Additional State Funding Could Help With School Needs

By Adam Swift

Funds secured by state Senator Lydia Edwards will help fund English Language Learner needs in the Winthrop schools.

At the end of the special meeting on the FY24 town budget Tuesday night, Council President James Letterie said Edwards looks likely to secure $250,000 in the state budget for the Winthrop schools.

“We looked at potential sources to try to increase the school funding a little bit,” said Letterie. “There has been a big change in a lot of mandates the state has imposed, and also, we have had a slight change in the demographics of the schools that have caused some additional (costs).”

Superintendent of Schools Lisa Howard has noted on several occasions that the English Language Learner (ELL) population in Winthrop has seen a sharp increase over the past year.

Earlier this year, Howard stated that there were over 190 ELL students in the district, an increase of 60 students from the previous school year. Howard said there was likely a need for additional staffing to handle the needs of that student population.

Letterie said the town and the schools reached out to Edwards about the town’s needs, and that she acted quickly to try to secure the additional funds for the ELL population.

That additional money could also be used for technology and translation services for the ELL population, Letterie said.

“We thank Senator Edwards immensely for her help with this,” said Letterie. “We went to her with a need, and she came back pretty quickly and we feel pretty confident she will be able to get this done.”

In addition, Letterie noted that state Representative Jeff Turco has been working to help secure state funds to assist with the building of new vocational schools that could help with future debt service payments for the town of Winthrop.