SWAMPSCOTT — The School Committee and members of the public discussed some of the factors driving the increases in the $32.2-million fiscal year 2023 budget proposed by Superintendent of Schools Pamela Angelakis on Wednesday.
The budget represents a $926,642, or 3-percent increase, over FY22.
“We recognize we are over budget, but we are also having some really hard conversations, particularly in middle school and high school about assumed reductions in this budget that is being presented,” said Angelakis.
The district is asking that the town appropriate $30.5 million for next year’s budget. Nahant students who join the district in seventh grade are expected to bring in $1.61 million of revenue.
Enrollment in the Swampscott schools has decreased by 109 students in K-12 in the 2020-21 school year, with 1,982 students enrolled as of Oct. 1, 2021.
Professional salaries in general and special education are contributing the most to the budget increase, as 83 percent of the district’s operating budget is generated by compensation costs. As the budget book for FY23 states, the growth of salaries for general-education teachers is driven by the increase of cost of living for all collective-bargaining-association members and non-union employees, as well as by teachers’ upward movement in their careers.
Martha Sybert, the district’s director of finance, said that 86 teachers are eligible to change steps and 33 staff members are eligible to change lanes in 2023. In their career, teachers progress through steps from 1 to 12 and change lanes if they gain additional degrees; these changes translate to higher salaries for teachers.
Not all teachers will end up changing lanes, said Sybert. The budget is projected based on the number of people who have notified the district, but usually only a few people end up not changing lanes. Monetarily, the difference between lanes is about $2,000-$3,000, said Sybert.
Special-education costs are increasing both due to changes to in-district special education staffing and due to the movement of some students to out-of-district schools. When the school district is not able to provide the necessary services for a child, he or she gets placed in an out-of-district program that can cost from $45,000 to more than $350,000 for a private-residential placement. Special-education-tuition revenue from non-resident students is expected to decrease by 43.3 percent, or $65,000, because of families changing residency.
Other drivers of the increase in the FY23 budget include a new part-time district communications position and technology maintenance and replacement. When the pandemic started, the district had to provide both students and teachers with computers using some Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act money from the town and a Remote Learning Technology Grant, Sybert said.
“We cobbled some money together,” she said.
The district distributed more than 3,000 devices. However, some of them were not brand new; they were already among the district’s inventory and need to be replaced.
The proposed budget also includes a 26.4-percent increase in psychological services, with the total amount of funding budgeted at $820,901.
“The challenge is real and the staff is stretched,” said Martha Raymond, the assistant superintendent for student services.
Raymond said that the schools are responsible for the students’ mental health because social-emotional learning and executive functional skills are part of the academics and curriculum. The pandemic has exacerbated anxiety and students don’t leave their mental-health challenges at the door when they come to school at 8 a.m., Raymond said.
“I don’t know how we can possibly reduce the budget when the need has increased,” said Raymond.
Swampscott schools have conducted 39 risk assessments of students for suicide, including six elementary students, Raymond said.
The School Committee will vote on the FY23 budget at its next meeting on Feb. 9, at which point the budget will become the School Committee’s budget. It will be presented to the town administrator and later, in March, to the Finance Committee, which votes to refer the budget to Town Meeting as is or with changes. The Town Meeting then has final approval authority.
Earlier on Wednesday evening, Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald said in his update at the Select Board meeting that he expected this budget season to be really difficult.
“Over the last five years, we’ve really advanced some of the most conservative budgets the town has ever presented. We’ve been able to keep the growth really tight and it’s getting harder and harder to really find those efficiencies as we seek to continue to balance a lot of the investments that we need to make,” Fitzgerald said.
He said that he will be reminding the superintendent and school-finance team about the responsibilities of the town to meet the financial-budget policy goals that were established by the Select Board Finance Committee.
