SAUGUS — The Saugus School Committee unanimously voted to approve a drastically reduced Fiscal Year 2024 budget that essentially represents only the cost of keeping the district running for the next year on Thursday, sending the document to the Finance Committee for review.
The document approved Thursday had nearly $1.2 million removed from the budget first proposed by Superintendent Erin McMahon more than a month ago, and strips out many of the additions she had proposed. McMahon’s proposed budget sat at $32.8 million, with funds included for purchase of another bus, more rigorous curriculum, and English Language Learner staff. At a meeting earlier this month, the committee voted down McMahon’s budget by a 4-1 margin.
The approved budget sits at $31.6 million, and School Committee Chair Vincent Serino emphasized that the committee would be active in lobbying the town for additional funding throughout the year.
McMahon has been on paid administrative leave since Jan. 19, pending the results of an investigation into potential, unspecified allegations of misconduct. Former High School Principal Michael Hashem has been serving as acting superintendent in her stead since being appointed by the committee earlier this month.
Serino stressed that the budget simply reflected the most basic needs of the district to “turn the lights on” in July. The committee opted to strip the budget of all the additions first proposed by McMahon so that the district would not “cash checks that we don’t have the money behind in the bank.”
“We can’t ask for money we don’t have,” Serino said in an interview following the meeting.
The budget still represents a $1.3 million increase over Fiscal Year 2023, a result of a 2.74 percent net increase in fixed costs comprising nearly $1 million, like contractual obligations, out-of-district tuition, special education, and transportation contractual increases. The rest of the increase is accounted for via the sole “budget request” approved by the committee, more than $500,000 in reserve funds for contract negotiations, non-union salary increases, and vendor contract negotiations.
Committee Vice Chair John Hatch praised the work fellow committee members and district staff undertook to rebuild the budget, citing collaboration with town officials as a key example. Committee members met with Town Manager Scott Crabtree in the intervening weeks between when McMahon proposed the budget and Thursday.
During the public comment period of the meeting, Saugus Educators Association (SEA) President William Palmerini expressed concern about the funds stripped from the budget, and said that the committee did not adequately communicate to educators that they intended to reduce the budget by such a drastic degree. Palmerini, in doing so, wound up in a loud argument with Serino.
“I feel like I’m in an alternate universe here,” Palmerini said. “A month ago, we were presented this, a budget, and then we had a public hearing on this budget. The budget went very smoothly.”
“All of a sudden, tonight, we seem to have rushed a new budget that is almost $1.2 million different than the budget that was presented to the public,” he added.
Palmerini also cited the fact that when McMahon first submitted her budget to the committee last month, no members expressed concerns or labeled it as “pie in the sky,” as they did repeatedly Thursday night. Instead, Palmerini said that Serino had advocated for going further than what McMahon proposed by hiring an additional teacher at each grade level and requesting an additional bus on top of the one included in the initial budget. At the time, Serino said the decision to request just one additional bus was “short-sighted.”
Concerns regarding the budget were raised publicly for the first time on Feb. 2, at which point Serino had already met with Crabtree at least once.
However committee members, and Serino in particular, repeatedly sought to assuage concerns that the budget didn’t go far enough, noting that the district would be receiving state aid in the form of Chapter 70 monies. In Fiscal Year 2023, Saugus received $9.4 million in Chapter 70 aid, $3.1 million of which was placed in a Student Support Reserve Fund established by Crabtree.
After the meeting, Serino could be seen talking to Palmerini, while School Committee Member Dennis Gould spoke to SEA Vice President Kevin Fontanella. Both committee members seemed to be trying to explain the rationale behind asking the town for strictly the amount of money the district needs to continue to operate.
Serino said it was his belief that state aid for Fiscal Year 2024 would be “substantial,” and could be used to fund some of the requests put forward by McMahon.
“We totally expect the state to come through,” said Gould.
In an interview following the meeting, Palmerini said the budget McMahon presented was “phenomenal” and that he “never got the impression” that her budget was not going to be approved.
He added that a perceived “sudden change” in the budget took him by surprise, but said the committee has been supportive of the school department.
“We all have the same common goal,” he said.
Palmerini said he was hopeful that the town, including members of the Finance Committee and Town Meeting Members, who are ultimately responsible for allocating the funds, would give the schools the money they need.
The schools are in “very rough shape” and have “a lot of needs,” he said. Palmerini cited increasing pay for paraprofessionals as a key priority.
“Paras work very very hard,” he said. “[They’re] so underpaid.”
The Finance Committee has yet to set a date to discuss the budget, according to the municipal calendar published to the town’s website.
