SAUGUS — The third night of Town Meeting took place Monday night, and the major discussion centered around Article 2, which included the town’s budget and the school budget.
It was clear that the discussion would be a long one. Cars lined Hamilton Street, no spots were left in front of Town Hall, and more people came from Taylor Street. Outside of Town Hall, people held signs asking the town to “Invest in Education.”
The back of the Town Hall auditorium was filled with teachers, School Committee members, other school staff, students and parents asking that Town Meeting give more to the schools than what the Finance Committee was recommending.
The first to step up to the podium was Kevin Fontanella, a teacher who has taught in town for 26 years.
“I am here to humbly ask the Town Meeting to not follow FinCom’s recommendation and to increase the allocations for the School Committee budget for the budget that was voted and approved by the School Committee,” Fontanella said.
He continued, saying that right now there are about 2,830 students in Saugus Public Schools, pre-k through senior year and stated that there had been a 200 student increase since before COVID.
“We have about 10 fewer fully employed teachers. This includes nurses, guidance counselors, basically any full-time employee… I just don’t think it makes sense. When you have increased student enrollment, you should also have increased teachers,” he said.
He stated that if the town has the money, they should invest in the future, which is the kids.
Fontanella was met with an eruption of applause, as would all of those who spoke in favor of the schools would be met with.
Town Meeting member Peter Manoogian then called upon a member of the School Committee or the superintendent to explain the legal line item of $55,000, in connection with the current arbitration case, and where that money is going to come from.
School Committee Chair Vincent Serino stood immediately to speak, stating, “This is not settled… We have not put ourselves out there to expose ourselves… There is no award right now, so that’s why it’s not in the budget,” he said. He continued by saying that he would be willing to take any questions. “We’re not going to speculate… This thing is not settled. There’s a lot of numbers being thrown out there and none of them are true.”
A motion was then made by Town Meeting member Matt Parlante to amend the budget to fully fund the schools in accordance with the budget that the School Committee created and voted upon, and Parlante was asked by Town Moderator Stephen Doherty to identify an amount and where the source of funds for said amount would be.
Next, the president, treasurer, and representatives from Saugus High School’s senior class spoke in favor of the increase asking that the Town Meeting members think about the importance of education.
“We wanted to express our concerns about the lack of funding the Finance Committee is recommending for our school system. Over the past four years, we have benefited from a school system that has given standard classes, engaging sports, and great extracurriculars,” one student stated.
“Nevertheless, we have not been able to take elective courses because there are not enough teachers to teach these classes. We have friends in other school systems that have greater opportunities because their school systems have more funding… When you’re looking to cut funding any member… says you should cut funding on luxuries and keep spending on necessities. Are you saying that a high-quality public education is a luxury? I disagree. I think it’s a necessity,” another student said.
Parlante presented his amendment to fully fund the school budget using Free Cash as the source of income.
Town Meeting member Arthur Grabowski said he would not support the amendment as the Finance Committee and Town Manager had proposed a balanced budget.
Superintendent Michael Hashem also spoke, stating that the enrollment has gone up drastically.
“We’ve gone up almost 400 students,” he said. He also mentioned that the number of teachers has gone down. “The cost has gone up. I’m not denying that. I’d like to thank the Finance Committee for supporting us,” he said.
Hashem continued that ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds have come and gone and that the school did a good job using those funds.
Multiple parents and members of the school also stood at the podium asking that the new amendment be supported to help boost the education for the kids.
Town Manager Scott Crabtree stood to explain to those in the audience why using Free Cash was not an option.
“To allocate and use Free Cash is one a problem. It’s against the financial management policies we have. I just had a rating call with SMP a week or two ago. That’s one of the questions they ask… Financially, this is irresponsible. It’s just reckless,” he said.
In the end the amendment did not pass and Town Meeting voted in favor, but not unanimously, for the budget to pass.
