Published in the April 12, 2018 edition.
By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — The School Committee will bring a FY 2019 budget of $40,028,324 to the April 30 Town Meeting, reflecting a $2,100,059 (5.54 percent) increase over last year’s budget.
The School Committee voted 6-1 to approve the budget. The only dissenting voice came from RJ Masse, who cited what he called “the obligation to honor the threshold of 4 percent or less for three years following the generous 11 percent increase.”
For FY 2016, the School Department received a one time 11.4 percent budget increase that included the creation of a new tuition-free kindergarten program as well as a combination of contractual salary obligations, new positions and upgrades to curriculum and technology. Supporters of the large increase said that it was warranted to help the School Department recover from years of lean budgets. The increase came with the stated expectation that the School Department would limit its budget increases to 4 percent for the following three years.
The School Department argued that this year’s increase would have been near the 4 percent limit but for approximately $500,000 in unanticipated out-of-district special education costs. The school administration has also noted that the state did not fully fund its reimbursements under the special education Circuit Breaker program this year.
In his comments, Masse noted that this year’s 5.54 percent increase follows last year’s 4.7 percent hike.
“It means we didn’t honor that promise in two of the three years,” he said. (In FY 2017, the schools requested a 3.99 percent increase.)
Masse acknowledged the unanticipated SPED costs in next year’s budget, but noted that in negotiated salary increases alone, the School Department was already at or above a 4 percent increase. He suggested that in negotiations the Labor Subcommittee should have been mindful that the salary increases it was agreeing to would alone result in a 4 percent increase. He added that the School Committee was unwilling to cut in other areas.
Masse said that he made an exception and voted in favor of last year’s 4.7 percent increase with the understanding that this year’s increase would be at or below 4 percent. “I have to stick to my word,” he said. “I think it’s achievable to stay below 4 percent.”
School Committee member Anne-Marie Fortier asked Masse if there were any areas he would cut to get to the 4 percent.
Masse said that he did not know the exact stipulations of every union contract and would have to be presented with options for cuts.
School Committee member Greg Liakos said that he would support the budget, including the contractual salary increases awarded. He said that paying teachers at a certain level was required in order to have a first-class school system. He called the proposed budget “fiscally responsible,” claiming that the 4 percent was “an aspiration, a goal,” and “wasn’t intended to be a hard and fast number.”
Committee member Christopher Callanan said that he was “surprised” at Masse’s comments. He maintained that four years ago, the schools couldn’t have anticipated inflation or other costs of running a school system.
Markham said that he too would support the budget. He said that while they had an obligation to be fiscally responsible, the School Committee’s primary obligation was to advocate for quality education. He said that quality teachers deserve the pay they get. “We have to be able to recruit and retain quality teachers,” he said.
Fortier reiterated that Wakefield got “blindsided” by the jump in out-of-district SPED placements. She said that the administration had cut where it could. “We just don’t have a lot of fat, if any, in this budget,” she said.
School Committee chairman Rob Tiro and member Kate Morgan thanked the parents who had come forward with their advocacy for SPED services.
Tiro added that he was pleased with the fact that the schools met early on with the Finance Committee, resulting in a better process than last year. He said that based on what he had heard, the FinCom supported this year’s school budget as fiscally responsible.
Superintendent Dr. Kim Smith responded to concerns voiced at the recent budget hearing about out-of-district SPED placements, especially for reading and language-based disabilities. She pointed to a $75,000 line item for “intervention services” and proposed putting that full amount toward increasing some of those services in-district.
She also noted that there were line items for intervention services at each individual school that might be tapped.
