SWAMPSCOTT — The School Committee met with the Financial Director Cheryl Herrick-Stella on Thursday evening to discuss the 2023-2024 school year budget. The proposed budget has a 4.41 percent, or $1,408,035, overall increase.
The budget sections that will increase are general education, special education, school facilities and district wide programs.
“General education has a small increase that’s based off the increase in some materials needed for the director of teaching and learning. Facilities has, you’ll notice, one of the larger increases … so that the facilities budget rather just than being level funded is more true to what the school facilities need,” Herrick-Stella said.
The district wide program budget will be increasing by 20.23 percent, which is to address technology needs, she said.
Herrick-Stella said they will be using “above and beyond” in Special Education Circuit Breaker funds. The Special Education Circuit Breaker is a reimbursement program that provides extra funds for districts to use towards special education costs, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
While the budget is increasing, “The district will still find efficiencies and make appropriate reductions and reduce our budget by approximately $500,000,” the presentation said.
All school committee members expressed that they were happy with the presentation and proposed budget. They are all hoping to have talks in the future on long term budget planning.
“I think we always get through the budget cycle and are like ‘phew’ and nobody wants to talk about it again but I think in the off-season is when really the discussion should be happening,” Superintendent Pamela Angelakis said.
Conversations about the technology budget need to happen, Suzanne Wright, School Committee member, said.
“I think that the technology, we really need to figure out where the appropriation for that is and if it’s joint revolving account with the town or stabilization account with the town, we really have to figure that out because we have to replenish stuff, we know that, and when we don’t do it just compounds year after year.”
With their technology plan decided and how it has to be budgeted every year they need to “figure out how that doesn’t get cut,” she said.
Angelakis echoed these sentiments since there is no “going back to the old way” of learning.
This is the budget she is recommending to the School Committee, she said.
“I wouldn’t recommend something that I wouldn’t be able to do,” Angelakis said. “There are a lot of things that will happen between now and Town Meeting and the start of the next school year, there is a lot of analysis that has to be done but I would not present something to you that would harm our children and harm our students.”
Town Meeting will have final approval of the budget.
