SWAMPSCOTT — The School Committee reviewed the recommended budget for FY27 during its meeting on Thursday evening.
Superintendent of Schools Jason Calichman began the discussion by elaborating on the philosophy and priorities behind determining the needs and requirements included in the budget.
“While we understand the financial constraints of the Town, we are extremely proud of all the work that’s gone into this budget… This budget is anchored in fiscal responsibility; however, our focus is (on) students’ success,” Calichman said. “We are focused on key areas of growth, and being mindful of having a high return on investment for our taxpayers. Every public dollar spent will be leveraged to its fullest potential, all to ensure that our schools continue to be the cornerstone of Swampscott.”
Calichman continued that the district was able to make efficiencies in several areas. These include the Multilingual Learner Program (MLL), administrative support, transportation for the METCO program, and outsider providers of alternative pathways.
He noted that the reductions allowed the district to make investments in areas, like continuing to build the Multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), an additional teacher at Swampscott Middle School to ensure appropriate class sizes, and investment in health programs at the middle school.
“Future needs that we could be for are increased capacity with our administrators, continued investment in high-quality instructional materials, and growth of our career pathways… (Also) looking at our state competency determination requirements for high school student graduation,” Calichman said.
He also included the possible expansion of AP and elective courses in Swampscott High School’s Program of Studies.
“We have to continue to invest in MTSS throughout the district,” he said. “Essentially, we want to make sure that every student is getting what they need. Right now, we have K-6th grade. We have a system where students are getting additional support if they need it. We also have stretch groups, so if you’re a high-flyer student, you’re getting what you need — if you’re struggling in a certain area, you’re getting what you need there as well,” Calichman said.
He added that he thinks it’s a program that parents have responded to extremely well, and that the district is looking forward to expanding the program to more grades in subsequent years.
Assistant Superintendent of Finances and Operations Cheryl Herrick-Stella elaborated on the timeline for determining the budget for the district.
“We really start this process in October with the budget subcommittee, and then we work with district leadership throughout November. The beginning of December is when we have meetings with the leadership team, and go through all their requests in their budgets… Feb. 5 will be the public hearing and School Committee vote (on the budget), and we will be responding to the Finance Committee’s questions around the beginning of February,” Herrick-Stella said.
She continued that on Feb. 13, the budget will be sent to Town Administrator Nick Connors. In March, the School Committee will present the budget to the Finance Committee, followed by a Town Meeting in May.
Herrick-Stella said the operating budget will be increasing by 3.96% (or $1.35 million).
“Just a reminder that 80% of our school budget is compensation, and within that, 71% is governed by the Collective Bargaining Agreement. We have $6.6 million in capital that we have requested by the Town, and we anticipate using about $4.6 million out of our revolving and circuit breaker funds,” she said.
Herrick-Stella explained it was important to note that district-wide costs like software, crossing guards, nurses, as well as the general and special education cost centers, account for 87% of the budget. She said the majority of the budget is going to the students themselves, not to things like utility bills or similar needs.
She mentioned that since the official enrollment report from last October, the school district has seen a net increase of eight students.
Calichman said that school enrollment rates all around the state are going down.
“If you look at our June 30 report, we’re actually plus 34 from last year’s students. I feel like we are again on the rise with enrollment as well,” he said.
Herrick-Stella said that if the district’s enrollment continues to grow, it can help with increasing Chapter 70 funding, a major program of state aid to public elementary and secondary schools.
She said the elementary school budget is only increasing by 1.6%
“The two main reasons for this is that we’re starting to see some efficiencies there at that school, which we thought we would… Secondly, we have a large group of students that are actually shifting from elementary next year to middle school,” she said. “When we get to the middle school, you’ll see their budget is increasing a little higher. It’s because the resources associated with those students are shifting from the elementary school to the middle school.”
Herrick-Stella continued that the middle school budget is increasing by 6.4%, and that the high school budget will be increasing by 5.0%
“As Mr. Calichman mentioned, that is due to our investment in our pathways… Our Innovative Pathways initially was covering a portion of our career counselor, that portion of the grant we can no longer fund the position through. It is a requirement that if we have the pathways, we have the career counselor, so that has shifted from the grant to our budget,” she said.
