The Marion Finance Committee, in their mission to square away the Fiscal Year 2027 budget, met with Old Rochester Regional Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson and Assistant Superintendent Howie Barber on March 12 to go over school budgets across the Tri-Town: specifically, ORR and Sippican.
They began by highlighting big changes going forward into the next school year/fiscal year. Nelson began by mentioning the total yearly budget would be $5,360,000, which had been pushed down closer to $5,100,000 per request from the FinCom. There have been two major changes, Nelson said, since the last time the committee saw the budget.
“There has been some changes, fundamentally,” said Nelson. “We have firmed up our projections around enrollment, knowing our kindergarten numbers.” He also referenced Special Education needs, which have been accounted for in the revised budget. He also said from the previous budget that the FinCom saw, there has since been the removal of two full-time employees.
Barber would state the current budget has not yet been approved by the school committee, though this is what will be presented to them. He also clarified that the mentioned loss of full-time employee positions, or FTE’s, would not incur any active job cuts as they “are not going to be impacted by active staff. We have enrollments, and because of the attrition … the steps and levels of those, the staff members are and so forth, it allows us to make these updates without impacting staff that are currently in our bargaining groups.”
That is to say, these positional cuts will not affect any active staff and would instead only affect future postings. Barber reiterated that these proposals would not impact any staff members. There is one retirement and one transfer, meaning those positions would not retroactively be filled.
The superintendent went on to refer to a “steady decline” in enrolment. He mentioned rising costs, saying, “I understand it may be hard for a lot of families or young families to move into the Tri-Town.” He’d add, referring to future enrolment, “I don’t see a big spike coming in the near future.”
Funding for DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) was also brought up, which serves as a screener for literacy levels that then, in turn, allows for early intervention. Nelson stated it was, “to see if kids are progressing where they should developmentally.” He added the three-year grant that covered DIBELS is now expired. He said the schools cannot go without this program due to state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) regulation. Therefore, the program will now have to be paid without state or federal assistance.
FinCom member Shay Assad said he noticed legal costs on the budget were up 25%, asking, “do you anticipate some issue that you’ve got to deal with?” Barber responded, saying historical, legal costs have continued to rise without the budget thus far accounting for the gradual change. He clarified it is based on a potential need without citing any exact legal challenge in the future.
Next, the large jump in costs for a school psychologist were brought up, from $66,000 to $103,000. Nelson said they had been unable to hire in that crucial position, necessitating it be contracted out either “retirees or companies that will do psychological assessments that we are required to do.”
He would follow up, saying, “Point blank, there are certain positions that are very difficult to fill for school districts. School nurses, speech and language pathologists, and school psychologists are the top three, in my humble opinion, and we do not think it makes fiscal sense to continue to budget at a step-two, step-three (level), which is what we do with classroom teachers. So, with a school psychologist, we believe that we need to be fiscally responsible and have a more realistic job-salary range. We think it actually will save money compared to contracting out for each.”
For further increased costs, Barber would mention the new health insurance provider, Mayflower, highlighting increased premium costs would be around $420,000, though this will rise or fall depending on enrollment numbers.
The next meeting of the Marion Finance Committee was scheduled for Wednesday, March 18 at 6:00 pm where the committee was to discuss the Town Meeting Warrant.
Marion Finance Committee
By Sam Bishop