SAUGUS — “It’s been a challenging year.”
That’s how Saugus Public Schools Executive Director of Finance and Administration Pola Andrews kicked off Thursday’s School Committee Finance subcommittee meeting.
During the meeting, the subcommittee discussed budgets for fiscal year 2022 as well as FY23. Andrews was quick to mention the “hot spot” of budget talks: special education.
“As you have all read in the multitude of articles in the media, the children have come back with lots of needs and we are trying to support them as best we can,” said Andrews. “The FY22 budget will be OK. Going into FY23, the superintendent (Erin McMahon) has met with the principals and the other directors and really emphasized the need to go back and look into their building budgets.
“I will never say ‘is there any funding that you don’t need?’ All funding is needed, but (I will say) ‘is there any funding that can be redirected?’ That is what the principals and other directors have been tasked with and they are working on it, and I will let you know from some preliminary conversations I’ve had with them, they really embraced it and it’s really been refreshing to see how into it they are getting.”
Andrews added that the special-education costs are concerning because they can’t be planned for.
“This is not pre-pandemic where you could actually see the progression and the track and say ‘OK, we know this child is going to need x, y, and z,'” she said. “Any given day a student that wasn’t on the radar before is now in need.”
Andrews went on to propose the establishment of a special-education stabilization fund. The subcommittee would have to go in front of the Board of Selectmen and vote on the project in order to establish the fund.
McMahon said that the subcommittee is looking to mitigate risks with the creation of the special-education stabilization fund.
“The funds can come in and be so costly, so fast,” said McMahon. “That’s why we are trying to plan for it.”
McMahon said has also noticed that Saugus is experiencing an increase in English language learners (ELLs) as well as a higher need for behavioral support, especially among younger-aged schoolchildren.
