SWAMPSCOTT — Superintendent Pamela Angelakis’ proposed $31.27 million Fiscal Year 2022 budget was presented to the School Committee on Wednesday night.
The district’s proposed budget represents a $934,925, or 3.08 percent, increase over last year’s spending. Of that increase, 80.4 percent is devoted to general and special education.
“We’re really making investments in the students’ education,” said Martha Sybert, director of finance for Swampscott Public Schools, in her presentation to the committee.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, enrollment in Swampscott schools has decreased from last year, with 85 fewer students than the previous year reported on October 1 (a 3.8 percent decrease). At the same time, the number of economically disadvantaged students in the district is up by 35 percent, or 124 students.
The school budget is broken down into five cost centers: administration, general education, special education, school facilities and districtwide programs. The administration and district-wide programs categories each saw a decrease, with administration decreasing by 3.52 percent to $1.29 million and district-wide programs declining 1.27 percent to $1.59 million.
The general education budget increased by 2.5 percent to $16.18 million, and the special education budget increased by 3.79 percent to $9.76 million. The school facilities went up to $2.44 million — a 11.46 percent increase — but Sybert explained that this was due to a transfer of $100,000 from the town’s budget that was already used for maintenance of school facilities, so the true funding increase is closer to 7 percent.
One major investment in the budget proposal is a proposed $108,000 to upgrade Chromebooks and MacBook Air laptop computers used by students and teachers. The district launched a one-to-one device program for students in all grades in August. Students in second grade and lower use iPads for their online learning, while older students use Chromebooks. However, some of those Chromebooks are older models, which cannot handle the heavy use required by online learning. In addition, MacBook laptops distributed to teachers in 2017 now need upgrades as well.
Other notable increases include software expenses related to the one-to-one computer program and salary increases for many staff.
School Committee member Carin Marshall noted during the meeting that the district’s plans for getting student achievement back on track after disruptions of the pandemic, including expanded summer programming, were not included in the budget. They will mostly be funded through COVID-related federal grants such as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
“I want people to understand that they might not see it in this budget, but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening,” Marshall said.
There will be a public hearing on the proposed school budget on February 3, and the committee will vote on whether to approve the budget on February 10. If approved, it will then be presented to Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald and the town’s Finance Committee.
The final town budget will be presented for approval at the Town Meeting in May.
Trea Lavery can be reached at [email protected].
