Marblehead schools are likely to face $2.3 million in cuts for fiscal year 2025, which Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Michelle Cresta said will impact classrooms and result in a “significant number of staff positions” being eliminated.
Cresta provided a FY25 budget update at the School Committee’s most recent meeting. The district, per instruction from the town, has been working on three separate budgets: level services, special services, and reduced services.
After Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer said that it is likely that no override will be presented at Town Meeting this year at his State of the Town address on Jan. 24, Cresta said that the focus has shifted to the reduced services budget.
“Really that’s what we’re focusing on now,” Cresta said. “We have a directive from the town to come up with a reduced-services budget given the State of the Town information that came out.”
A level-services budget for MPS is estimated at $47,935,000, a roughly $3.1 million increase to the current FY24 funding level. However, with an override not expected to help fund the increase in the budget, the schools will likely be forced to cut to the reduced-services budget, which is close to or equal to the current funding level, if no additional funding sources are available.
It is estimated that $700,000 in new town revenue will be available, which would increase the reduced-services budget to $45,537,273, though $2.3 million in cuts will still be necessary.
“We will be struggling with how we can implement cuts of $2.3 million if we do not seek any additional funding,” Cresta added.
Last year, 33 positions were eliminated from the district after the $2.5 million proposed override failed to pass at town election despite clearing Town Meeting. Those 33 positions equated to $1.5 million in cuts, and Cresta noted at a previous meeting that an increase in cuts for FY25 would most likely mean even more eliminated positions, on top of the 33 cut from FY24.
School Committee Chair Sarah Fox asked Cresta if she anticipates the required budget cuts for FY25 will grow as more projections come in, to which Cresta replied that the $2.3 million is “pretty much the high mark.”
“That is a pretty solid number at this point,” Cresta said.
Fox also noted that the district has seen an “astronomical” jump in out of district tuition increases. She stated that last year saw a 14% increase, compared to roughly three percent in recent years. Fox stated that one of the reasons for the increase is that institutions in Massachusetts are struggling to attract staff and the state “needed to increase tuitions so that they could increase rates of pay and attract staff.”
“The problem is, that’s coming out of what is essentially a fixed budget from the towns and municipalities and not allowing us then to do the same for our staff,” Fox said. “So it is really hard, I encourage people to reach out to your representatives… Ask them to continue to work on this piece because as that number grows, we’re really getting crippled at the local level and unable to provide for local teachers in the same way.”
In an effort to improve communication and budget transparency with the community, a finance forum session is tentatively being scheduled for Feb. 27, which will be led by Cresta and town Finance Director Aleesha Nunley Benjamin.
At the forum, questions will be answered regarding how the budget is built and how assessments impact it.
“We think it’s really important that the general community understand that so it’s not just specifically for schools, it’s not specifically for town residents, it’s for anyone really who’s interested in the budget and see how that impacts us. Hopefully, we’ll be able to really give the public an opportunity to have some questions answered,” Cresta said.
On Feb. 5, a leadership team held the first of three meetings to determine recommended cuts to arrive at the reduced services budget. The next meetings are scheduled for Feb. 8 and Feb. 13.
Prior to the forum, two School Committee budget workshops will be held on Feb. 15 and Feb. 26.