SAUGUS — With the school year nearing its end, Executive Director of Finance and Administration Pola Andrews gave her financial report to the School Committee and discussed Budget Amendment #3.
The amendment included reallocating savings from turnovers and unpaid days to fund needs in out-of-district tuition, special education transportation, snow clearing services, custodial supplies, professional development, and other lines.
“As of April 30, 2025, Saugus Public Schools has expended and encumbered $24,429,877 and 70 cents. As you go through the lines, you’ll see we have about 30% of the budget overall remaining… There are a couple of lines that are in deficits, particularly substitutes,” Andrews said.
She explained that the substitute line is one big bucket allocated to the schools, and it gets broken down by regular day and special ed.
“We do our best to allocate it, but then it depends on what happens. You will see that as part of the budget amendment,” she said.
Andrews also said there was very little left in the 2024 grants, and the district is working on spending down the grants since only 15% can be carried over.
“By the end of August, for some grants (and) June for other grants, you’re going to see those balances at zero,” she said.
Andrews then stated that all fund balances in the revolving accounts are positive, which is a must, and there are no concerns.
She also stated that there was money remaining in the operating budget. “Hopefully, so long as nothing happens in the next three weeks, for the first time ever, we may not need to transfer money to that line. So, we finally caught up. It only took five or seven years, I think, but we finally made it,” she said.
Andrews said that for the revenue and expenses, they are at a break-even point, which she called a success story. “A lot of years we were trying to cover deficits,” she said.
A motion was made and the committee voted unanimously to approve Budget Amendment #3.
