the prop two and a half. So we're in a situation now where I think it's the time that we try to figure out how to fix a structural deficit that's just inherent in um budgeting for for public schools and for a community. And uh we've relied so heavily on our um school choice one-time funds, building revolving funds, charging families fees for for busing, uh charging families fees for athletics. Um all of these things have have just come to the point where um there's not enough revenue. Um, my intent with the asking the override in the community, and I get it,
004it's a really hard ask right now. $2.75 million and increase in taxes, um, is is really difficult and challenging, and what we're trying to accomplish, however, I think is critically important for the next 5 to 10 years. Um, and an override for the schools will assist in reducing our need for those onetime use of one-time funds. school choice funding, for instance, uh to fund salaries, operating expenses. We spend $1.1 million a year out of school choice money to fund eight teacher salaries in addition to $400,000 worth of of operating expenses. So thinking about um heat, electricity and buildings, things of that nature. Um school supplies um and and and the like. Um so for me, I'm trying to fix this this structural deficit that exists every single year. Um and we can do that by
005not having to rely on the one-time funds because those are going to dry up and they're going to be gone. Okay. Well, you know, I I I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> No, no, no. So, so we're here because we're here because there's no revenue, right? The revenue stream doesn't exist at the state level, nor at the at the local town level because of Prop 2 and a half. Um, it just limits the amount of revenue that we can create. We've grown as a community. We have more needs as a as a school system. Uh, and you can pinpoint a lot of different places. Transportation costs are are through the roof. uh our out of district special education costs um that are not controlled locally uh are through the roof. Um and there's just not enough
006state funding coming back into the communities to help pay for those things. >> So, I was going to ask you about state funding, but you know, a lot of folks have have been curious about how state funding and federal funding may impact this ask. You know, are there implications here? Have conditions changed at all or or are things pretty much staying the same or Yeah. Can you speak to that a little bit? >> Yeah, it's a great question. Right. So, um currently, uh chapter 70, which is the state funding formula for education to communities, um that was modified a number of years ago, um where Ashlin benefited greatly, right? We we had we saw a couple years where our chapter 70 funding went up over a million dollars uh coming into the town partly because
007of the way the funding formula was readjusted and two we had increased enrollment and with more kids we were able to get more funding uh through chapter 70. We've leveled off uh in terms of enrollment for the most part uh and the state's um funding formula has finally kicked in for for districts. So it's it's that's leveled off as well. So, currently the way the um the the House budget sat uh and and it's ever changing until July when we finally get a a budget coming out of of you know, Beacon Hill. Um we have um about $75 per kid is what we're getting. So, it's about $240,000. Well, okay, that's what we're getting for aid for public education. $240,000. I I just told you. I mean, just salaries alone are um millions, right? Um
008for for the entire organization, $48 million budget. Um, and with that limit, it's very difficult for us to to stay um to stay afloat without using those onetime funds and without asking a community to to have a operational override. Um, and I'll say the same about general government. They've seen very little increase uh over the past 10 years in general government aid coming out of the state house, right? it's been really flat. Um, you know, we were fortunate to have a couple years where it peaked at a pretty high rate. Um, but since then it's sort of leveled to that minimum aid of $75 per child. Obviously, there's advocacy that we can do and are doing at the at the superintendent level. And um, last year they moved off from the $75 per child and
009got it to $150 per child. I I don't know where that's going to stand. um in FY27. Um the most recent I heard was they increased it another $10. So what's that? It's about $20,000 additional money. Um that's it. Uh we needed to go up another 65 to get that full benefit of of$1 $150 a child gives us the 400 plus thousand of aid. Um, so and and grant money coming from federal government, as you know, >> lots of politics about federal grants, uh, and how much they're being reduced. Um, and we don't know the full effect of that, but we fund probably 15 to 20 educators, not just teachers, but pair of professionals through a variety of grants, whether it's a special ed grants andor title one grants. So, it's pretty significant. If we
010don't have those funds, how do we then fund the operations of a school system uh without pulling those educators into the operating budget? Right? And again, that goes back to what I'm trying to do with the override is to take the eight teachers who we fund through school choice, pull them into the operations, um, and pull that $400,000 of additional operating expenses into the operations, the budget, so we don't have to worry about that in the future. um otherwise, you know, in another year down the road, we're looking at um potential huge layoffs. And so, >> so, so thanks for for filling that in a little bit. Um, and you know, you're talking about basically having to address this structural deficit and talking about, you know, teachers and and folks, but I think it would
011be helpful for some of our listeners to >> uh understand >> specifically what this override is going to address like what are the actual stakes for students and families here like and and and I have a few questions around that too, but I'll have you kind of start there. I'll try I'll try to keep it as simple as possible because I think the messaging that that families are trying to wrap their head around is okay what's really going to happen in our school system right so there so there are a few things that are happening right with an override here's what here's what will happen one uh we will have the ability to pull in >> the eight teachers who are funded outside of the operations so those eight teachers are funded with school choice
012money and I'll explain that in a second okay But uh and then there's $400,000 of operations also funded by school choice. So $1.1 million. What we've done is we've actually reviewed our entire budget. We are reducing staffing by 13.2 full-time staff across the district before we even ask for this override. So these 13.2 positions are not coming back. Folks are like, "Well, you're just going to pull them back in." We're not pulling those back in. Those are those are educators who are retiring. Those are positions that we haven't filled for a year or two. A couple in central office, accounts pay, you know, whatever it might be, right? Um, human resources. Um, we have custodial maintenance positions that weren't filled. So, there are positions that that will eventually have an impact on our schools, but
013they're not having an impact currently. Um, class sizes have have sort of um leveled off a little bit. So we're able to say, okay, that elementary teacher at the Warren School, while it'd be great to have class sizes what we're used to at the 20 range, it may go to 22 now. Um, so there will be some impact there, right? Uh, a high school chemistry teacher, science teacher, um, is retiring. We've decided not to fill that position because it was a retirement. Um, well, what does that do? It means class sizes are going to be a little larger at the high school, potentially less elective offerings at the high school. So those are things that that are immediate impacts. But how we viewed it from a administrative standpoint and before we went into asking for
014an override was okay, we have to show that we're acting in good faith here from a budgetary standpoint, a fiduciary standpoint. We're we're really I'm a fiscal conservative, just so so we're clear. I I am. and and I want to make sure whatever we are offering to our community, one doesn't impact kids, right? We have to make sure we're not impacting kids and families uh in their ability to take classes in opportunity. Do I think we're doing that a little bit? I do. Um but not to the extent where I'm I'm really concerned about it. Um the the next piece of this, which we haven't even talked about, is athletics, right? So, in this override conversation, we we charge families significant amount of money for students to participate in middle school through high school athletics.
015User fees. We're going to continue to charge user fees. That's just the reality. When they were instituted, I think in 2007, um, in this community, they're not going away. Once you institute a fee, they're not going away, right? But we still have a $300,000 deficit each year in athletics. um in terms of what it costs us to run our athletic programs, transportation, coaching salaries, um official salaries, uh equipment, um prices have gone up to to purchase uniforms. All of those things um are are being absorbed, if you will, again with school choice funding uh andor transportation funds um that we charge families for busing. So it becomes this neverending cycle of using these one-time funds to pay for operations. So with the override, we can pull that $300,000 from the athletic deficit into our operations
016where it should be, right? We should be funding the operations. So once we do that, we have a little bit left over and that leftover is what helps pay for the regular operations, teacher salaries, uh admin salaries, pair of professional salaries, uh and just general operations of of the school district. So, it's really a reduction of of 1.4 million in in expenses before we ask for the 2.75. A lot of communities would say, "Hey, we just need the 2.75 and the 14 that we're so many districts might be asking for a $4 million override." I I sort of took a different approach saying, "How do we fix our problem? Our problem is we're using so much of our um one-time funds that in a year those are going to be exhausted. They're going to if
017if we don't pass an override, we're going to end up using those funds and then they're going to be depleted. And now what do we do? Ask for a five or six million override in two years. >> Well, and that's the thing, right? And so, you know, uh that's another uh question I wanted to ask you because, you know, I think out in the community there's concern that, you know, you're asking for this override now and they're like, what's going to what's to say that you're not going to come back next year and ask for even more or, you know, so so how do how do you address those concerns? >> Well, again, I think it it's it's a it's a valid question, right? I mean, there are so many communities that ask for override
018after override after override. Um, we haven't done that. We've asked for one in my 17 years. It failed. >> Um, and we're asking now we're at the point where we we truly do need this to happen in order to stabilize us for the next 5 years. Uh I don't anti I would not anticipate I can't look at unless something drastically happens with our um with our economy and inflation really goes through the roof uh for transportation, special education, uh teacher salaries, etc. Um there should be no reason for another ask for an override uh over a five-year window. it. The way we're designing it is to ensure that we have flexibility to not ask for that override in next year if we pass it this year because what we're able to do now is take
019those onetime funds and accumulate a little bit instead of spending it all down. So, if something happens where there's an emergency, a boiler goes down at at a school or a a roof partial roof needs replacement, whatever it might be, right? we have flexibility to utilize those funds. We don't now um because those funds will will be gone because they're funding operations. Um and and if we can get through this in the next 5 years, we won't need that to ask again. Um we should see revenue growth in the town as well, I think, over a 5year period potentially uh increase again. Um the town has done a really good job of trying to to to moderate and limit right the amount of growth within this community but that comes at a cost right and
020that cost is less revenue and and I think I think folks have to understand that as well um you know Michael's done a you know pretty conservative estimate as well in terms of our our revenues from building permits etc. We may have all of these um there may be some pro pro, you know, um projects that are in the pipeline, but they're not being built yet. So, the revenue is not being, you know, um received. Um so, so it's a challenge, but I I can't imagine um us going back in the next 5 years asking for another override if we pass one at this level. If we don't pass one, yes, we will 100% be coming back to the community for an override. >> Well, that leads into my final question for you, uh, Jim.
021You know, we, you know, what what actually happens if voters say no at town meeting and no at the ballot box? What what happens? What what does that scenario look like uh for families uh for families, for kids, and for the community on a whole? >> So, I I'll be honest. I mean, I for next year because of the conversations we've had with our um with you on part of the select board with with the finance committee and the and the school committee, there will not be a tremendous amount of change for next year, right? there there just won't because people will not recognize a loss of service because we're utilize we'll have to utilize all of our onetime funds to pay for the school year. So So people aren't going to notice much of
022a difference next year. That's the that's the truth. But in FY28, when those millions of dollars that are being used to fund salaries, whether it's out of school choice, transportation revolving, building revolving, townwide um stabilization money to help, you know, level the budget, that money's gone. And if that money's gone, how are we going to then um fund operations for FY28? So I I think we're so shortsighted, at least in I think in education when we start budgeting. Um we're focused on what's ahead of us this, you know, in one year. We've got to look five years down the road. My job is to look five years down the road. If we don't pass an override FY28, we're going to see significant cuts across the district. That's the reality. Um upwards of if if we've
023got to save$1 or2 million out of our budget, we're talking 20 to 30 educators. Class sizes will definitely go up. Opportunities will be lost at at the high school. Um can I give an exact number? No. But I I can tell you if we were a level funded budget right now, meaning we were not getting any more funds than we got this year, we have 13.2 reductions right now, we would be at 30. So that's 17 more educators. We would lose. That will happen in FY28. That's the reality. Um, and it's it's a it's a never- ending cycle if we don't fix this. And the problem with relying on those one-time funds is I've shared with the community, we have about $14 million worth of capital projects that have to be funded and figured out,
024meaning new roofs, um boiler systems, um you know, fixing our fields. We have turf fields that have not been replaced, need to be replaced. Um, these are all outside of the operations. Um, and how do how are we going to fix that? It's a delicate balance to ask for more money. I get it. Um and and the schools are saying, "Hey, we've operated at such a low um per pupil cost and we're in the bottom 5% of the state in our per pupil expenditures, but yet we produce pretty high, right? Our our students coming out of the high school we notice are are getting into topnotch uh schools. um they're being very successful. Uh but what we spend per pupil is really low. Uh and it's so it's a catch 22 for a community like,
025"Hey, you're doing great. You don't need any more money." I get that argument, too. I understand it. Um you know, just couple towns over uh read the papers, Grafton. Um they're looking for an override. Uh and they're in the same situation. They're actually a really high quality school system. They're in the bottom 2% of per pupil expenditures and and they're saying, "Listen, we can't sustain this over time. It's just not sustainable. You have to pass an override at some point uh in order to to level u the the revenue stream." So, >> well, thank you so much for your time, uh, Superintendent Jim Adams, Ash Public Schools. Um, any any final thoughts uh before we sign off? >> No, I I think again I I do want to reiterate I I get it. I I
026get how hard it is and how difficult it is to ask a community for for more money um than taxpayers. I I do uh as much as people want to say the economy is booming, it's not booming, right? Folks are feeling uh the pressures uh whether it's at the gas pump or at the grocery store still. We are. I'm one of them. I get it. Um, however, I do believe that if we don't take action now, we will see significant hurt and compromise to our education system in the next 3 to 5 years. We just will. Um, it may take a year before any reductions are impacted and the community members say, "Hey, we need this back." But that's going to come at a cost at a greater cost, right? I mean, if if I
027I tried to figure out exactly what another override would cost the community if we don't pass it now, it's upwards of $5 million because if we didn't pass this year, the 2.75, and we have to spend the additional money out of our revolving accounts, we still have to replenish those revolving accounts, right, eventually. Um, so you have to add that back in. Um, and how would this community react to a5 or $6 million override question um, in a year? Probably much more negatively than than a 2.75. Um, we're right in line. We have a policy in the community that where we've started at a 3.75% budget uh, number is where the schools are typically have um, been charged with getting to. um if an override passes, we should be held to that 3.75%. Right? And
028ensure that we're not going above that. And I think, you know, Chris Matthew and I have had that conversation. We can we can budget to this that number. We can do it. Will we have to supplement some of it through our one-time funds? We will, but we're more easily able to do that if we're not spending 1.1 million in operations out of those funds. Um, it's a difficult conversation to have. I get it. I appreciate it. My job is to ensure that the highest quality of education exists here in Ashlin. Uh, I'm trying to do that, but I'm also trying to put us on a path that um there's financial and fiscal stability over the next five years. Um and and I take great pride in how we've operated as a district um in my
02913 years now uh superintendent. And I think we're going to uh continue to do great things here. Uh but this will just help us really set the path forward for the next 5 years. >> Superintendent Adams, thank you so much for your time today. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks. Hey, hey, hey.