001All right. Good evening everybody. Uh, I'm going to call the meeting to order. Today is Wednesday, April 29th, 2026. This meeting is being video and audio recorded for future cable broadcast. Please silence all cell phones for the duration of the meeting. Can I have a motion to open the school committee meeting? So move. >> Second. >> Door roll call. >> Mr. Ellis. >> Yes. >> Mr. Wood. >> Yes. Mr. Hoff. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gorder. >> Yes. And Mr. Woods. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Uh, and I'll ask everybody to stand for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. So, this is a budget hearing which is required,
002right, by by law. We are not taking a vote tonight on the budget. Just to be clear so people understand, the vote on the school budget will be May 12th, right? I think we've talked about that in the last meeting. So, I need a motion to open the public budget hearing. >> Seconded. >> We'll do a roll call. >> Mr. Ell, >> yes. >> Mr. W. >> Yes. Mr. Haw. >> Yes. Mr. >> Yes. >> Okay. Uh I'm going to ask Superintendent Bailey andor the business manager to maybe give us a quick overview of the FY27 budget uh you know prior to any public comment. Okay. So, I will first give you a higher level um summary of our four budget scenarios um and then we will have the business manager summarize our presentation and
003where we're at today for the FY27 budget. So, the first scenario that we presented to the school committee is a needsdriven budget. That would be an asking for an increase of one over 1.9 million. There would be no reductions and there would be three additions. This needs driven would basically allow for our school system to continue to improve the quality and it's based on the needs of our students. The next scenario that we went through is called a level service budget. That is an increase of more than 1.5 million. It keeps everything status quo. It keeps all of our programs, all of our staff the same, no reductions, but no additions. We just keep everything the same. We would love to have a level service budget given these times, but we had come up with
004some other scenarios. I'm going to skip over and go to a level funded budget. That is a 0% increase. The impact level would be 21 reductions of staff. It would be major budget reductions in operations, maintenance, professional development and more. And I believe that we talked about as the committee uh this would greatly critically impact the quality of our school system and it would decimate the school system. And we came up with another scenario because we know funding is limited at the town level. We call it a constraintdriven budget which would be over a million dollar increase. It would also result in eight reductions of staff also budget reductions in operations, maintenance, professional development and more. So, we are at a critical level where we're putting forth a constraintdriven budget. I believe that's what the
005committee is going to be recommending, but that's still eight reductions in staff. It's not what we want. It's a reluctant recommendation based on what we know is available for resources. Um, and it puts us at a critical point with our students. As I said, the needs, we need three additional staff. Level service, we would want everything to stay the same. Constraint driven, we're eight cuts, but we talked about we cannot go to a level funded, which would decimate our school system and greatly impact the quality of services and education that the kids are seeing. We still have uh getting we're we still have to run a school system. And at this point, I will have uh Mr. Petronio go over some additional information just to summarize what we talked about at our last meeting. >>
006Good evening. So basically looking at our budget um when I first started developing it and bringing it forward for for FY26 FY27 I went through I'm looking at our fixed costs or our um you know our our costs that we have no real control over. We're almost 95% fixed costs. So, in doing so, I said, "How can this be?" Usually, you're about 80 85% fixed costs. And talking with the committee and with the the superintendent and the other um people in administration, the past two years, the cuts you've made into the budget have cut into anything that is basically variable cost. You've brought those variable costs down to to very few items. So, we are primarily fixed costs at almost 95%. Which means when you start having to do large reductions, you're looking at your
007your positions, people, you you can't there's nothing you can do about your heating. Very little you can do about electricity. We already have the um special light sensor switches in that shut off lights and whatnot. And there's no um excessive waste of electricity. There's very little to look at. So it comes down to positions which is why in developing this budget we right now proposing the eight FTEES that we'd be eliminating. Um and looking through we are one of the lowest per pupil expenditures in the state for everyone to understand what that means. We look at our overall budget and we determine dividing that by the number of students we have. We determine how much we're spending per pupil to educate them. We're seventh from the bottom which is very very low. Uh it's incredibly
008low. But yet at the same time, I look at the scores and we've got some of the highest scores. So apparently the administration, the the the um the curriculum, the guidance, the school committee's, you know, direction is working. We're getting those scores up high. The teachers, >> the teachers, of course. >> Thank you. the the the problem is as you start cutting into those teachers, cutting into those positions, start reducing that starts to fall apart. So you got I don't know eight or nine years of building this and now we're in a position where if we don't get at least level funding um I'm sorry we don't get at least level services, we're going to be deteriorating that portion of it. >> Do do you I don't want to interrupt you, but do you have
009the ability So there was I think a slide I don't know if you have it in front of you now. So when we talk about just kind of um you know what the increases are to the budget for 2027 and what percentage of the increase that represents could you just go through those numbers and percentages again because I think it's helpful to understand what's driving the increase. >> Exactly. That's exactly it. What's driving the increase? So number one salaries is not salaries is below 3% across the board average them all out it the contracts have been negotiated very fair. they're in line. Those um statewide those are fine. We have issues, special aid costs because we're such a small district. One student moving in or two students moving in drive that number up. That's 60%
010up um from the previous year. And again, because we have so few students, that number gets driven high. >> And just to give you an example, one student is costing over $285,000 >> for out of district. Exactly. >> So the energy costs that we have um primarily electricity um the past uh year or so um those costs have been covered by um solar credits that we have that we've built up over the years. Those are now running out. They'll be done by this June. So another 240,000 electricity costs have to be absorbed right away in the budget. So that's again that's one of those cliffs you fall off of. had a year of grace and now you've got a um budget for it for the next year. Our transportation, as we all know, there's very
011few biders when we bid out transportation costs. Those are going up 11 12% for next year. Um that's just the regular school buses. The out of district or the special placements um those costs go up exponentially. Um there's not a lot of control. It's you got a lot of times one person being picked up taken to a special school or two people. Those cost more than the 12%. But again, comparing it to the 3% salaries, it's a it's a big difference. Um high school tuitions, you know, everyone's thinking, "Oh, we're going to save a lot of money this year." First year, it's minimal, if anything, of a savings. Um over time, we'll see if um we can get to a greater savings on that. we um yes have have negotiated a lesser cost but that'll
012phase in over time because we still have nth graders going to 10th 10th going to 11th and so on um that are still there. So that again is a more than a 10% increase this year because we have less seats at Old Colony which means more uh students are being pushed to the local high schools that we pay from our budget. So those costs are going up. Um >> has there been do you and if you don't know off top I know um do we know what the current numbers are just in terms of like are we seeing any shift in terms of kids going to FA next year or are like do we know what the current numbers are >> it's been changing because when OC gave out their roster um there were people
013that were that were on weight lists so as people decided not to go. Other students, more seats opened up, so they've been moving around. So, we've got about the same amount of students going to Fay Haven this year as last year. Uh I think we're around 22 students that will be going to ORR, >> which is a pretty good number. >> Um we have four students going to New Bedford. Four new students, meaning out the old >> um so overall we have more students that we're paying for this year. And part of that again is the limiting of the seats at Old Colony. So um it I would say it less burdens the town, more burdens us. But the same respect those seats at Old Colony have gone up quite a bit. >> And just
014to be clear, when a when a student goes to Old Colony doesn't come from our school budget. When they go to one of the other districts choices, comes from part of it comes from our our budget essent. >> Correct. So, and last week the the budget, the original budget is the the governor's budget. That's what we based building our budget off of. That's what the town bases building their budget off of. Last week, the House put their budget forward, which was a little better for us. We are going from $75 per student additional funding to 160 in that budget, which is about a $95,000 increase, which is great because at the joint meeting we had a week and a half or so ago, um one of the board of selectmen um said I asked the
015question of do we get any future increases? Does it come to our budget? And he responded yes, we'll get any future increase. Now, they did take a little money away from the town and another line item, but overall chapter 70 went up about 95,000. Um, school choice uh went up slightly. Um, the the school choice sending, the charter school sending, those costs actually went down a little. So, overall, it's aboutund about 15,000 more than it was from the governor's budget. So again, in uh in the coming weeks, we'll be meeting with the with the finance committee of the town with the new town administrator and the old town administrators to be advising. And so we're going to be looking to put those numbers our way to help us meet the budget we want, but that's
016better. So hopefully the Senate will come through and keep those numbers or improve them um for us so that the you know finally the the joint committee will hopefully favor more money to education. I know we're not the only district that's pushing for it. I know that our associations are pushing for it. School business officers, the superintendent association, the school communities associations, they're all pushing for more education funding. But it's not just one or two districts that are hurting right now. pretty much every district is in trouble right now and they're going to be pushing for more money to come our way on that. So, we're hopefully >> Can I I'll just because in the last meeting with the selectman and the finance committee, we talked about sending off uh some letters to some of
017our elected officials in the state. So, we did in fact um sign off on a letter and we've sent those letters out requesting more funding. Again, I hope that they hear it and they get it and we see action. So those have been said just so people know that we did follow up on that. >> In the past when I've seen per pupil go up, I've never seen them reduce it. >> So and this is the highest it's ever been. It was 150 was the highest. Now it's 160 per student. So hopefully that stays um in play and hopefully those funds flow our way, but it will make the discussions with the town administrator that much easier to say you've got to come and meet our number of a million dollars and his part of
018it. And the flip side of that also is as those numbers increase, chapter 70 increases requires the town to increase. So the town is forced to have to give us more money. So it's not us simply pushing them. It's department of edcept those numbers. So we'll be seeing how that pans out. Can one more question? >> Sure. It's my understanding following the meeting with the board of selectmen and the finance committee that the plan was that you were going to get together with the new town administrator and perhaps the previous one if he's still shadowing. Have you guys when are you planning to reconvene? >> Um we've been emailing back and forth and we're waiting. It's going to be all three of us. I'm waiting for them to set a date. I basically left it.
019I'm open anytime they want. Obviously, it's imperative um that that meeting probably take place next week, if not this week, because we'll be getting together on May 12th to have a vote, and I think we'd like to understand what has changed when we get hopefully something has changed significantly when we get to that May 12th vote. >> That's what I'm pushing for. And I just want to add that it's the school committee's responsibility and our responsibility to create a fiscally responsible budget that provides our students with an excellent education in a safe and supportive environment. And we believe that constraintdriven one that scenario that I gave you out of the four scenarios is the one that's fiscally responsible knowing the resources that are available in the town. That's it. >> Any any questions? >> I
020wanted my comments, but I think I wanted to add them in under old business. >> Okay. >> So, you recognize me and I think that >> because we're still in the hearing. >> Yeah. So, >> um I know I sound like a broken record and I've talked about this for years now, but like the retirement package, what have we looked into that a little bit more or >> should we hold that? >> Yeah, we should hold that. >> Okay. Okay. So, so that being said, why don't we we have two people signed up for public comment. So, um I will ask Margaret Vier to maybe uh come come to the mic, identify herself. I'll I'll give a Obviously, we need to stick to the top of that again, which is the budget. I'm sure folks
021realize that, but please uh yeah, >> good evening. My name is Margaret Vieira, 23 Norwood Street. I'm here tonight speaking from a unique perspective. I'm an educator at a Christian elementary school and also a parent of two students who attend Ford Middle School. It is usually a position I appreciate because I'm able to have a small bit of insight into what it is like for my children to attend school in this district. However, this added insight into the schools that my own children attend has not brought me any peace of mind lately. I know firsthand how understaffed our buildings already are. I know firsthand what it means to add even more kids to classrooms that are already overcrowded. I know what existing pro programs mean to my children. When my children come home, they don't
022just tell me about the curriculum they learned in school. They tell me about the teacher who allows them to eat lunch in their classroom. They show me what they're learning to play on their instruments. They sing songs. They are learning chorus. They are excited to stay after school for art club and cheerleading with their friends. They also share with me the many challenges their teachers face throughout the day for having from having so many students in their class. When I hear people from the finance committee talking about how their child was in a classroom with small classes, I think to myself how lucky their child was to be able to be in low anxiety setting with low teacherto student ratios. That is not the reality of what now exists. The reality is that my children
023are in large classes. They have never been in a classroom with under 20 students. Since kindergarten, they have been closer to 25 students or more in their classes each year. Our students are already operating at the bare minimum. I'm sorry, our schools, our students are not at the bare minimum. They're amazing. I don't think anyone from within the schools can even fathom what it will look like or how we will function with less staff. I understand the need to inform people that their position may be cut prior to the public knowing. However, I feel that the public needs to know. Conversations should be had with anyone who might fall into that group that could possibly be cut. And then the public needs to know so we can understand what will be lost from our schools.
024We need to know, the families need to know what the implications of these decisions will be. Saying 21 people does not give the same picture as knowing exactly what programs and supports will no longer be a available to our children. The idea that the school can continue to run on a budget that was set years ago is impossible. Imagine if you told your insurance or utility providers that you were only going to pay the amount you budgeted for 2 or 3 years ago. You would be shut off from that service. And that is eventually what will happen here. The schools cannot be level funded to balance the town budget. Eventually there will be no schools left. >> Thank you Mira. Lisa Kavalo getting soft in my old age too. I'm Lisa Kavalo. I am the
025um Ausha teachers association president. I have been for the last 10 years. I also have been a proud member of the staff here since 1996, which is probably some of these kids that are here tonight or probably weren't even born when I started teaching. But um I just want to emphasize that we are committed to working in a partnership with our administrators and school committee members to support a fair and responsible budget that reflects the needs of our students. We value the collaboration within our district and believe that working together is the best way to support our schools and community. Now is a time to come together and not pit staff against administrators, discuss salaries, and criticize choices our district is making that may not align with your ideas of what happens in a school
026district. I look out and I see, you know, just teachers, a few parents that are here. I don't see any of the keyboard warriors that are going crazy on all things now. and that's a little disappointing to me that they're not here supporting our schools. Um, it literally deflects from the real issues and it weakens our focus, our students. At the same time, we feel it's important to share the potential impact of the current budget proposal. At this time, the district is facing the possible loss of eight positions, including a first grade teacher, a second grade teacher, a fifth grade teacher, an academic coach, a special education teacher, a health teacher, the Ford Middle School assistant principal, and the Ford Middle School librarian. Those are the cuts. Those are the facts. These cuts are the
027budget constraint choice. These cuts are detrimental and will add to the 10 positions that we already lost last year due to budget constraints. If the school department is level funded, it would be a loss of actually 28 positions because you would need seven to pay for the 21 because we do not pay into unemployment. This would decimate our schools. We would not be able to continue to provide the services and level of education that Aushnet has always been known for and why people move to town. These reductions would have a direct impact on our students, increasing class sizes, reducing access to specialized supports, and limiting important academic and social emotional resources. Every role in our schools contributes to the success and well-being of our students. And these losses would be felt across the district. These
028reductions will also make it difficult to attain and retain the quality educators that have always provided the highest level of education and services for our students and families. because of these cuts that have no end due to no plan from the town to generate revenue to keep up with inflation. Who is going to want to work in a cushion? When I look around my own building within the next 5 to seven years, most of us will be gone, will be retired. Um, you cannot pride yourself with not having big business or stop lightss in town and expect to not pay for services directly. When there is no big business to offset taxes, unfortunately, quality services fall solely on taxpayers. Our shared goal remains clear to provide a strong supportive learning environment where every Aushnet student
029can succeed. Achieving that goal requires continued investment and a unified commitment from educators, district leadership, town officials, and families. We encourage parents to stay informed and involved in the upcom upcoming budget discussions in which include attending meetings, select board meetings, finance committee meetings, as well as school committee meetings. Everybody's voice is important and it's a part of the process and family engagement plays a critical role in shaping decisions that affect our schools. I would just on behalf of the ATA like to thank you all for your continued support of the schools and for the trust you place in us every day. So together, through collaboration and a shared focus on students, we can work toward a budget that best supports our entire school community. Thank you. >> All right. So, I really I just want
030to thank both of the speakers for their contributions to this district and their comments tonight. So, that public comment is an important part of what we do here. I agree. I wish that um we would have more folks folks here tonight supporting what we're trying to do, but we'll keep plowing ahead and hope to see people here on May 12th. So, that being said, can I have a motion to close the uh the public budget hearing? >> So, motion >> second >> and we'll do a roll call. >> Mr. Ellis, >> yes. >> Mrs. Win, >> yes. Mr. Halro, >> yes. >> Mr. Pera, >> yes. Mr. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, we're back into regular school committee meeting and now Dr. Bailey old business. >> Yep. I just um we gave the summary earlier
031during the hearing of the FY27 budget. The only thing I would add is we have notified uh the eight people who are impacted as well as all of the nonprofessional status teachers because the way they have to reapply. More senior teachers get to have uh priority over the people who have been here less time. Right? So even though many people may have received a letter from us, I just want to publicly say that there will be positions that they are open uh that are open for them to apply to. We have eight reductions at this point and I'm hoping that it doesn't go further than that. I don't think it can um for the sake of our students. >> Okay. Mr. Hoffra, I know. Do you want to comment? >> Yes. um comment on the
032budget and the direction that we uh that we don't want to go and where we we should go. Um one is quite clear that going beyond just the value of to each student family having quality education. Quality education goes be beyond that as far as an economic in uh impact into the community. Good schools equal good property values. And that is very crucial in a town where over 90% of the people are homeowners. And they invest through their lifetime or time that they're in living in this community in their property. And they spend time in maintaining their property values for the day that may they want to downsize, sell, borrow, refinance, uh whatever is in their portfolio as far as they want want to do. So that means that the value of their their home
033is paramount to their own economic survival and progress. Um just take it for example in nearby towns. I was looking there was an article a couple of weeks ago the the the medium selling house in uh Matapoet right when our borders went up in five in five years went up 54%. In Middleboro it went up 62%. In Weham it went up 50%. This is all in five years. So, you know, the property values are are increasing. That means that people can have an impact as far as getting some value for their property if they chose to, as I said before, downsize and so forth. But if we go a road of poor schools that we could be headed with budget cuts and and it would in turn have a very negative impact on on on
034our values as I said before. Uh so we have to so our discussion is not only the value of education and how it impacts the future of our ch our children and their families also it affects every taxpayer in a cushioning and they should and therefore they they're vigilant they they maintain their homes you know for the day you know keep their property values up but the best investment is having good schools that will maintain that as well. So, I just wanted to, you know, bring that point quite clear cuz we've gone on an interesting path. If we maintain as we are the above average state in in all of the uh test scores that we have in our in our elementary, you know, and uh middle school. Also the adding of Okal old Rochester
035regional uh to to the mix that is going to attract a lot of families uh and their uh to to you know to this area. And not only that, that they their family the these are people who will be willing to pay a better co uh price for the home which in turn helps out the person who's who's the seller. So I I want to I think how important this whole budget c at this time and where where we could be headed. we could be headed in a in a in a in a in a in a negative way or in a positive way. So I I just want to add that to the discussion, Mr. Chair. Right. I hope >> Thank you. >> Be helpful. >> Yes. Thank you. Um Mrs. Fdera, you wanted
036to did you want to >> say something? >> Um a couple of things. >> Can we catch up on that retirement package? Talk about that. >> That is some the early retirement incentive. We are looking into that. We don't know where it will go, but it's something we can do and offer. We're going to work with the ATA as well as bring it up to the school committee possibly in the May meeting. And again, it just shows you it's not going to be huge savings, but we're nickeling and dimming for every possible thing we can cut so that we can maybe perhaps people who have seasoned and might have a year left of retire to retire, we can hire someone, a new teacher who doesn't get paid as much. that would be a savings. So,
037yes, the answer is we are looking into it and I've already talked to the ATA president about it. I'm working on some paperwork. If they agree to it, then I will put it forth to the school committee for your vote and that will happen relatively quickly. >> What else? >> Um, are you doing member reports or anything? >> No. >> Or >> no. >> Okay. So, I wasn't going to say I was going to stay quiet about this, but I I I can't. Um, so social media posts, I kind of want to go back to that, and I know it was referenced before by Lisa. Um, I just want to urge everyone to get the information from the correct sources. Information put out on Facebook is not or any social media platform is not validated,
038I guess you could say. Um, today's Facebook post definitely crossed the line um as far as privacy and things like that, and that really bothered me. So, I just wanted to kind of say that it's just invaded everybody's privacy, listing positions, first names, I mean initials and things like that. That can't happen. It can't happen. Um, so I just want to be very clear that when you're posting things on Facebook that you are you're remembering this that myth misinformation spreads quick, but the damage it does it it lasts forever and it spreads a lot a lot quicker. So yeah, that just hit me the wrong way today and I wasn't going to say anything, but we can't be doing that. If you need information, you come right to the sources. Call the superintendent's office, email
039us. If we can't get the information to you, we will send you in the right direction. But to put a list on social media with names, grades, subjects is just it crossed the line >> and it's not accurate. So I would say >> that too like everything else on Facebook, >> call call my office if people want information. We will give you the accurate information. We've been transparent. Everything is on the website. Our presentations regarding this budget are on the website. Um, we have nothing to hide at this point. There is nothing to hide. Unfortunately, Mrs. Cadero, we can't control social media and that's why a lot of people go on anonymously and it's these people, right? >> I don't see any of them here. Come here. What we can control is doing the best
040thing and the right thing for our students and staff and being fiscally responsible to get that budget that the kids deserve. That's what we can control and that's what we will continue to do. And again, we'll clarify along the way, but we just have to remind people that the information on social media is not accurate. We don't respond. It's not accurate. For accurate information, you can check our website. You can call my office. I'm more than happy to speak to anyone who does that. >> Okay. I just wanted to make that very clear. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> If I may. >> Yeah. Um just to add to Melissa's comment about the um social media uh we'll call it uh epidemic that we've seen crop up in town around the the budget hearings. And
041we see this crop up quite frequently. Um, the massive uptick in anonymous posting is completely out of control. Completely out of control. Um, I personally had been tagged in a post asking for answers. I declined to give those answers. I just referenced the minutes of the most recent school committee meeting. And then somebody posting behind a mask of anonymity brought my children into the conversation. >> Yeah. Yeah, thankfully the uh group administrators for that page took action very quickly and removed the comments, but I just want to say that posting anonymously in especially with regard to either positions or calling out people's family members. I don't mind if you talk about me, but don't talk about my kids. Don't talk about my family. It is cowardly. It is morally reprehensible. And whoever made that post
042should be ashamed of what they did. I would hope that everybody else in this community would fall short of taking steps like that. It is completely unacceptable. >> Great. >> You want to follow that? >> No, I'm trying to stay out of it. I bite my tongue. I do speak a lot um outside and it does I I I read this stuff but I I can't respond to it. Um I haven't necessar I I do think they're very broad statements. I do agree that it's cowardly to do it behind an anonymous name because I if you want answers and you have concerns and you're truly going to address it, we really you do have to go to the source and I think we have a lot of town professionals or committees that feel like I
043think one of the goals was transparency. So, we want to get the word out there. However, when we're getting this misinformation out there and that's spreading like wildfire, we're not getting the accurate information, it does more harm than help. So if I do agree that we need to go to the proper channels for information. If it's a school committee issue, come here to us. If it's a uh selectment issue, go to them. If it's a finance committee issue, go to them. I just think we just and I do think it stems from the wanting all the answers, wanting the information, and sometimes people take the information and just go with and expand on it. There's so much more to the stories as it's like a a game of operator >> by the end of it.
044Who knows where it goes? >> Well, I have a lot I could say about social media. I >> I know we should I I mean I just would say this. I I just I try not to pay attention, but when I do, I just find that so much of what's out there is incorrect and and the actual information has is available in the meetings that we've had or we've talked about it. There was a conspiracy yesterday that because uh school committee members were up for a late re-election that this school committee was trying to ram the budget through and we said in the last meeting publicly that we would have a hearing on April 29th and a budget vote on May 12th. So there's no hiding I think there's a lot of transparency and a
045lot of the information is out there but what goes on on social media the cess poolool I I can't control it but um >> congratulations. Um, but anyway, I I just would say relative to the budget, you know, I also would say when we talk about a constraint driven budget, we've been dealing with a constraint driven budget for two or three years. We've cut I don't know 14 or maybe it's more because Lisa had a different number but um many many positions over the last couple of years that have had a significant impact on our kids and under no circumstances would I personally ever support a a level funded budget that will decimate our school system. Like we might as well close the shop up, close the board up the doors, the windows and shut
046the place down. So, I I hope that we're going to have some productive conversations between now and May 12th and come to a a conclusion that will actually put our district and our kids in the best position to have quality education with the great teachers that we have and the leadership that we have in this district. But, um, you know, I want to stay laser focused on that and not get distracted with all of the noise that happens on social media and everywhere else. though. So that's I hope that's where we end up. That's all. >> Um I have a few comments on the budget if you don't mind. All right. So it none of us on the school committee I think I can pretty safely speak for everybody here want to see even a
047constraint driven budget and certainly not a level funded budget. We you know I recognize that there are limitations to the amount of funding that's available to the district and to the town. Um, realistically, I' I've been pretty outspoken about the fact that the the lack of revenue in the town is is really coming down from a state level. There's there's very little that the town can do in terms of revenue planning to try to figure out ways that they can come up with an extra million or $2 million. Um, I don't have a full understanding of the town budget, but I'm pretty confident in saying that they don't really have much more that they can shave either. So realistically, if we were to move forward with a constraint-driven budget or Lord forbid a level funded
048budget, I said it last time, I'll say it again, we're going to be in exactly the same position that we are next year, that we are now next year. If we cut 21 or 28 positions, 28 to cover, you know, the um >> unemployment costs, I would say that there's a very good likelihood that we're going to be asked to deliver a level funded budget next year. And we're still going to see those fixed costs increase, which are going to mean that next year we're going to see a further 15 20 reductions. I mean, there's just there's literally no end in sight with the way that the current education funding model works in the state. I don't expect that anybody on Capitol Hill is going to come in and save our bacon this year. It's
049not going to happen at this point. I mean, they're talking about increasing per pupil to um reimbursement to $160, which to Holo's point is, you said the highest you've ever seen it. >> Yes. >> Highest you've ever seen it. And that's only actually amounting in an extra $115,000 >> $95,000 >> $95 sorry $95,000 on a district level. That's a drop in the bucket. That's a position maybe a position and a half depending on where that money can be allocated. It's nothing. I mean, what we really need to be pushing for on a voter level, pushing our state reps for, pushing our state senators for, and pushing the legis the the the full body of the legislature and executive branches in the state for are transportation reimbursements for non regionalized school districts because we don't get
050any right now. >> Correct. We need to be pushing for 100% funding for circuit breaker to cover those unexpected special education costs. And we need to be pushing for a much larger portion of the overall school funding to come from a state level and not from a local level. Local funding, general unrestricted local aid is not keeping up with inflation, period. We're not even close. And when we take a look at the numbers across the state, you know, I mentioned it in the last meeting, but we're seeing, I think, an expected $165 million in Prop 2 and a half requests for this year. Some have already been voted on by different districts. Some have some have been approved. the majority have been um voted down, but those numbers are going to continue to come in
051as time goes on. Unless we see a systematic um sorry, I have a headache today. I'm I'm work with me here. Unless we see a complete overhaul on a systematic funding level, this is not going to change. It's just not. And I I it breaks my heart to be looking at some of the cuts we're looking at this year and thinking about what it's going to look like next year and the year after and the year after that is untenable. The other thing that I would mention, and I'm not trying to tug on heartstrings here, but speaking from, you know, my perspective, looking at what's happening across the Commonwealth in past years, if there were cuts to teaching staff in a given district, there was a pretty good likelihood that those teachers were probably going
052to be able to find a position in another district. They may have to drive a ways for it. It may not be their preference, but more often than not, there would be those positions available. I can't confidently say that this year. If teachers lose their jobs this year, I would say there's a very good likelihood they are not going to find other jobs for the next fiscal year. They're just not cuz nobody's hiring. That's all. >> I just want to respond. I'm I'm not going to be a fatalist by any means. You know that >> you can leave that to me, John. It's fine. that I think you know we're facing are always facing choices and the in the town in the in the the the residents of this town have to face choices and
053one one choice we're going to be facing to town meeting and and ongoing is basically do you want to keep quality schools So your property values are worth something. And also every child in this community has equal education to every other child in the Commonwealth. It's it's simple as that. And we have have to basically just be optimistic. This is the message. This is the choice. and uh the the choices you you you make and I and I think this town the the people of of this community will respond if we in turn continue to uh to you know to we continue to to do exactly what we're doing is uh I have it's almost a supermarket uh uh slogan but you know one slogan that we we have done in the last several years
054is more for less and all statistics. We've have more quality education and and and also more choices, educational choices for the future and we've done it with diminishing amount of of funding and and I said all the statistics approve that. Uh secondly of all about people that are uh uh you know on a media you know the people you know so forth uh this is part of the burdens of uh in one sense challenges of public life okay and uh and it's it's to me it's interesting of of uh of uh you know when I look back at my you my career and all the advocacy that that I you know faced with and uh and and what you know I've experienced uh I hate to talk about it now but let's just toss it
055out you know you know I've lost several promotions uh in my life because of my advocacy of good public education uh going back in the in the old days you know I've been uh you know assaulted I've been kidnapped. I've been I've been all, you know, I've had some fun in my life. So, so I just want to bring that out that we need to talk about, you know, so if someone some person wants to hide and and not give their name out and calling you a name, u you know, it's it's just too bad and it should it's too bad on them. But I just want to say uh welcome to public life and uh and and it's a lot of fun. >> I know I understand that. But when you're it's for me
056it draws a line when you're putting people's names and >> our teachers names out there and it's not true. So that's where it just put me over the edge and it's just cross the line. So that's where I'm going to end because I know I could go on for hours. >> Well, I just just want to toss and I hope it just add to some levity of the discussion. >> I'm glad you're safe now. >> We need to talk. I want to hear the whole thing. >> Well, the other piece of it, too, is how is that helping our kids? I mean, we're putting everything out there and it's not helping our kids. Our kids are the ones that >> putting them in conversations they don't believe. >> Yeah. And they're hearing they're overhearing all
057of this and it's impacting them. >> Not only just the not only the teaching responsibility and having the teachers there, but just like some of the kids come here for a release. this is their safe place and they're coming into the classroom and everything is disheveled or they're worried about okay am I going to have this one consistent person that I've had for so long in front of me tomorrow and then they have the they're going home they're hearing stuff about it too and the kids have enough trying to deal with focusing in school never mind all these adult issues that are going on too um and >> and can I add Miss McGlin like I I've said this at the last two meetings so I'm sorry to a broken record, but like making these
058decisions sucks and no nobody here is comfortable losing any positions and you know these people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and going public with names and things is not treating people with the dignity and respect that they deserve and I think it's inappropriate. So, >> thank you Mr. Chair. >> I just want to remind people that You can't expect the scores to stay the same when we continue to cut. The quality of education will change. I need to remind you that we have more than 950 kids in front of us. We need the adults in front of these kids. What you heard tonight from a a a teacher and also a parent. The emotion that was real. I hope that other parents see that on the TV when that comes out because
059this person has a real understanding of what it's like dayto-day in the schools and what we need and we're not just all saying it for our health here. This is real reality. We can't just close the schools. We have 950 kids coming in front of us every day and they have to be in a safe and supportive environment. We need the staff to do that. You also heard at a previous meeting where a teacher talked about the challenging needs of our kids today is much different than it was perhaps a few years ago that you know I won't even get into the specifics but we need the adults in front of these kids. So, I just want to clarify and reiterate that we are prepared for next meeting to continue with this constraintdriven budget reluctantly
060because we don't want any cuts. We would prefer the level service, but we understand the town's lack of funding and resources. I just want to make it clear that we're all on the same page. You know, I can expect the vote to be, we can't predict, but we're all kind of talking constraint driven at this point in time because I don't think we parents don't understand, you know, and she wants to know, you know, someone asked about the 21 positions. First of all, dignity and respect to those people. It would change the way our schools operate. Who knows if we'd have a shortened day? Who knows if we'd have to eventually be in one building. That's not even talking about people. That's just talking about the experiences that our students would not be getting anymore.
061So, it would decimate our schools. I can't say that enough. We have to figure out and come together. As the AT president nicely pointed out today, it is all about our students and we are being fiscally responsible to get to the point to meet our students needs as best we can at this point. >> Although sorry, >> although um and doc Dr. Bailey, if if we were to move forward with a constraint-driven budget and a and alternatively a level funded budget, which none of us want to see, do you have any estimates on how close those numbers would put us towards minimum net school spending? >> I do. As it stands right now, um we need from my estimation approximately $2 to $300,000 more than this year. >> Mhm. for next year. So, they can't
062level fund this because they won't meet that school spending. >> Okay. >> Depending on the new numbers that will come out because as the House and the Senate change their budgets, Chapter 7 changes, we're looking at at least that going forward. Um, and again, we have no control over that, but it's going to be in the few hundreds of thousands. Years ago, we were well over we beat it by 800,000 or a million, but over the past few years that I researched, it's come down, down, down. Sorry. >> So if we did end up on a level funded budget, there's a very high likelihood that we could end up running below minimum net school spending. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. And the estimate would be a minimum of 2 to $300,000 to hit that number, >>
063which there's still some flex on once DESIE comes back with their numbers two years down the road. So we could say we need $300,000 to hit minimum net school spending. Desi's numbers could come in two years later and we still end up being 100 grand under. Who knows? >> And you have to make it up, right? So, just so that you know folks in the community understand, if you fall below, let's say you fall below minimum net school spending by $100,000. Well, you have to hit whatever the new net school spending minimum is for the following fiscal year, which is going to continue to increase. and you have to make up that missed $100,000, $200,000, whatever it is. >> If it gets to a point where you're more than 5% under, you have you get
064fined, you get penalized. >> Yeah. There's significant penalties. So, realistically speaking, if if we were to level fund the school district, there's a good likelihood that we would end up around $200 to $300,000 below minimum for this year. >> Then for next year, >> we would still be on the hook for that $300,000. Correct. >> Plus, we'd have to pay back the 3002 to $300,000 that we fell below the prior year. So, I mean, the math just doesn't work out. Like, a low funded option is simply not an option. >> So, I I suppose uh in your meeting with town administrator, this is going to be part of the conversation that you plan to have. >> Yeah, it's going to be the my opening. It's going to be my opening. And for Haven, frankly, is
065right now going for an override for approximately $500,000 just to get to the next spending level. Correct. >> Correct. >> So, yeah, I I just again May 12th is our next meeting. I hope that when we get back together that we'll be having a slightly different conversation than we're having right now and that numbers will look different and better. >> Well, I I just wanted to add something if I could. um talking about I know that Miss Beer had mentioned something about the class sizes being larger and then um Dr. Bailey is talking about being fiscally responsible, but one of the other things that we had mentioned before is the safety and the safety of the teachers, the safety of the classmates, the in the classrooms too, the the needs being so high. So, I
066think that's something that we need to think about too. It's being fiscally responsible, but also the safety safety of our teachers, safety of the students, safety of everybody working in the buildings, too. SO, >> YEAH. And just to just to kind of add on to that, I mean, statistically speaking, across the entire nation from a a student health and safety, wellness, health, safety, and wellness standpoint, bullying is at its worst in middle school across the board. I mean, I think that most people that went to school would probably agree that middle school from a kids perspective kind of sucks. It sucks. Like, let's be real. No shade on the teachers, but it just sucks. >> So, the less adults and professionals that we have in front of our students monitoring things, not just on the
067classroom level, but from a passing period level from, you know, dismissal or from um, you know, drop off through dismissal, the more opportunity there is for kids to kind of be mean to each other. I mean there's there's very little ability to have oversight over all these students when there's just less parents in or less adults in the school to monitor those activities. So the the more that we trim down the number of professionals that we have in the school working with our kids on a daily basis, we are going to see reductions in things like children's health and wellness, not just from a classroom level like the number of students that we have per teacher or teachers per student. Um, but also just the kids not having as the oversight that they really need
068during this really, you know, formative time in their development. >> And I would add burnout of staff. >> Yeah, >> we don't want staff leaving us. >> We need to retain our staff and keep them happy because it trickles down to our students again. Yeah, >> I mean anybody in any professional setting knows what it's like when your employer just keeps pushing, you know, more for less, more for less, more for less. >> You get staff burnout, you get staff turnover, quality of the product, whatever that may be. It could be anything from, you know, a restaurant to a retail operation to in an industrial operation, manufacturing, anything. More for less is always going to create a lesser product at the end of the day. and these are people we're talking about. >> Yeah, I
069don't I don't want to term our kids as products, but realistically speaking, >> that's what the school system produces kids. >> And I and I Mrs. Carlo may have touched on this and I would I would just build on that a little bit also and just say like we're doing this now for three years in a row and there's a lot of reasons why and this there's more and more burden falling on the town but at the same time like is this an appealing district to work in and we want it to be an appealing district right we want to retain our our teachers that's better for our kids but I I I worry that the pendulum is swinging so far the other way. >> Mhm. >> That is this an appealing place to come
070when you come and you think that every year your job might be eliminated. I don't think so. So, we should be doing everything we can to make this a place where people can come and get a fair wage and have a good working environment because that's when people are engaged and that results in our kids get getting the best education that they can. And that goes whether someone's a teacher or an administrator or whatever job they're doing in the school, right? The goal should be that we treat people fairly, right? and that's the way to have an engaged workforce and and ultimately benefits our kids. So, >> I just want to thank the committee because I'm sure the teachers appreciate you too for all of the support that you continue to advocate for our students
071here in a Christian. So, thank you. >> So, is there any is there anything else? Okay. So, our next school committee meeting is a workshop that's on Wednesday, May 6, a week from tonight. Our next regular school committee meeting is on Tuesday, May 12th, which we've mentioned at 6 PM here, and we will have a vote on the budget that night. So, may I have a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting? >> Yeah. And you can do it. I'll second. >> We'll do a roll call. >> Mr. Ellis, >> yes. >> Mrs. McGlenn, >> yes. >> Mr. Haw, >> yes. >> Mr. Yes. And Mr. H. >> Yes. Thank you. Okay. Meeting is a journ.