Nahant adds $260G override proposal to Spring warrant

NAHANT – Selectmen voted unanimously last night to add a $260,000 override proposal to the April 30 Town Meeting Warrant in an effort to close next year’s projected school-budget deficit.”Our backs were against the wall, and we had to ask for an override,” said School Committee member Christine Kendall. “We didn’t want to ask for an override but we had no choice.”It will be the town’s first override proposal in 10 years. If approved by voters, the average tax bill will increase by $188 or $3 per week, according to numbers from Town Accountant Deborah Waters’ office and based on a median home valuation of $540,000.If the override is passed, the district budget will total $3,134,568. The article on the Town Meeting warrant will stipulate that the override be reviewed annually to account for changes in district enrollment and needs.Without the override, school officials say that programs at the town’s only school, Johnson Elementary, will be decimated next year. (Nahant students currently attend Swampscott Public Schools for middle school and high school).According to School Superintendent Philip Devaux’s budget, 21 line items would be eliminated to meet minimum state requirements if the override fails. These line items include everything from funds to pay substitute teachers and offer math, music and physical education classes to health supplies in the nurse’s office.”There is no alternative if the override fails, said Devaux at Tuesday night’s School Committee meeting. “Without the override, all we can fund is the basic classroom teachers and no support materials.”Devaux and the School Committee attributed the shortfall to two main factors:? The town faces an $113,000 reduction of state and federal funds from last year. This is due to state cuts in reimbursements for special-education costs and the expiration of federal stimulus funds.? Special-education costs have grown dramatically. The district’s transportation costs for special-education students have tripled. Several new students who require specialized schooling have also entered the district. The costs to educate a student requiring specialized special-education services can cost a town up to $225,000 a year, said School Committee Chair Mickey Long.”It’s getting to the point now where special-education costs can equal or exceed a small town’s budget,” said Long. “While Nahant’s not at that level, this isn’t something that can be managed. It just comes down the pike.”Long said he believed that these rising costs are more controversial in town than the override proposal, particularly since the costs are out of Nahant’s control.”The primary focus of the people I’m talking to is the shock of why this is so expensive,” Long said. “Nobody is attacking the children, or parents of the children (who need the services). They are just shocked at the costs.”Board of Selectmen member Richard Lombard said those unforeseen costs are especially frustrating since that the town completed a $7 million renovation of the school in 2007.”I think that they’re in tough shape over there and it’s just awful,” he said. “It’s a terrible thing that we put all the money into the school, and now (because of the costs) they might not have janitor.”Devaux said he hoped that the Board of Selectmen’s support, along with more information about the budget, convinces residents that the override is necessary.He recommended that voters attend a March 22 budget review to ask questions and learn why the school administration is advocating the override. He said that examining the numbers was successful with the selectmen.”We had a very serious discussion about how we got there and what the reductions would look like and what the alternatives might be,” Devaux said, describing the meeting with the selectmen. “The more people we get to talk to and more explanations that we make, the better off the proposal becomes to voters. So we will explain the issue to as many groups and individuals as we can find.”