School Committee Approves Budget

The Winthrop School Committee met on Monday, March 28, where it approved the 2022-2023 school budget.

The current operating budget for the 2021-2022 school year is $25,603,672.

The committee presented a level services budget for the 2022-2023 school year, which maintains current education standards.

The committee also presented needs-based budget, reflecting what the district requires to exceed current educational standards. The total needs-based budget was $27,499,737. The nearly $1M difference would allow the district to fill much-needed positions:

At Fort Banks, three grade-level teachers, a reading teacher, an ELL teacher, two education teachers, two classroom education interventionists and one custodian.

At the Cummings Schools, a specialist teacher, an adjustment counselor, a math interventionist and a band teacher.

At Winthrop Middle School, two grade-level teachers, an ELL teacher, a World Language teacher, a parttime band teacher, two classroom education interventionists, a parttime math coach and a parttime ELA/SS coach.

At Winthrop High School, an adjustment counselor, a Spanish teacher and a parttime band teacher.

And districtwide, a behavior analyst, an IT specialist, a nurse and an occupational therapist.

Funding for many of these positions has been requested over the past five years, which is why Supt. Lisa Howard is pushing for approval of the needs-based budget.

“Our students deserve an educational experience equal to surrounding communities,” she said. “The needs-based budget is necessary to achieve the district’s goals and benchmarks.”

However, she said she understood that the School Department is one of many town departments seeking additional funding for the coming year.

Both proposed budgets would be covered by the town allocation, grants, and the American Rescue Plan Act. The level-services budget would create a funding deficit of $1,148,747, and the needs-based budget would create a deficit of $2,091,237.

The budget will now be presented to the Town Council for approval.

Announcements

The School Committee adopted a new school calendar for the 2022-2023 school year. Students will start school on August 31, 2022, and will end on June 16, 2023, provided there are no snow days.

Several students received John & Abigail Adams Scholarships, merit-based awards that provide college tuition assistance at a Massachusetts state university. The recipients were Analise Bruno, Aidan D’Entremont, Maggie Doig, Anwar Ettabiai, William Gillis, Ari Hain, Ryan Kfoury, William MacMullen and Brando Morgan.