School Committee Approves Needs-Based Budget for FY24

By Adam Swift

The School Committee approved Superintendent of Schools Lisa Howard’s recommendation for a needs-based school budget for Fiscal Year 2024 on Monday night.

Howard was scheduled to discuss that budget figure of $36,644,103 with the town’s finance commission later in the week. In June, the Town Council will make a final overall vote on the town’s budget, taking into consideration the recommendations of the School Committee, the Town Manager’s recommended budget, and the finance commission to come up with a final FY24 town budget number.

For at least the past five years, the town has gone with a level-services budget for the school, which is lower than the needs-based budget presented by the School Committee. The level-services budget provides the same level of service as a previous year’s budget, with the addition of any additional state mandates for the district.

Monday night’s School Committee meeting generated a larger discussion about the future of budgeting for the school department, the necessity of getting out the word about what the district really needs to be equitable with surrounding districts, and the possibility of a future override push to help create that budget equity for the schools and other town departments.

In addition, the town is approaching the budget in a different manner than it has in past years, with school costs that have been accounted for under the municipal side of the budget sliding back to the school side of the ledger.

“There are several items on the list which are school related which have always been on the town side, and now we are just shifting them to the school side,” said Town Council President James Letterie.

Those costs, totalling just over $9.2 million, include group insurance, Medicare, workers’ compensation, unemployment, pensions, insurance, and retiree health costs.

“It comes down to basically 60 percent of the town’s money will go to the schools, 40 percent will stay for the town’s budget,” said Letterie.

Howard outlined some of the new positions that are in the needs-based budget, including a new adjustment counselor and reading specialist at the Gorman Fort Banks school, and seven new positions at the middle school, including a world language teacher and additional classroom teachers in the sixth and seventh grades.

“In the past, the School Committee has always voted for a needs-based budget because it is their job to advocate for the students,” said Letterie. But the reality of the town’s finances, he said, means that the school department will likely not get that needs-based budget number approved.

Letterie said there is a need to educate the public about what the school district needs to provide an equitable education for its students.

“We need to find a way to get there instead of just voting for something that we know is probably a little unrealistic and then not getting it,” said Letterie.

Letterie said those conversations need to include information on what the school district feels it needs to operate with a good foundational footprint to move it forward.

School Committee member Suzanne Leonard said there needs to be a conversation about what happens if there is a level-services budget approved.

“There is a lot of enthusiasm and excitement for what is in the needs-based budget, and a lot of work has been done to create it,” said Leonard.

Howard said the items in the budget are things that are very much needed in the district. She said if Winthrop schools want to be on equal footing with surrounding districts, there are many more items that should be in the budget.

“The needs-based budget you have is what we felt is an immediate need and a realistic need,” said Howard.

To create an equitable school district, Howard said there should be about an additional $2.3 million for new positions and programs, and nearly $3.5 million for capital expenses for a budget that is $5.7 million over the budget presented to the School Committee.

School Committee member Gus Martucci noted that there was a town override vote a number of years back where each town department presented and explained the costs needed to effectively operate. “We are possibly headed in that direction,” he said. “Ultimately, it is the council decision to put an override on the ballot, so we would have to do the work to show them what the need is. That is the direction we are going in, and I think the Town Manager is on board, and I think his vision is to do the same thing with the other departments, also.”