School Superintendent Douglas White, flanked by Mattapoisett local schools’ Principal Rose Bowman, Director of Student Services Michael Nelson, and Mattapoisett School Committee member James Muse, returned to the Mattapoisett Finance Committee on March 30 with a refined budget.
Selectmen and Mattapoisett Finance Committee members had asked all town departments, including school, to stay within a 2 percent budgetary increase. After another look, local schools did just that.
White presented the committee with a FY18 budget of $6,917,439 – a 1.99% increase of $135,206 from FY17.
Bowman and Nelson discussed the pressure on the schools to provide special education services to a growing population of students in need, making it necessary to provide smaller classes for kindergarten in the 2017-2018 school year.
“The decisions I’ve made are student-based,” Bowman told the committee members when asked about an increase in staffing. “The needs of children from age three and up is greater than I have ever seen in my career … we want them in our schools and this is how I plan to treat and service them,” she said.
Nelson explained that a teacher holding a BCBA (board certified behavioral analyst) degree will be moved from third grade to kindergarten in an effort to serve the incoming students with special education needs. This move means the FY18 staffing will increase by 0.4 percent.
But Finance Committee Chairman Pat Donoghue still questioned why additional staffing was needed at all when student enrollment continues to decrease.
Bowman said that students coming into the school system with IEPs (individual education plans) needed to be served in the local school versus sending them out of the district that would result in a greater economic impact to Mattapoisett.
Donoghue addressed White, saying, “We’ve got to do something about the OPEB obligation at ORR so we are looking at schools as a whole … we’ve got to get the money from somewhere.”
White responded, “There are several ORR issues, OPEB and capital expenses … the community has been very supportive … that is, supported in the high rating of K through sixth grade…. We’ve been able to maintain and sustain our students because of staffing … people need to understand that … every action has a reaction.”
Town Administrator Michael Gagne said he wanted to get the special education stabilization fund back up to $190,000, setting aside the circuit breaker funds received from the state. Of the OPEB issue he said, “Any money we can save, we are putting into ORR OPEB … it’s always hard to get started, but necessary.”
White expressed his frustration, saying, “There is thirty seven million dollars between the three towns for education. I lead four different districts, different buckets … nobody is having success in putting money aside. All districts are in the same boat.”
Donoghue said of Mattapoisett’s municipal OPEB trust fund, “When we started putting money aside, our bond rating went up.”
White placed some financial blame at the feet of the state, saying, “They are not doing what they said they were going to do [when the school district was established] … we are getting sixty-eight percent and we should be getting one hundred percent [of regional transportation cost reimbursement].”
The committee thanked White and his team for returning and explaining the revamped budget.
Earlier in the evening, the committee met with members of the Community Preservation Committee when Chairman John DeCosta and member Margaret DeMello presented the committee’s FY18 grants.
Three grants were received by the CPC. The Mattapoisett Land Trust is seeking financing to help purchase 53 acres off Mattapoisett Neck Road, the former site of the Buzzards Bay Granite Quarry. The Mattapoisett Historical Society Museum submitted a final request to complete archival preservation activities and cataloging, and Mattapoisett’s water department requested financial support to purchase a 164-acre parcel in the Mattapoisett River Valley named the Branch Brook drinking water land protection project.
In their application, the MLT noted that they have partnered with the Buzzards Bay Coalition and have done private fundraising in an effort to secure the purchase price of $600,000. The CPC proposes to allocate $37,500 from their open space category. The MLT plans on building trails on the property that will link it to the state reservation on Brandt Island Road.
The water department is partnering with the Towns of Fairhaven and Marion, along with the Buzzards Bay Coalition, to secure the purchase price of $460,000. Water & Sewer Department Superintendent Henri Renauld noted in his application that passive recreation would be allowed on the property. The CPC proposes $20,000 in funding for the Branch Brook project.
The Mattapoisett Historical Society Museum noted that once completed, the archival catalog would allow people around the globe to virtually access historical collections. CPC proposes $43,112 from their historic preservation category to complete this work.
These grants will be presented by DeCosta at the spring town meeting.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Finance Committee is scheduled for April 6 at 6:30 pm in the town hall.
By Marilou Newell