School Committee to hold Special Meeting on Override

By Adam Swift

The school committee is hosting a special meeting on Monday, Dec. 9 at 6 p.m. at the Shapiro Center at Winthrop High School to discuss a potential school override request.

In November, voters rejected a $4.95 million school override that would have helped address budget shortfalls over the next three years.

Since that time, the school committee and the administration have been working to bring an override request back before the voters.

The Dec. 9 meeting will allow for public comment on a potential override vote, as well as discussion on the school committee’s Nov. 26 budget subcommittee report on a proposed override and a potential vote by the full school committee on an override request.

The override request would then move to the town council for approval to be placed on an election ballot.

During the Nov. 26 meeting, the budget subcommittee voted 2-1 to come back with another $4.95 million override request for voters some time in February.

During this past Monday night’s school committee meeting, there was a discussion on the override request.

Budget subcommittee Chair Gus Martucci said he was in favor of coming back to voters with a lower figure than the $4.95 million that was rejected in November.

“I don’t think we should be going back with the same number,” said Martucci. “My recommendation at the meeting was to back out the $1.6 million for the (education) stabilization (account) and do a $3.4 million override.”

Town Council President Jim Letterie said he agreed with Martucci’s approach at Monday’s school committee meeting. Letterie added that the school’s could still put money into a stabilization account, just at a lower amount for the time-being.

Letterie said he would also be working with the council on some changes in financial policy about how the town allocates free cash so that it can contribute to the stabilization account.

“I think we have to work together a little harder with (Superintendent of Schools Lisa Howard), who has been working incredibly hard to find that every nickel and dime we can,” said Letterie. “Going to a lower amount is not saying that we didn’t need the money from the beginning. We still want to start a stabilization account for education, but we know what we need for next year, and we have to make the public aware of the consequences of getting nothing.”

If a $4.95 million override is rejected again, Letterie said it would have a huge effect on the children and the community.

“It would affect all departments, because the town will have to make serious adjustments to try to help put in any way we can, which will have a ripple-down effect on every department,” said Letterie. “I would rather go in with a lower amount realizing we are still doing everything we can.”

Howard said when a school department enters a school year several million dollars below the current level with a budget that is primarily salary with little mandated expenses, it would lead to cuts in staffing.

“If you have to cut anywhere from two-and-a-half to three million dollars out of a salary budget, it is not as easy as taking the highest salaries and cutting those because teachers have professional status, there are rules around that,” she said. “So when you are looking at teachers, it’s sort of the lowest people on the totem pole.”

Staffing cuts would mean class sizes would skyrocket, Howard said. Budget cuts could also lead to sizeable increases in fees for athletic and extracurricular programs, she said.

“No one is taking this lightly, it keeps me up at night really concerned about how we can make sure we get this through, regardless of what that looks like, because without it, we are really in big trouble,” said school committee member Julie Barry. “I think we really need to articulate that extremely well and at a high level.”