MELROSE — Mayor Jen Grigoraitis and Interim Superintendent of Schools John Macero pledged to keep the community updated on the current financial situation of both the city and its School Department. The last communication was on April 11 and is accessible at https://www.melroseschools.com/article/1548694). 

Following is the most recent update, released this week.

Review & update 

As we continue our collaborative budget process with the School Committee and the City Council, which began immediately upon Mayor Grigoraitis taking office, it is clear that the City of Melrose does not have the resources to fully sustain our schools at the level our
students, families, and community need and rightly deserve. In this document, we will communicate the shape of that gap and the impact it may have. 

As previously explained, the Mayor, CFO, and their team have examined every dollar available that could be provided to the Melrose Public Schools for this year and next year. As part of that process, Mayor Grigoraitis has requested, and the City Council approved, one-time “free cash” investments in the schools for this year that will eliminate the current operational deficit. This operational deficit was identified during the building of the FY 24 budget this time last year, and Mayor Brodeur, the School Committee, and the City Council were all aware of this plan to make the school budget whole, which was known in advance, planned for, and (now has been) executed. 

In addition, we now have received a clean audit report from an outside, independent accounting firm for the Melrose Public Schools for FY 23 (the prior complete school year). That audit shows no material findings. Every dollar has been traced back to its original source and use in service to our students. This is a tremendous accomplishment for our Director of Finance Ken Kelley and the school business office, as well as our CFO and Auditing and Finance team. 

On April 16, Mayor Grigoraitis informed the City Council, , that she will do the following on Monday, May 6: 1) in accordance with state law, provide the City Council with a balanced FY 25 budget for all City departments and the Melrose Public Schools, based on current available funding for next year, which will not meet the full needs of our students, schools and city departments; 2) request that the City Council consider putting an override vote (also known as a property tax increase) on the ballot for June 2024 to further fund the FY 25 budget for vital school and city services. This would enable the community to have a say in the future direction of our city services and schools. 

School Committee action 

At the April 23 School Committee meeting, we had an in-depth discussion of the funding gap between what we need for our schools and what is available, even with the extraordinary one- time measures that the Mayor and City Council are taking. You can watch that meeting here [https://vimeo.com/938449859], which included input in the public comment period from students, parents and teachers. We also suggest that you watch the Superintendent’s summary comments starting at minute mark 2 hours: 11 mins. 

The needs gap is roughly $4 million. The impacts are profound and would include: 

• In order to accommodate vital investments of new teaching positions and support at the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School, approximately 13 educator positions (administrators, teachers, paraprofessionals) would be transferred from other Melrose schools. This is a priority: funding and supporting the middle school. And the Committee has consistently agreed with the Superintendent that we must do this. But, as the Superintendent has indicated, moving resources around means less resources in other places.
• In order to address dramatically rising costs across the school district, including transportation, services, materials, labor and salaries, out-of-district tuitions, vocational school tuitions – all of which are rising well above 2.5%

o 4 retirement positions will not be filled; these are educators who are retiring, but we will not backfill those positions for students. 

o Approximately 13 additional educator positions (teachers, administrators, and paraprofessionals) will be cut. This includes cuts or reductions to vital Directors like the Visual and Performing Arts Director and teachers. This is not a step that we or the School Committee takes lightly. We love and value our staff. And we want our students to have the most support possible. We know this would result in potentially larger class sizes, especially at the Winthrop, Lincoln, Hoover and Melrose High School. 

o Importantly, an additional 26 positions, which the Superintendent, principals and educators believe are necessary for our students, will not be filled. In most cases these are new positions that will not be added, but some are current vacancies that will continue to go unfilled. The new additions that can’t be supported, but are needed, include: classroom teachers at Melrose High School to prepare for rising enrollments and increase offerings; special education teachers and paraprofessionals across the system that are needed to keep small groups manageable and meet complex needs; paraprofessionals to support our Kindergarten students; a position to support students who are learning English; more substitutes; and ensuring that every elementary school has an assistant principal. 

o You can see a detailed account of this here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pHXn8FKzqGfITfurIduK3cuAeXygH_P C0W1J81HLTsI/edit#gid=0. 

o We would also need to make cuts to curriculum materials, online programs and professional development offerings for teachers. This could limit our progress towards differentiated and personalized learning for our students and limit our staff’s opportunities to maintain best practices. We also become more reliant on grants for these items, which is not a sure bet. 

• It is important to note that during the April 23 meeting, School Committee took several additional actions to identify more support in the current budget, including: 

o Requested the Superintendent examine several budget options and refinements such as 1) not funding the new special education reading program at the Hoover School (also called a “language-based program”) for dyslexia and other reading challenges; 2) looking at sharing more positions between the high school and the middle school; 3) restructuring a middle school arts position to also include a half-time Visual and Performing Arts Director who would also teach; and 4) reexamining the number of Kindergarten classrooms needed to help with class sizes at the first and second grade levels; among other measures. 

o Approved a Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive for teachers. This could result in some budget savings for FY 25 if pursued by educators. 

o Increased fees, with an automatic reconsideration on July 30 if additional revenue is then available. The School Committee increased fees for Athletics, Extracurricular programs such as Drama, Marching Band and Color Guard, and for Education Stations after-school care. The Athletics and Extracurricular fees have not been increased in over 6 years. The Committee expressed that they do not want to take this step and would rather lower fees. However, they prefer this option to cutting some sports or extracurriculars and believe it could save some additional teaching positions. 

It is very important to understand that none of the above actions will do more than help at the margins. None of these actions will materially and sustainably close a budget gap and invest in the kinds of supports our students need. But it is important that we take every step possible before we ask the City Council and the voters to approve additional resources. We are confident that we have done so. 

Next steps 

As School Committee Finance & Facilities Chair Jen McAndrew detailed (Tuesday) night, a potential series of next steps for the School Committee could include: 

• The Committee (had a meeting on Thursday, April 25) and at that time could vote a FY 25 budget that reflects any final refinements or changes requested of the Superintendent above. 

o This would allow the Committee to pass a budget, based on currently available resources for FY 25, in order to meet its obligation to the Mayor, so that Mayor Grigoraitis can present a full budget–schools and city departments–to the City Council on May 6. 

• On Monday, May 6, the School Committee and the City Council will have a joint meeting. They will hear from the Mayor about her overall priorities, budget proposal, and an override request.
• There is another meeting of the School Committee the following night, Tuesday, May 7. If it is the will of the Committee, they could at that time consider what the impact of any proposed override question from the Mayor would have on the FY 25 budget. And the Committee could, at that meeting or a subsequent one in May, indicate to the community how the override request, if approved by the City Council and if then approved by the voters, could increase the school budget and fund important positions and priorities. In other words, while the Committee would not vote a new budget (yet) for FY 25, it could vote on the outline and priorities of a potential budget if new revenue (from an override or otherwise) became available. This would show the community how their potential investment would be deployed. 

We know this is a lot of information quickly. We are aiming to keep you informed and engaged. We will be sending out additional communications, and we will be holding public forums (in person and taped for broadcast) in May. 

We thank you for all you do for Melrose.