Okay, it is 6:02 and I'm going to call the meeting to order. Um, I would like to state also that this meeting is being recorded. Um, and we we start with Oh, no. Oh, roll call. Um, Jody,
>> yes. >> Lori >> here. >> Jess, me here. >> Cool. Look at Jack. Um, all right. Pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic
for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Um, now we can hear any visitors if anybody wanted to speak. Um, I am going to try to limit you to 3 minutes if possible
just to allow for everybody to have time. Um, I know what do I say? Raise your hands want to speak. >> I know James wants to speak >> to identify themselves and uh their address. >> Please identify yourself and your address.
>> Go ahead, James. and James 18 treaties for the minutes. I've given a copy of my remarks to secretary for for the minutes. Uh just by way of explanation, I'm an 18year member of the Bridgewater Rain and Regional School Committee just so that
you can get things in proper context. 52 years ago, I was a candidate for state representative right here in this town. No, I did not. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the Halifax School Committee. I come tonight to deliver a message regarding a matter of great and immediate importance
to the students of the Halifax Elementary School District School Committee and the administration staff of the Halifax School Department. The issue is twofold. First, it concerns the decadesl long practice of underfunding by the Massachusetts state legislature for the various categories of so-called
local aid, which as all of you know is a significant factor in setting the rate of the local property tax and hence how much the property owners are asked by you to pay. Prior Proposition 2 and a half in 1981, first year it was in effect, the cities in town simply put another nickel on the tax rate to make
up any shortfall on local aid. After Prop 2 and a half took effect, the cities and towns were limited in how much they could raise the prior use levy. Consequently, many local services, mostly education, were annually paired back due to the annual recurring shortfalls in state
money being returned to the local governments. This brings me to my second point. Where does so-called state revenue come from? The answer is it comes from every resident business in every city and town, including Halifax. Why isn't that money being returned to you, the people who actually need it?
Dayto-day things like police, fire, seniors, and most importantly, schools. Yes, I said most important. It's been my experience. I've been tracking chapter 70 since 1973. It's the reason I ran for state representative. It's been my experience that our state legislators have not made co-unding
locally a priority. Members of the majority party bemoan how tough things are this year on B& We're already hearing that. While the minority party elected representatives shrug the shoulders and say there's anything I can do about it. Last year, Rainham's annual budget process resulted in failure to
pay the regional school district's assessment after failed Prop 2 and a half override large layoff of school employees than fall. 40 teachers one year, 31 the next. And we're looking at an even worse situation this year.
A resident I discussed this with said it sounds like bad management. I responded that it wasn't bad management rather a shortfall caused by our state legislators not fully funding chapter 7 and chapter 71 I had here in the the silver lake region for your high
school and and middle school. His response it sounds like our local government mismanaged their relationships with our state legislators. Madam Chair, this leads me to the conclusion that the time has come for all local elected officials to demand their respective state
legislators change their vote on local aid made to education from the current. Here's what's left. change it from that to here's what the town of Halifax and its schools are entitled to by law from under chapter 70 which has never once
never once since 1973 been fully funded and the difference went on the local property tax and you got the blame as long as our state reps and state senators can get lauded for giving us half a loaf and the residents and businesses will be told to make up the
difference and you not the legisl lature, not the governor, will have to bear the public's eye when taxes go up and educational opportunities go down. After that, the state that has a shortfall, let them raise taxes or do massive layoffs to make up the
difference. I want to thank the chair and the committee for its time. And my only message to you is very simply, as Lever Durk said in 1964 when he broke the filibuster on the Civil Rights Act, search your hearts. And I'm just telling you, I don't know who your stable red
legislators are now, but that I made it clear on the candidate for the Bridgewaterian Regional School Committee, which I left 30 years ago. I'm selecting. I said, I'm all done taking half a loaf. But what if you fully fund chapter 70 and I'm a real
sport about it? How about you just give us what we're entitled to this year, and I'll forget about the last 52. I want to thank the chair committee for his time. I'd love to talk for you. Thank you very much. Thank you, James. >> Would anybody else like to speak?
>> I was going to miss his >> Come on up, Jonathan. >> James, but I want to tell you guys an update on the town side of things. So, my name is Jonathan 86 Roads. I'm also the chair of the board.
So, just a quick statement on what we're doing here. uh on the municipal side of things as we deal with budget season. Um the reason I'm here is I know we're going to be doing our budget this evening, we present it. Um and I wanted to write this down and make sure that I didn't forget any parts. So um the
budget is on the agenda tonight and I know uh as we can all attest to it's not one this year. uh it considers uh cuts to losing good teachers and I can tell you that this school is full of a lot of very good teachers as I can say as a kids come through school but
unfortunately as James has mentioned here this has played out throughout Massachusetts uh much like in our own homes communities across the Commonwealth are struggling to make their budgets work burdens like less state aid uh skyrocketing insurance costs energy costs pension payments
they're all outcreasing what's coming in our communities. And the bottom line here is I agree with what what James said. The system isn't broken. Uh and these results unfortunately are happening. I also want to put uh everyone here to let you know that it's not just the
schools being affected. The town has put together one of the leanest budgets in Halifax history this year. Proposed cuts to our police, our fire, our counseling aging, our town hall staff. essentially every spot that we could make a cut to an already lean budget we made. So with
that in mind, I ask our school committee here tonight and the administration to try and get creative as possible in stretching their dollars this year. And I will say although it's not an ideal option, I do think this committee should at least take a hard look at things like charging for full day kindergarten
because if it's a way to save at least one teacher and knock down one class size in the process, I do think it should be considered. And unfortunately, because of these budget gaps, at our last elections meeting, the board voted unanimously to put a question on this year's ballot to allow for a tax
override of $1.5 billion. It wasn't a decision we as a board took lightly, but we know the size and scope of these proposed cuts are historic, and the community needs to know what's coming. It only seems fair to let the voters decide if we, as a town, want to
try and preserve those cuts. I wish you guys, the school committee, well, and I wish you luck in making these tough decisions tonight. I also want to thank Jill and Brian and the administration uh for their efforts this year. It's easy to lead when the waters are calm and the
weather's nice. It's a different story when the storm is here and the storm is here this year. So, I want to say that it speaks a lot to your character and to your dedication to uh to kind of roll up your sleeves and attack the storm head on. Um, it's greatly appreciated on the
town side. So, thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Jonathan. >> Would anybody else like to speak? >> I have actual questions specific to the budget. Do you want you want to wait till the budget is brought up to discuss that or should I ask it now? >> Your question might be answered in some
of the presentations and everything in all of this. If you want to wait is can can we take questions at the end or are we allowed to do that? >> The chair may take questions during or after the budget presentation. When the chair does so, it means that the chair would then be opening it up to anyone uh
in the audience to ask questions as well. >> Okay. So, if you don't mind waiting to see if it's answered and then we'll we'll go from there. Um are we going to we're not going to, right? We're going to >> We'll wait for um >> Yep. Okay. Um, I'm going to ask for
approval and a motion to take the meeting out of order so that we can do the budget first and executive session after that. Can I get a motion for that? >> I'll make a motion to um take the agenda out of order and start with the budget.
>> Okay. All right. So, if I could ask Principal Krina to um >> Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, Joey was back. >> Sorry. >> Darn.
>> Jody, >> Lori, >> I am. Yes. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for keeping us honest. >> Who said it? >> Yep.
>> So, if you could forward for me. Um tonight we will review the proposed budget for FY27 and provide updates as well as two requests or several requests from the town for your consideration for this evening. Um since most of this is review, I would like to uh request that
we save questions until the end if possible. Um so if we could go to the goals, if you recall back in December, uh we provided you with um the difference between level funded and level service. And for uh for those of you who may not
have been here, level service means that we maintain all of the current services in the school. Level funded would mean that we would go back to the exact amount of money that we spent on e education this year. So we would be held to that amount which would would which
would end up in uh significant cuts. So if we go to the budget basics, the only thing that has changed uh since December is that the shared cost budget is included and has been voted. So um that has an impact to the the town of
Halifax as well. Also, please note that we have three placements budgeted for for out of district vocational students. Um those applications are due by April 1st. So if we have additional placements or we have fewer placements that could
uh result in additional changes to uh the budget or potential uh consequences for staffing. If we go to the next slide, uh this provides you with our level service budget summary. um level services
would be 8,157,387 after offsets of circuit breaker which is estimated at 70% for tuitions and 50% for transportation. The idea grant a reap estimate and rural aid estimate. The Halifax appropriation for FY27 would
be 7,731,771. This would represent a 1.54% increase over FY26 and would not result in any additional cuts to any cuts to staffing. Um, again, these are estimates for both
circuit breaker and the grants, but our budgets are traditionally built upon estimates uh since we won't have a a a budget from the state uh for some time. If you look at the FY27 level funded, we provided this summary for you, but it
does not meet net school spending requirements. And that's important for us to all be aware of. A level funded budget for Halifax Elementary School would be $8,40,29. This would require $56,289
to be added into the budget just to meet the minimum net school spending. The minimum net school spending for Halifax Elementary School is $8,96,715. So if you look at the level service budget to meet net school spending on
slide four um we would actually need to cut from that level service budget approximately 60,672,000. The next is a picture of the screenshot of the uh source of our net school
spending. And again, this is an estimate. And then the next slide uh speaks to um the Commonwealth school finance statute, chapter 70 of the general laws, which establishes an annual net school spending requirement for each
Massachusetts school district. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in non-approval of a mun municipality's tax rate. enforcement action by the attorney general andor loss of state aid. So we've also connected a link to that statute um so
that people can reference that if in fact we were to do a level a a reduction of 800,000 which was another request from the town that we received. This certainly would not meet minimum net school spending. It's actually 9.88% 88%
below net school spending and it would result in the reduction of staffing. Approximately 10 teachers um would be cut and if you look at the next slide it will show you the impact to
class sizes. Um, of particular concern, uh, are the early elementary grades with classes, um, from 28 to 26 where students are learning to read. And, uh, obviously the higher class sizes in grades four, five, and six of
35, 34, and 40. Um, which would create an issue in terms of space in the school because our the majority of our classrooms cannot hold this many students. So, the next thing we're asked to
consider um was uh charging bus fees. And you may recall that last year uh we presented and it's in your packet this evening, the same uh bus fee presentation that we presented last year. And you may recall that we created a revolving account last year at town
meeting uh in May so that if we chose to charge fees for buses, that account would already be um in place. You will also want to recall that we must um that within a two that we could
only charge students within a two-mile radius and um that there are some students uh who would be eligible for busing uh regardless. And so um we anticipated
revenue through a a variety of ways. Um multiple fees ranging from 250 to a,000 as you can see on the left hand side. And then depending upon how many students chose to participate or families chose to participate what the
potential revenues would be. Revenues for buses would range between 108 and 27,000 depending upon how many um parents and families were able to participate. It's also important to note
that children could be living in the same neighborhood and one child may qualify to ride the bus for free while another child in the neighborhood is just beyond the two miles and would be required to pay for busing. So that's important for the school committee to be
aware of. This is defined by the radius of the two-mile radius and not bus stops and not um traditional neighborhood expectations. So those are the anticip the potential
revenues we could gain. One of the additional concerns from last year that you mentioned was not knowing how many students would participate and how many parents would then be queuing up in the morning to drop off students in an already uh busy parking lot.
So we also looked into um what the potential revenues or possible savings would be if we charged for full day Kay. All children would be eligible for half day. We would charge some students for full
day. Here are some of the assumptions that we have to built into uh charging for full day for some students. Uh some students with disabilities will qualify for full day in order to meet the service delivery need. We would have a
sliding scale for lowincome students. uh and students who qualify will have a 25 to 75% annual tuition reduction. We anticipate that we would need at least two buses half day. Um
we projected that we would need two teachers full-time and one teacher for two half-day sessions. So that's what our um assumptions and fees are based on. So if we go to the next slide, oh some of the things that we talked about in terms of why we
wouldn't um necessarily support the idea of half day K as educators is that teachers would not be able to address all of the standards in half day K. Students would more likely to enter grade 1 without mastery. Um there would be inequity for those who
can't afford paying for an additional half day versus those who have half day full day K. um the collection of payment. We don't have staffing. Uh we don't have people who would be able to collect and go after the payments. Uh and so we would
be wondering if this would be done through the town. That was just one of our questions. We recognize the hardship this would present for parents and we um also recognize the increase to transportation costs as a result of this.
Nonetheless, we provided some um estimates for you. So, if we go to the next uh page, if Halifax transitioned to a half-day kindergarten with a feebased full day option for students, if we estimated the number of students at 85
and we used this year's numbers, 25 students qualify for free or reduced lunch at 30%. 20 20 students based on current and historical data are IEP eligible. This would leave 40 students who would be eligible to pay for full
day. So we first looked at proposing 3,500 in annual tuition. This was based on an average of local programs that currently charge for full day. full day kindergarten for 53% or 40
students. Um the total revenue would be approximately 140,000. That's assuming all 40 students uh participated and it would not cover the full cost of kindergarten.
So, um Stephanie then broke it down into the different uh possible scenarios based upon um what percentage students or parents would need to pay. So, if we can make that a little larger if
possible slide can we like make it >> it's not it's not a PDF. >> Okay, that's good. That's better. So um if we had 25%
for students of with tuition reduction um the total revenue would be 65,000. For students receiving 50% reduction the total revenue could be 43,000. If uh students receive 75% reduction it
could be as low as 21,000. And again, we don't know exactly where students and their families will fall along this sliding scale. We don't have any historical data to base this on. So, the maximum we could earn by charging
people for full day K is $25,625. the estimated annual tuition cost per student to cover salary in transportation for added K costs per student, we would actually need to charge 6,300 per student.
Uh the total earnings with no reductions um would be 370,125. So that's no reduction plus reduction meaning those two different categories the total would be 370,125. So on top of that please recall that we
still need to meet minimum net school spending. So we couldn't use these things to meet minimum net school spending. In addition, in December, we presented
you with a variety of assessment needs. The phone system, which is required, we have to have phones. It's a safety issue, is already in the budget at 17,500. We have included the assessment summary and the total assessments for Halifax
are8% increase. So, uh, we're asking tonight for the school committee to consider either a level service or a level funded plus net school
spending. We are also asking this the school committee to consider whether or not it wishes to pursue charging for um full day and charging bus fees. Here the proposed motion is for net
school spending plus uh is to meet sorry here you see the budget written as if we're meeting net school spending only. These numbers would have to change if you wanted to go back to level service but we would prepare either depending upon the will
of the committee. Again, um I would not encourage you to vote for a budget that is less than the anticipated net school spending. >> Well, that was heavy. >> Now what? Now you >> ask us questions if you have any.
>> So I have a question. >> Um the way I understand this um I don't think it is in our town's best interest let alone our children and education systems best interest to vote below the
net school spending. for this $8,96,715 would be the amount that I think we should be considering um to put forth to the town. But my question is, you mentioned, you know, if we vote the bus fees, the full day
kindergarten, um that can't offset this net school spending. Is that correct? like we can't vote a lower amount hoping that we will gain some revenue through those other two revenue streams that will get us to
net school spending. Is that accurate? >> That is my understanding. >> Yeah. Sorry, I'm addressing Jill, the person that has the knowledge. So, >> okay. So if we, you know, if we vote this net school spending number,
um, what then happens with and and we vote those other provisions and we have some additional monies, then then what happens? >> That would that could be used to restore some of the things that we had to cut to go to level funded net school spending.
>> Okay. Okay. I have some concerns. I don't want to just, you know, model. >> Um I do have concerns because when we've talked through some of these scenarios in the past about um bus fees and full
day kindergarten, well, I always have a concern about equity. You know, are we creating an equitable education system for all of the children that live in Halifax? And I feel like with some of these things, we're not. um when we have to charge people for additional hours in
a school building. Um so that gives me some concern, but the other concern I have is um you know, how many people are actually going to adopt this? We're all struggling financially. There's everyone is struggling financially. So, we're we're not only asking taxpayers to, you
know, pay a higher tax rate to support our schools, but then we're asking parents um who are also taxpayers to find additional thousands of dollars. Um and to Jill's point, you know, if the traditional bus stop meets in between
two houses, but one is within two miles and the other is outside of two miles, um that gets sticky. So, um, are we going to create more people that are opting out of a bus fee because I'll just drop my kid off on the way to work?
>> Sorry, that's my commentary. >> Has there been any other repercussions for other No. Has ever voted under what the net student spending is? >> Repercussions have been? Not that I'm aware of that they've ever gone below
net school spending since since I have been here. >> And what exactly are the repercussions? Can you just reiterate that again? Like what what is the town facing if we do not meet that minimum? So my my
assumption is is that um it says failure may result in non-approval of a municipality's tax rate and force an action by attorney general or loss of state aid. So my assumption is is that they would require the town to spend
this amount the minimum on school spending through some sort of action. Typically what we have seen is that when the when we fail to comply with state regulation, what we end up losing is
funding, additional funding, >> which puts us in an even worse situation next year, we can't go below that school spending cuz there's literally no option. I think the the decisions are
>> Halifax has a Walmart, couple pot shops in the school. Literally, there's nothing else. Like, >> we can't not fund the school. I know, but because we have small classrooms, people aren't going to want to move here if we don't have those small class sizes anymore. >> Like, this just how it is. We have to
vote. We have to vote for the school. We have to vote for the kids. >> This is why we're here. >> Well, I think it starts us voting for the kids. I think you're voting for the town in general. in general because if we don't have the class sizes the way that we need the class sizes then we don't have the town's people wanting to stay in the town or move into the town
which is no growth which is no more money which is the end of Halifax that's as we know it honestly so >> the subtext I heard in that what the threat is of not meeting that school spending is that the town could not approve or the the mun the state could
not approve the municipality's tax rate >> meaning we may say we don't want our taxes to be higher than X But if we don't meet our net net spending, school spending, they're going to say, "You know what? You're actually gonna have to charge people this." So, I mean, we are
literally giving the state control >> by not by not voting us in, >> right? That that's my feeling. you when people are saying we have to send a message to the state and I agree with all of that but at what like you can't keep gambling with lawsuits and you
can't keep testing and pushing like at a certain point you have to look at the cards that you've been dealt and say okay what is the risk and what is the reward I think it's far riskier to let the state come in and set our tax rate than to do what is reasonable um and work
within the framework that already exists I I think Mr. Walters had a question. >> I have some questions. >> I'm okay with that. >> Um Jim Walters, 26 Orchard Circle. So, first I want to thank Stephanie for sending out uh the budget uh as it is for this year because one that is what a
lot of my questions are based on. So I guess the first question that I would ask is given the situation that we've had described here in the PowerPoint, is the school doing anything in the last 3 months of the fiscal year to save money to have that carried forward?
>> So I I let me try to answer that question. Our school budget, we're required to pay salaries. We have some fixed costs that we have to pay. We have some variability
that you will see through utilities and things of that nature, but we estimate what those are going to be. So, we could realize some savings there or we could end up spending more depending upon whether or not we have a snowstorm tonight. Um, so th those are just things
we can't control. >> Um, we have not instituted a budget freeze. Um and again, we typically would not institute a budget freeze unless we felt that we would not be able to meet our um
financial obligations by the end of the year. With that being said, we sometimes are able to do things like um prepay tuitions for special education. Um and we already cut from last year's
school budget resulting in staffing reduction. So um I I think that the school system presented a very reasonable and lean level services budget. I think the school system has also presented a way
to meet net school spending that is responsible and appropriate. And I think that funding the education of our children is a civic responsibility, albeit a difficult one during these trying financial times.
Thank you for that. And that's that's a fair point and it's it it's not really about, you know, the value of education or people not valuing education. I think it's more of a question of since 2020 the population of the school and its
enrollment has dropped by 50 students yet the budget continues to climb. So with that decline in enrollment and the increase in budget, it kind of it's really a bit in Congress as to why that why the number keeps climbing.
>> The number keeps climbing because our costs keep climbing. Whether that be um >> inflation, just regular inflation in general for >> So when when you go to the grocery store, you're paying a lot more for everything. When you go to the gas pump, you're paying a lot more. So are we. We
don't control those those factors. We just are are forced to live within those realities. Can I ask I'll also just mention sorry I don't mean to interrupt but I think there's this assumption that when enrollment goes down costs should
go down and I I don't think that you can look at it that way. It costs the same amount of money to heat this school whether there's 500 kids or 600 kids. That is a fixed cost. You don't get a break because 50 less kids don't go here
anymore. there are some costs that just are are going to actually increase, not decrease depending on what the enrollment is. And I think that that's something that I I say this more for the people that are going to be listening to this after tonight's meeting that are going to want to be prepared at town meeting and how they're going to vote.
Like you you do have to really think about, you know, we're we're cutting teachers. We're not adding teachers. We reduced uh classroom teachers last year. specialists have like we we you know there was a reduction we we redid the
math to figure out what class sizes were not optimal but manageable and I I would say manageable um so I think that that work is happening but there are some things I mean we all are seeing gas prices go up you know um we don't have
control over those things >> sure however state some state funding is based on enrollment and headcount is that not correct Yes. >> So when the headcount drops, the state funding drops. >> Is that not correct? >> It it can. Yes.
>> So, you know, that's that's the that's the question around, you know, headcount and and enrollment is if we're if we're losing state funding, then the school is going to be looking to the residents to make that difference up.
That's because money's got to come from somewhere, right? So, you know, so that's we also have um you you mentioned in your PowerPoint about vocational education. >> So, there's a line in the budget for $77,000
for the elementary school vocational program. >> No, it's listed as vocational education under the segregation of the accounts, >> but it's for it's for Halifax's duty to pay it for the Silver Lake budget. Correct. It's not So, it's for the high schoolers going to
>> students who go to that be part of the silver lake assessment >> because regulation requires that the town that the student is from pay for those placements. >> So the town of Halifax only has so many students they allow to go each silver
lake town allows so many students to go to the vocational schools. So where >> no it it can be it can be unlimited quite quite frankly it just depends on whether or not the students are accepted. They get to apply by April 1st. anyone in the town of Halifax, any
of these students can can apply um to programs that we don't offer at Silver Lake. And if they're accepted, it is the responsibility of the town of Halifax to pay for those students to attend.
>> Do elementary school students go to vocational school? >> No, it's high school. >> So then why is it in the elementary school budget? >> It's in the Halifax budget. It's for the school in general. So the so we have a budget. We have four
budgets in our school district. We have the Silver Lake which is a combination of the high school and the middle school and the prek program. Correct. I'm going to test my knowledge here. And then each of the three districts within three towns within our school district have a
separate town uh school committee school budget. It's the Halifax budget, not the Halifax elementary school budget. And based on what the state regulations are and who where monies flow, we went through a whole challenge last year or
two years ago actually to try to meet and be compliant with state regulations to make sure that our funding was flowing through the right resources. So, if a kid went moved in from Ken to Halifax and is in 8th grade and wants to
go to a vocational school outside of our school district, but is living in Halifax, never went to Halifax Elementary School. It is Halifax's responsibility to pay for that. >> And we've budgeted for three. >> Correct. We've budgeted for three, but only have one so far.
>> So far. But that could increase. We could get more than three. we could get less than three and that would be >> we find out in seven days >> seven days >> 8 days >> in theory. Now we don't know if they'll be accepted and so we spend a great deal of time kind of tracking down um
but this is this is not a this is not a silver lake Halifax issue. This is how it's run throughout the state. This isn't how we are planning it or choosing to do things. This is just the rules that we follow.
>> Okay. Thank you for that. Um, so uh just obvious just another number of answers. So we have we're spending $1.4 million on special education. So how many students are in that program? Just a number.
How many students are in? Halifax has a total of um what looks like 22 students in um let make sure I have that right. I
believe there's 122 students in special education not counting or students who are out of district. And I actually if May I >> Yes. Okay. One of the things I've I've been a director of my 18th year. It's not easy when you come to budgets like this. I was a director in the 09 0 08 09
those really tough times. One of the things is there are some um out of district tuitions that their rate of increase is greater than that of the towns. They are not held to 2.5% increase. We go to the meetings where we
try and fight that. I'm on the state board of directors for special education. in the 10 in the Commonwealth and we are lobbying with the state to try and get tuitions to be increased at a rate that is commensurate with our towns. The other thing that is really
difficult is the transportation companies. They absolutely have a hold over us. That child has to get to school. They have to get to a school that is anywhere in 20 minutes to an hour away. And we don't get a choice. We go to different school. We go to
different van companies, try and get the best rate that we can, but we don't get to not send the child because we don't like the rate that's being provided by the only provider who's able to take those those children. So, those are increases that we do not have control
over. So, I appreciate wanting to lobby with our state representatives because those are things that are going to be really impactful. I know um you know the association of school committees, the association of superintendents, the association of special education
directors are advocating really hard for limitations to be put around tuition increases. They have meetings where we show up and say, "Hold on a minute. Our town is at, you know, a 1% increase, but you're asking for eight. You can't do this to us." Like, we continue to fight
those fights. I've been going to those meetings for a really long time, but we don't get the choice. If a student has a need that is so significant that we can't meet here and is requiring a school with a really, you
know, a school that had a $120,000 tuition few years ago increased to 400. We don't have a choice. That child requires that level of support. We can't say we're not going to give you vision services or, you know, um, medical needs cuz you're a wheelchairbound
kindergartener. We can't say we're not sending you there. We can't say we're not going to pay for a nurse to ride the bus with you. We have to do it cuz the kids need it. And the the place to lobby is with our state representatives to say, "Hold the line. What is happening here?" So, sorry.
Do we do we have a contract with the special education buses like the >> we have contracts with them >> agreements? >> So what we do is we have a variety of um transportation companies and I you know we have to put out you know to a couple
companies who's able to do I have to say um I have an admin assistant who is fierce. She's like I don't like your rate and she seems to be able to get a company to come down a little bit more. I think, you know, she's um I'd be afraid of her, too. But we we try and
bid out to get the lowest rate that we can, but sometimes the distance or when they're leaving or the capacity of that transportation company to add a route for somebody that doesn't fit into an already existing route is what it is. So, we don't have one set contract. We
try and bid out per route. >> Okay. >> Is it for a student? >> No. >> No. first student does more um per student. >> So, okay, great question actually. Um it depends. So, what we do try and do is
reach out sometimes to our local um other town special education directors that say, "Hey, if you're driving through Halifax, can you pick up my student on the way to here?" And then we can split the route. Um if we have multiple students going, again, we try and split the route. um we do what we can but we do try and connect with one
another as directors to say like hey does anybody have go here to see if there's ways in which we can try and reduce cost >> thank you for that and and I'm I I I'm not saying that the services should be provided I I think the the question is
and the question is becoming more relevant every every year that goes by is that the residents um are being taxed more and there just seems to be, you know, when the school budget is 53% of the
entire town budget, you know, they they would like to have some rationalization either, you know, through whatever channels you can get out or from the school administration showing up to town meeting and being able to speak to these
issues in person because relying on the finance committee or the board of selectment or this town administrator to speak on behalf of the school is, you know, that's, you know, that's a bit frustrating. I know I know Dr. Dr. Jill is there every year
and thank you for that. Um, but I think, you know, this year is going to be even more critical because it's just, you know, we're we're asking we're going to ask our residents to pay more and it's an intangible because we're talking about 500 and some odd students
in a town of 7,500 residents. So, the percentages, right, are are of of people, you know, the the needs of the few are going to outweigh the needs of the many. So that's that's really kind of the question that's that that needs to be
answered at town meeting and through whatever publicity channels the school committee has. So um all of our meetings are recorded and all of our um documents after the meeting are posted online. In addition
um we do anticipate attending. I, as you know, I do attend and the school committee attends and answers questions. Um, and Stephanie will be there this year. Um, and we'll both be there to help school committee members answer questions and if needed speak uh as well. I think one of the things um that
we need to remember when people say 53% of the budget or 47% of the budget, the reality is is if you go on the Department of Revenue site, you'll find that this is the reality for most if not all towns. Some pay a lot more, some pay a lot less, some go considerably above
minimum net school spending, some do not. Um, so the reality is is that this is the one thing that towns are required to pay for and that is the education of their children in a democratic society.
So that's um that's >> they're also required to pay for public safety. But if we start cutting away at public safety to fund the school, now we're putting the rest of the public at risk. Right? >> Again, I'm here to represent what the
school needs. I recognize that your your town is facing tough financial times, but the reality is is that these children and our democracy is dependent upon their education. >> Also, the the percent of the budget is not just the elementary school 500 kids.
That's here, isn't that? Also, that's the Silver Lake. That's all the kids. That's That's >> fair. >> So, it's not just the elementary school, unfortunately. >> Dispute that. But it's still 53% of the budget. >> Yeah. It's the future of the town. Unfortunately, though, I mean, if you
don't have kids, you don't have future >> because the reality >> close enough. I mean, we're paying for the 18 looking at that tax bill that shows up. >> That's what they're going to be looking at, especially those on fixed income. And we have a large demographic in this town of people on a fixed income.
So that's what I'm I'm just asking that for that to be considered and thought about while we're looking at this and I understand we're saying that the state says we have to do that. I I appreciate the democracy comment but you know it's not like the the country is hanging in
balance on the Halifax elementary school budget. >> All right. Thank you. I think thank you. >> We're going to move on to the next one. Yep. You're all set. Yep. >> Hemingway 20 also member of the finance committee. I thank you all for
everything you do. Principal Brian speak at one of our meetings and and this isn't hard. I mean this is hard. It's difficult. >> I was going to say what I was. So yeah, right. But I think that
the way that you guys articulated your position tonight and the importance of our school, I think our community needs to hear that. They hear stories about how a reduction in spending that we are at risk of if we don't approve the override, how that will impact our
community, how that impact our children. We are all members of Halifax. We will all pay this increase together. I think our community here needs to hear stories about how this will come back to school and understand how it is tied to them
and tied to how the future of our town is going to be impacted if it doesn't pass. I think we all need to do our part to articulate that to the state of the importance of meeting that school spending at a minimum in order to
continue to provide for this town's future. I thank you all for everything you do. This is not hard again. Keep meaning to say not easy now children wake up very early in the
morning. Um I used to work in the school. I was a specialist occupational therapist for years. So I can appreciate the challenges that come every day with your jobs. Uh, I love teachers. I love administrators work closely with the
special education special education directors. So, I understand what you guys need to do and how hard it is. And we're here to help you. We're here to look at the numbers. Our job is to kind of budget to the town and to articulate alongside you why we need to get this
override passed so we can get everything funded. Not just for you, not for your budget, but in addition to all the other top services that need to be funded. It's very important for our community. This is a great community. This is a great town. I've lived here for 13 years. Want to live here for 40 more. I
want to raise my children here. I I really thank you for everything you do and I I hope to be a partner with you in this process to get it through to come successfully and onto the the ballot uh to get it approved. Thanks. >> Thank you. Just a quick comment before I
give it to Brian for just a second. Um, I just want to point out too, I mean, homeschooling is becoming a very popular thing that people are doing now. Um, there's churches is everywhere making it much easier for parents to homeschool. Now, also, if our kids are now turning to be homeschooled because their class
sizes are too big, the school is going to start losing the funding, but the building's not getting any smaller. We still have to heat it. We still have to do all the other things to it. The budget's not going to get any smaller, honestly. But we're going to lose funding because people are going to be pulling their kids out to homeschool them. That's just food for thought real
quick. The you can't cut off a piece of the building and say we're not going to use this part anymore. It's just it is what it is. The building is as big as it is. It's cost much to run and homeschooling is very very popular now and getting much easier for parents. So just something to kind of think about.
Just like I said, food for thought. But I'm going to give it to Brian for just a second and we'll come back to you. >> Yeah. So, um I really kind of want to reiterate the uh like telling the story piece of like the incredible work here that we've been doing. Um and even before I got here, I really want to highlight the incredible work that the
staff did, the teachers and everybody working together for getting their MCCAST scores last year um up to before pandemic marks. When I hear that and when I see those things, I think about the you had mentioned the um uh uh being
on the like being on the hang of like the relevancy of like the community piece where teachers are working so hard to get our kids to that level is incredible and telling that story and we we did it over school committee but I don't know how many people are watching
school committee right now. Hopefully a lot. Um, but also too, um, to tell our story, what we've been doing the last couple of weeks is that I've been posting a heroic herald on our school's website. So, if you're interested in learning about what we do here and how connected we we really are here at
school, I highly recommend that you go on our school's website, it's on the lower lefthand corner, and you can find the heroic hero. There'll be pictures of kids doing incredible work. They'll be showcasing the kids doing the academic rigor that is necessary to make sure that we do have that upstanding
democracy moving forward for our kids. Um as well as how tied together we really are together as a community where the police and the I couldn't I mean the things that happened this year with the fire department um and the police department. Um I I'm completely indebted
within their work and making sure that we recognize that I you would share too like we're like you're it's together. It's just not the school versus anybody. It's together and making sure that we have a great place for our kids, but also for you to come to. Just the other
day, we had um uh all of our kids wrote Valentine's to different departments within the town. They went to the age of uh council for aging. We have pictures of that upline like online. We went to the police, fire, the town hall. Um to
make sure that they saw and that the kids recognize too that they're part of the town. They are the community and especially we want kids to stay here and thrive too. It's just not, you know, go to school here and then leave. Um it's go to school here, then go to the middle school, and then go to the high school and then, you know, maybe come back and
start a business. Um, so I really kind of want to reiterate what you had shared about the storytelling and how important that is because even though we're that we we only this year we only have 535 kids here. That may not sound like a lot. That's a lot of children on a daily
basis with all the staff with all the parents that are dropping off every single day and really recognizing that it's just not happening with one staff member or one person. It's a collective entity that is working together that really was able to showcase their work
where I was presented um a certificate because of the hardworking staff to get their ELA scores to pass them beyond um MCAT scores from uh from we like one of 12 schools in the entire state that was
able to do that. So the storytelling I think is huge and I want to be part of that storytelling. And that's why I went to FinCon the other day. Um, sitting up at the table, a little caught off guard, but it was fine. Um, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed talking to you afterwards, too. And kind
of moving forward and like being that voice of like the incredible work here that we do um together as a community, not just the school, but I got police coming in. I got fire people coming in all the time. Um, because we're a connected we're a connected community.
>> Thank you, Brian. >> You're welcome. Yes, you madam chairman I and I enjoyed this budget presentation and I just want to state for the record this is the 18th community I visited and so
you'll know uh it's everywhere my own state representative who's a friend of mine is first term guy and I told him I said Dennis you really need to tell them at the legislative level and appreciate
special needs person. I'm talking about how underfunded the circuit breaker is for special needs transportation. >> Mhm. >> All right. And they bragged about it creeped up from 56% I believe to 61 and the taxpayers picked up the difference.
Just wanted to state by way of general comment to the school committee. I'm one of those people with three degrees. I only use one of which is an education. uh that the Constitution of Massachusetts and we really have one.
You know, you hear that word, the Constitution, everybody right away Supreme Court. Constitution of Com Massachusetts states that you got to have three things to have a town. Don't forget we only start off with one about 20 m east of here. And every town to become a town
had to have three things. for church congregational non-negotiable a common for people to have their own animals and grab and things because there weren't grocery stores needed eggs and fresh milk and things but you had to have a school you did not have to have a
police department you did not have to have a fire department you had to have a school and I will state directly in previous discussions when I was on the school committee for that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
will very quickly remind you that if you fail to provide an adequate education, you're violating the civil rights of students and the vote to receive begins right there. And I appreciate the fact that the superintendent can't bring
money, but uh it comes down to and I'll just say one last thing. What I'm seeing here already is they're forcing people to pit town departments against each other. And I will say this directly. I was a founding member of Citizens for Limited
Taxation. I helped put it on the ballot, but it only works if those state categories of local aid, chapter 90, chapter 70, go down the list of circuit breaker money.
It only works if those are funded. And and the lesson and until that is, and I've said this, and I'll say it directly, how much money would you even be asking for an override if you got what you were entitled to doing the simple math of the formula? And you're
not going to cost cut your way out of this. You're not going to override your way out of this. And I think it's about time to line. So already know there's a coalition of 70 school committees out in western Massachusetts are planning a sort of a sha rebellion march on the table because
they're so tired of being told how hard it is in Boston and how much they've got to to spend money on. You people here are trying to struggle just to give a basic adequate education. And I would thank the JO that this is a
constitutional obligation that you have to fulfill and the state department of education is already looking into districts who are failing to meet you on their school spending on that. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. James,
>> can I speak? I'm not a res buter here. >> I would like you to speak. Yeah, please. >> On numbers, I was administrator here for 9 years. So I was part of the budget making process with the previous principal. The number in 202021 our
school enrollment was 565. It's now 538. So if you were to take that deduction in the past 5 years probably our average class size would drop one student. I know since 2021 I think the only thing that would have asked for and Dr. crew,
you could you could correct me here is we added some subseeparates. We had two subsearate programs to bring our Halifax students back >> and we added I think a speech the following was part-time to support those subs separates. I believe we did a part
time after that. I think in the meantime in the last five years we have dropped several pair of professionals, >> dropped several teachers, our specialists have been cut. So I know that the enrollment looks like it's
going down, but we've also made sacrifices because of that. So if I look at the past 5 years, we've lost 30 students, but we've lost several staff members. And our teachers are fantastic. You just heard Principal France say there were only nine states that hit
their preandemic levels in language arts. Our teachers are working their tails off and I don't know if we can continue to have success if we continue to make these cuts and just just speaking cuz I sat there for 10 years at that table and the past several years
it's been we need to make cuts, we need to make cuts, we need to make cuts and we've really sacrificed a lot in the past few years. So I think instead of the word getting out that oh the enrollment is dropping the staffing is dropping as well. I think that's important. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Can I just add one more thing? I just can't I I just can't get off of this notion. Um I want to really thank the folks from the finance committee because we have a tough job but you have a really tough job. Uh in town meeting no
one wants to sit in your seat. Um it is a really difficult night for all of you and so I I appreciate the service that you give to the town um because it's a very difficult job and coming to these meetings and asking tough questions is um needed. Um, but I keep coming back
around in my mind to, you know, I've lived in this town for over 23 years and I've had two children go through the entire Sol Lake system and graduate and, you know, love, love, love this community, love the town, love our schools. Um,
one thing I know for certain about the community of Halifax is they like the right to make decisions for the town. They take town meetings seriously. They like to have control. They want to make sure that they have a voice in the
direction of the town and how decisions are made. Um, and so I appreciate you asking those difficult questions and asking for people from this group to come to town meeting to tell those stories. But I think a real important
point to make is in a town of people that want a say in what happens in their community, do you want to risk the state setting your tax rate because you didn't comply with net school spending? you can
say, "I don't want an override. I don't want um to set this budget." If we put the school at risk, you are putting the entire town at risk of setting a different tax rate. The the community would be better served to make a
responsible decision to support a budget that meets next school spending. So, so net school spending is from all accounts hard to wrap your arms around, right? It's a the same gives you a number, but there's I think it's a
through m of the different deductions you can use for a town to knock that number down. And please explain me because I'm not I'm not a great number. Um, Stephanie provided us with a great
email. By the way, Stephanie, I think you're going to be a huge asset to this. I can already tell the volume what's going on, but I just didn't know if the net school spending number we're providing tonight looked at all of the possible deductions that we can make as
a town to try to knock that number down. Um, I know the first three, um, I think were were considered, but I was wondering about like D through M so that we could try to get that number down. Um, and again, it sounds like we're trying to under education and not, but I
I'm sitting here just laughing like like we have one of the issues that we're looking at is going down one ambulance. So for that ambulance is out and being used and somebody needs an ambulance. It could be 20 minutes before we get an ambulance facility and that could be a matter of like 2 hours. 2 hours exactly.
So So I know we're speaking passionately about the school. I love this school. These are some of the best teachers I've ever I've ever met. I'm sitting next to a right here. But what I but what I need to try to make sure we're getting is that number
is at survival. that's swallowable for the time and I offer out to anybody I we can give you the you come up with a plan because we're we're looking at awful options in every department you know losing police help you know making our
streets I don't want to say unsafe but but not as not as controlled as we need as we probably need not having the services of emergency response so I'm hoping that we have um that net school spending number as close as we can get
it so that we're not going over that net school spending number where we could use it to keep another ambulance in in in the fire station. Um, and then I guess my second question is if we do vote that number that's being presented tonight, um, what is it looking like as
far as layoffs here at the school, uh, loss of FTEES? If the number that's being presented tonight is >> if we, that's a question I also have also. If we went down to just the net school spending, which is basically level funded plus
>> 56,000 >> 56,000. Okay. It's >> is it? >> Yeah. 56,289. >> Okay. >> So, we're looking at uh an additional um
HTA or two support positions if you went net school spending. >> One one HTA. Is that what you said? >> Yeah. approximately one HTA position, possibly two depending upon unemployment. So it might be like an hta
plus a parah for example, but those are estimates. Aren't we down to the lowest amount of paras for our IEPs already? I um I just caution we have to make sure
we make maintenance of effort which means we have to meet a certain level of special education funding um commensurate with where we were you know going into this year if there were students that moved to middle school with you know an out of district
placement I'd be able to deduct that but if we don't do that then you're at risk of losing the $180,000 that we get in the 240 um grant. So, we just have to make sure that we maintain um where special education is. Um but I do think we've
tried to make sure we've looked at all of our service delivery. Okay. The school's cut every year since I've been on school committee and I think I'm on year five now. Cut every single year.
So, I just want to put that out there, too. And do we have enrollment numbers for kindergarten by like just like estimates yet? Do we have any estimates? >> 85. >> 85. And that's estimated. >> Mhm. >> Cuz I know there's like eight in primary
drive alone. It's going to be up. It's going to be one year for those kindergarten teachers. I'm telling you, cuz mine's coming. Um, so the number spending is really complex. Um, I just basically got the
number off of the website, uh, which is a breakdown of the chapter spending money that the town gets from the state and then also the required contribution from the town, which is the property taxes. Um, and just know that the estimate that's up there is just the
preliminary number because the budget hasn't been voted yet. So, there's potential for the number >> to increase or decrease. >> It's also to go up. So, probably a slight increase.
I had a running way. I want to as we interrogate all these potentialities with the budget, if we do if we were to move forward recommendation that you guys move forward recommendation for uh tuition
for kindergarten, is does that actually affect our net school spending? we'd actually have to spend more in order to meet next school spending because as my understanding is is it that the tuition for for kindergarten would not be able to be used to meet the net school
spending number? Does anyone know the answer to that? >> That is our understanding. >> Stephanie, am I correct? >> Yes, because the number isn't guaranteed. So what we gave was just an
on um participation rates. So if it's less than what we proposed then the money would be below again spending. >> So net school would so okay uh if these if we got $100,000 that number out for
kindergarten would Halifax end up would that affect the number for our next school? We we as a town would be required to pay more in net school spending because of that tuition money coming in would be less.
How would that work? >> Um I would probably have to get back to you on that. I don't think we would have to pay more. Um I think the national spending number that is it. So if we earn more then we don't really need to
increase um the operational budget for the school. Could you check to batch? Thank you very much. >> I don't think that's true. >> Just have a point. Uh Stephen all the
time. Just had a point of uh clarification for revolving accounts. So right now the busing and kindergarten revolving accounts are limited at $50,000. So those dollar amounts were given out earlier. In order for us to change those
amounts, I'll need to alter them on this year's board so they can be approved at much higher amounts for next year. In the event the school would like to do something with this unless they have to do this, you cannot go beyond the
capital max of the account. So, in order for us to be able to get upwards of $200,000 revenue, we're going to have to set those according just so you guys let me know so I can get into the warrant. >> Is there
we go to print on the board of finalizing the warrant for print on April 6th, 7th or 8th. So, I'll have to have that number by then. I mean, I we can put it in at anything. It just it doesn't say that any amount of money will actually go into the account during
that vote. It just says this is the new just anybody else. So, just looking up on the website, um, if the town taxpayers pay for full day kindergarten through
school budget, those expenditures can be counted toward the district's net school spending, >> but I don't know what the source is. >> That's what the town is. >> Yes. >> Is it the mass department? I think so.
So right now we're just voting in the budget. We're voting and then we're going to work on the >> opposite. So no, we won't reduce our budget if we add potential funding
our budget >> because tonight we have to vote in either level service level or or a number. We have to vote in a number tonight. >> You have to vote a number this evening. >> Yeah. But we're not going to we're not going to be able to vote in school buses and kindergarten tonight. >> If if in fact you were to say you wanted
to move forward with that, you still wouldn't know the amount because the reality is is we don't know how the the people will respond. So you may be bringing in additional re revenues, you may not depending upon how it falls
and who participates. So you you need to v vote a budget number tonight regardless of whether or not you choose to pursue the buses or the full day half day payment. So, we're looking at our bill services,
right? >> And the difference between what the state says we have to pay for the students, there's only a difference of $15,672, >> right? I'm I'm sorry. We if you go further down on the Massachusetts
Department of Education, it says if parents pay for tuition for the second half of the day, which is what we're proposing, >> that money is typically excluded from net school calculations. >> Okay. >> So, we're both right and we're both
wrong, but because of the the way that we're calculating, >> you have to offer free kindergarten >> for half day >> for half day. You don't have to offer full day, right? So you have to offer kindergarten. So that's why. >> But if you if you require that people pay for the half day, the additional,
then you can't count that towards net school spending, >> which is the extra money for the town, >> right? >> Sorry, just wanted to clarify that before we got too far down the rabbit hole. So I'm sorry, could you rephrase your question? I was just so when I'm
looking at the what the budget is for or projected for the level the services level services budget it's only it's 58,000 more than in some change $617 >> than level funded >> more than what the funding that the
state's saying that we need to meet right and so the 89 the 898,715 which is what the state says which would be our student net funding So I think so my thought process is like
did we think or gone through this budget or could be a fiscal or any anybody um to go through to look at the different things that we still have like that we the percent of our budget that we haven't used from last year and like is it still in there like I was looking at
one position. So at the at the end of the school year, any monies unspent are returned to the town. >> But if we didn't spend it this last year or if we're not spending it now so far, right? Would that be maybe something that we might be able to eliminate to minimize what our
>> No, we don't we can't use it budget for FY27. Like for example, an unfilled position for some reason knowing that the position is supposed to be filled, we budget for FY27. So, we can't spend FY26 money in FY27 and we've accounted for all the positions and things we need
to pay for in FY27. >> The money we give back to the town, we don't get back right away. >> But I guess the question is if we're looking at this budget here and we haven't spent it, can we think about if we need to add that into not not add the money into, but do we still need to budget for that position? If we didn't use it last year, can we maybe is that
maybe something that we can >> So, so let's let's be careful because let's take for example um the school psychiatrist or school psychologist. Um we weren't able to fill the position.
So, we still had things that had to be done by a school psychologist, but we had to go out for contract services, which is a lot more money than just hiring someone for the position. So, yes, we would prefer that if we're going
to cut a position that it be a position that um comes through a retirement if possible or things of that nature um when possible. But first and foremost are the students needs. So if someone retires but class sizes are 30, we're
probably still going to look to replace that teacher because we don't want this the class size to go beyond 30, for example. So it depends um it depends on what the position is, what the needs are, and whether it's more expensive to
pay for contracted services to have those needs met. And that makes sense. But when we're like looking at the budget, don't we budget for contracted services and do we budget for the position as well and potentially within what we're using? >> No. Not nec not necessarily.
>> No. >> No. We have a contract services budget. But sometimes what you'll see is that if we're unable to fi fill the position, you'll see that the salary line is underspent, but the contract services line is overspent. And >> so that at the end of the year then
those lines are reconciled. >> Okay. That makes sense. >> But we don't double count as a as a practice. >> Okay. >> At this point, I kind of almost feel like we're all talking in circles >> and avoiding the the real thing. We
can't really go below the what this the school needs. Correct. like we can't we can't do it. It's just not something we can do and it's 50,000 off from level service. >> I'd like to make a motion that we put
forth a budget of $8,96,715 which brings us to net school spending. So question same thing we have conversation about that. So say that we do that right. So now we have to go back and look at the budget everything to make sure is like procedurally is this how it works. If we vote in that budget
do we have to go back to the budget that has already been similar to like the print out summary to >> Nope. We what will happen is if this is the number that you vote, Stephanie will update the the financials and put those in to reflect the number that was voted
so that you can see all the line items based. we have already we already know that we're going to need to make reductions um and where those reductions will come from because we presented those to you in previous presentations
um in terms of what we will reduce in order to meet that number question and this might be stupid might have already been answered but I'm tired um if we thanks Tara um say we vote on this
And then it find we find out that we do not have three kids that we have now allocated to go into the tech schools. >> Then we can save items that we would have cut. >> So it might in that we allocate how
much? 77. Is that what I heard? How much do how much is three kids going? >> Cost 70,000. >> 70,000. So what does that Okay. So it almost it almost washes. It almost washes. So we wouldn't have to cut anything.
>> If we vote in this number, we can't go over it, but we can go below it. Correct. >> Or is that not If we vote in one number, we can't say, "Okay, now we want to go higher." But like we can't change the number. >> Well, you can I defer to the town, but
there are things that can be done on the town floor that you can amend a number. um in either way, up or down. That's my understanding. >> Yep, that is correct. The the budget that's voted on on the town floor is the
final budget. You guys are making your proposed suggested budget to that town >> because so here's my thing. The level service is only 50,000 over the net school spending, which is basically the two kids that are not going or could not
go. We don't know. They could go. We could have five of them, but we don't know this. Last year we left out with only one. Correct. One out of the three that were budgeted for. We always budget for three. Last year only one went. This year we only have one going. There's seven days for them to say that they're going to go or not.
I would like to make a motion that we that we go forward with level service at 8 8,147,229 and maintain our our happy school here. That is already not happy. We've already cut everything we can cut at this point. We like
our our specialists are 08 0.9. Are we 0.9? >> Three out of five are point8. >> Yeah. 08. >> I I don't I mean >> I'm sorry. The other two um >> they're they're pulling extra duties. >> Yeah.
>> Pulling extra duties. >> Um I think we've cut over and over again. And I just I mean in my opinion I feel like we the school needs to put their foot down at some point because if you ask us to cut this year, you're going to ask us to cut it next next year. And then where I we have 52% of
the budget is the school, but the town is the school. The future is the school. Like we have nothing else. We literally don't have anything else in this town. Like I said, we got a couple pot shops. We've got a Walmart. We don't even have a stop and shop anymore. We have a school. Nobody's going to want to move here. I was a real for 10 years. People move to
towns and we don't we have no highways near us either. People don't want to move here. We have a school with small classroom sizes. If we lose that, we lose people wanting to move here. >> So, I believe you have two motions on the table. And I don't know if you have any seconds.
>> No seconds. two different motions. >> And so potentially, >> no pressure, Jody. >> So potentially, I mean, you live at 50,000, so um we can make that up even if we end up doing something like charging for busing or something like that. Potentially nothing. Well, but I
>> we could find it. I mean, we might not, but we we could find it. I mean, unfortunat we found it last year in an unfortunate way that is now not helping our town, but we couldn't cut what they wanted us to cut last year and keep the school. Can't cut the gym off the school. It's
part of the school. We got to hate it. Like, this is what it is. I would second the motion to um propose the level service budget. >> I can roll call. You can call >> number
>> 8,147,229. Correct. >> Let's double check. >> I'm looking at this level right. Sorry. >> This one right here. >> Yep. >> So, wait then my >> that's outdated I believe before this uh
shared cost. >> So that's off by 60 60,000 right? >> It's on the board. >> It's everywhere guys. It's everywhere. Um I So the second is the number is
8,157,387. Second motion. >> Roll call. Jody. >> Yes. >> Lori. >> Yes. >> And I am a yes. >> It passes. >> Thank you.
>> Just ask is the committee considering the cost of the half or is that >> I think we should talk about >> I think that's something to definitely talk about. I think because we have to get this number out. I think that's I'm considering all I mean I've been saying track for buses since I got on 5 years
ago. >> You know if you're going to make to to invest to look at >> to look at it. Do we want to look at it today or can we do that today? >> Discussion if we >> I'd also like to know like some input from educators for as to what the it
would be beneficial for kindergarten. Yeah, the one thing I think we should make a motion to or instruct to do is to um ask for the revolving account to be increased tonight to put that in place so that you have the flexibility to make
that decision. Um and then in terms of those two measures, the only question that I would have would be is there a risk that we could incur more expenses if we don't have enough participation rate? >> Yes. So that that I think is something
that needs more conversation um before we vote on it. And you only have three people from the committee here tonight. So um probably need more more information. >> Yeah. >> Um sure. I'm I'm not sure what other
information we can provide you. Um I would say that educationally we do not uh the administrative should the administrative team does not support half day. >> We support full day for years. The state
also encouraged full day by providing a number of grants which helps us to reach that goal. I don't foresee those grants coming back anytime soon should you want to restore full day. and we can't guarantee you the revenues.
Um, in terms of busing, I'm not sure what else we can give you because again, until parents sign up, >> um, again, we've we've broken it down by the the the categories that students may fit into, which is correct. Yep. Which
will influence how much they have to pay and how much revenue we can bring in. Ultimately, um this will be a either could be a a hardship for families. So again, it it is up to the committee whether or not they think that the
amount that we could potentially generate is worth the impact to students and families. Yeah, I think my bigger concern would be that you go through the process of setting all this up, you don't have the results that you need to make it
worthwhile. It costs you more money and you have children that are getting, you know, there's inequity. >> Mhm. I don't Yeah, I don't love the the kindergarten because I feel like it's not going to end up working out correctly for most. I think it's going
to be the kids that qualify for it as far as IEPs and things of that nature. They're going to it's going to be stacking those classroom with those kids, unfortunately. And then it's going to the other kids aren't going to come out on top of that. >> I think those kids probably need it, too. I don't know if it's >> Well, I'm not disagreeing.
>> No, no, no. I know you're not. I just think, you know, I think that you're going to have families that can't afford it >> opt out. And that's the bigger concern. I've been up with a lot of families, not even that can't afford it, but just >> that just don't want to do it.
>> Won't keep my kid home one more year. Yeah. So, I think there's lots of >> I I like the bus. I still I still think the buses are worth it. I think our buses are insane already after we dropped them. Another cut that we have done was we cut buses. Um, and it's been
nothing but problems. I mean, you can ask Brian. I'm sure that he gets a lot of kids on >> those buses. There's a lot of kids and a lot of kids in the principal's office due to those buses and a lot of cameras being looked at due to the service thing here. So, yeah. Um I mean, I'll tell
you, Mike's been one of them, but it's just it is three boys. Um but I think I think the bus thing could could help us out. >> I agree. I agree. I look like that already. It seems like
we're going to end up in the negative if we implement that, which would kind of, you know, that we wouldn't necessarily make as much money with the public program. So, no, it's going to put us in a worse a worse position than we are now. >> So, the committee needs to consider what they would like to impose as a bus fee
and whether or not they want to make a motion tonight or if they want to hold until the next meeting. >> I think we should make a motion to hold it because Lauren's not here. our true our true chair, okay, is not here and I think that she should have a say in it, but I like to make a motion to put it on
for next meeting. >> Okay. >> Did you make a motion? >> And you don't you don't need a motion to put this on the next agenda. >> I think that could help offset some things. What is excuse me, like excuse
me if I'm wrong with this. I don't know if I have the actual numbers. How many kids are do we have? How many kids are within the district within the one mile, 2 mile, whatever those rate like how many kids would we end up being able to charge? >> Um, we if you look at the >> We had that before, but I don't know if it's in the slide. >> It's in this. It's in the folder if you
want to call it up. >> Where is it? >> Oh, right here. Right. No, wait. 142 >> 142 >> between one and two miles >> or between >> Oh, I knew I saw it. >> So, it's that
>> uh what slide is that? >> Within one mile and you have to give them within further than two miles. Within one mile 61, between 1 and 2 miles 132, and beyond 2 miles 318,
>> ineligible students 1834 beyond, right? >> When you say ineligible, that's children who wouldn't be required to pay. >> Yes. Because if they're in within those miles, they have they would have to we
we don't have to provide transportation. put into the ineligible students even though they're >> so 318 >> they will still get it for free because of the production special >> I think anywhere between those first two
I think I mean >> we're talking about this later though right? >> Yes. Okay. >> Mhm. But that's where you can find all of the details. >> It's in the packet this evening. Okay, we moving on.
>> So, that concludes budget. >> That concludes budget. Um, >> okay. I believe Stephanie will um work on updated language for the complete vote and we can return to that later. But we have the unless you have all of the numbers worked out for us for the last
slide. >> Okay. So if you go to the last um the last slide in the budget presentation the language >> I haven't presentation >> that's number. >> Okay. >> And I can just fill it in here, right?
>> Y okay. What's the number? So, uh, remember for the first two lines amount, am I looking at this thing right here, right? >> Yep. The level service amount would go in here.
>> Okay. >> And here. >> Okay. >> Which is >> I'm sorry. 8 million 157,387. >> Okay. >> And it goes in there. >> Yep. >> Okay.
>> The offsets will remain the same. And then >> the offsets are incorrect though on your print out. It should be Oh, maybe they're right. >> These are here. >> That's correct. >> This is all correct. Those are all
correct. >> Okay. >> And the final approved. >> The final approval for expenditures would be 8,582,000 $3. >> Okay.
Okay. I can make the motion, right? >> Yes. >> Can we just slowly do this? >> Yes. >> Thank you. I will make a motion to move that Halifax School Committee approves 8,157,381
as the fiscal 2027 local education budget operating budget and further that the total appropriation of 8,157,31 it's one not seven right seven crap >> $8,157,387 7
as the fiscal 2027 local education budget operating budget in the further that the total appropriation of8157,387 is in compliance. >> So you got you got the last number wrong for the level service. So you said uh
381 and it's 387 for level service. I know. I I just repeated I changed it. >> Okay. >> Did everybody get that? Should I read it again? I'll just read it again. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Move that the Halifax School Committee approves 8,157,387. Right. Okay. as the fiscal 2027 local
education budget operating budget and further that the total appropriation of 8,157,387 is in compliance with education reform acts of 1993. Further, the school committee directs the superintendent to allocate the following additional
funding sources which totals $424,616. Fiscal year 27 anticipated circa breaker special education reimbursement of $324,615 and anticipated fiscical year 27 grant and revolving account funding totaling $100,000.
The final approved expenditures for the school will be 8,582,3 >> second. Somebody second me. I second that motion. >> Now you have to vote. >> Roll call vote. Jody, >> yes. >> Lori, >> yes.
>> And I'm a yes. >> Thank you. Okay. And now we're going to go to executive. >> Yes. >> And now we're going to go back in the order of the meeting um and adjourn to executive session. >> Can I get a motion for that?
>> I'll make a motion to be adjourned to go to executive session. Thank you. >> Do we have to say all the numbers? >> Yeah, we have to vote. Yeah, we have to vote. >> Yeah, but we have to say we didn't say to do it >> motion. It depends. >> Thank you.
>> Our budget in first doesn't get any better and tomorrow they're voting the number. We've got that same choice to make. So, good luck. >> Good luck. Good luck to you too. >> Thank you. >> I checked the Affordable Care Act. So
>> this a motion that we adjourn to executive session pursuant to MGLC 30A S2 to conduct strategy session in preparation for collective bargaining HGA grievance. PAR professionals to discuss strategy in preparation for
negotiations. teachers February 23rd PD day cafeteria aids substitute raid because the chair so declares an MGL7 to comply with any general or special law approval of executive minutes of
December 8th 2025 January 26 2026 February 24th 2026 and to return to open session >> second moved vote Yes, >> Jody. >> Lory, >> I'm a yes.
>> Executive. >> Okay, >> we are back. Um, do I have to say anything? Do I have to vote to Oh, we have to make a motion to come back to regular meeting. >> Yes, >> you you did that in executive. >> So, we're good now. >> So, we're back. >> Okay.
>> And we're on number four. >> Um, school committee correspondents, school committee chair. I don't have anything, right? >> None. >> None. Perfect. Um, consent agenda. Does anybody want to make a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> I'll make a motion that we approve the consent agenda.
>> Um, okay. That includes the flyers. >> So, yeah, >> I'm okay with the pliers. >> Is what it is. Are you okay with that? >> Okay. Um, roll call. >> Yes.
>> Jody, Lori, I am a yes. Um, new business par contract and possible vote. >> We're not we're not >> we're not ready for that. Present a contract for vote. >> Okay. Uh, cafeteria aid substitutes rates and discussion and vote. Um just want to propose what we spoke
about in um executive session to align the cafeteria substitute rates to $19.7 for the Halifax step one and then going forward they will align with the Halifax Paris step one um hourly rate.
I would make a motion to approve that and go ahead with bringing that up to >> and as just for everyone listening it comes out of the revolving account does not impact the operating budget at all. So it's self sustaining and um it can be
funded. >> I would second that motion. >> Jody, >> yes. >> Lori, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes. >> Budget was already voted. >> Budget's good. Um unfinished business full we haven't done the full region regionalization >> updates on that.
>> Okay. Um administration reports. >> Yeah. >> Um >> Brian. >> Hi. >> Please. >> So um this week we're excited to have the PTO putting on the annual book fair. Very chat for that. They're currently working at it as we speak. And also we
have parent teacher conferences coming up on Thursday. So, if you are a parent at the school, please make sure to pick a time to come in for your parent conference. There was a slight modification to the report card schedule because of the week of school that we missed. Um, I want to give a really big
shout out to the town, to the fire department, to the custodian staff um for working very hard to um to get our school up and running um after a historical uh historic um winter storm. Um so, a big shout out to them.
Uh let's see. Early release is also on Thursday because of the parent teacher conferences. Um uh Brenda Lassard, our music teacher and band um person. Uh she brought high she brought our sixth graders to the high school for
a special district performance last week that really highlighted the importance of band and music within our schools. we have MCCAST coming up and really emphasizing within the heroic herald um the importance of that of that exam and making sure that um you know kids are
ready to take it, make sure that they're ready in the rooms and making sure that they are um up to snuff because of how well we've done in the past. And it's a really really important uh benchmark test too that we utilize and review for data for next year um to make sure that we're hitting everything that our kids
need. So, it's a very very important test that we need to uh that we need to take. We have we did a St. Patrick's Day um celebration the other day. Um it was great having everybody here and their kids celebrating those pieces. Um
kindness month, we're putting the eye in kind where kids are being randomly popular kind acts and we're really emphasizing the small things because what you pay attention to grows. The more we pay attention to things that are great, the more things those will blossom and kids it's contagious and
things will move on. Uh we also are bringing back and have brought back the Halley heroes which teachers are able to nominate kids. Um it was last month and this month for kindness specifically kids are uh at the end of the month kids are given a certificate as well as a wristband and take a picture with myself
and the assistant principal uh for their success on keeping uh Halifax kind and making sure that they were doing the right things. We continue to implement HMH uh schoolwide for our new math curriculum to make sure that kids have an equitable opportunity for math and
it's been really successful. And thank Dr. Clifford and uh Brian Santis who is the curriculum uh curriculum go-to guy for me um who's been very very helpful especially during the ELA curriculum cycle that we're currently implementing now as well um and the hard work that
Dr. Clifford has been doing. That's all I got. >> Thank you, Brian. You're >> welcome. >> I appreciate the um the quickness to that. That was great. Thank you so much. At 9:00 at night, um Stephanie Hatton, please.
>> Director of any anything to >> do? No. >> Nope. Usually, uh we just keep it there in case there's any updates. Um the the financials were presented in the um >> yeah you kind of already did your you already did your thing with the budget.
I think I got I got to say your name anyway. >> Um Dr. Treasure Clifford. I'll be very brief tonight. Um we had a professional day planned for February 23rd. Much of what we had planned that day we did on March 12th which is the early release
day. Um, also we have um a consultant consultants that will continue to um work with teachers here on HMH, which Brian spoke about, but also we're um field testing two ELA programs, CKLA and
Wonders, and the teachers are doing that now. Um, and at the April 16th um joint school committee will provide um data, middle of the year data um for all of the schools including Halifax Elementary. That's it. Thank you so
much, Dr. Pru. I have two items for your consideration and possible vote tonight. The first is the 2026 2027 school year calendar. Um, you'll notice that we have tried our best to keep all of the dates similar to the way that they fell last year to the extent possible. You'll
notice that the first day of school would be September 2nd. And you'll also notice that the last day of school would be the June 17th, provided that there are no emergency days. If there are any cancellations, um we could go as late as June 25th. That's the five days of
built-in um calendar days that we include on every school year calendar. Um you'll notice that our uh professional development days are going to be held on an inservice day uh
November 3rd elections and uh on and on September 1st uh for state elections inservice day. This is because our schools um not just in Halifax but in our other towns are often used as um polling places. So
um I'm looking for your approval and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have for the 26 27 school calendar. I just have a question. >> Mhm. >> Um so we are going Never mind. My question is stupid. I'm taking it back.
>> Okay. Sorry. Sorry. >> I'm happy with the calendar. >> Motion. Is there a motion? >> Um, I make a motion to accept the school district calendar. >> I'll second. >> Jody, >> yes.
>> Lori, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes. The second item is the meeting schedule for the Halifax School Committee. It's listed here in gold. you'll see that one date would occur on a um Tuesday. So, we've highlighted that because that's not typically the the
night that we vote. Um that's the closeout that we hold and we usually hold that remotely um so that uh people can attend just for that specific agenda item. That's not a full usually a full committee meeting. It's usually uh just
focused on the closeout. In addition, you'll see the joint committee dates listed here. Um, November is typically the budget presentations. In February, we have the shared cost budget vote and then in April, we usually have the district annual update
with regards to our district-wide goals. I am looking for um a motion to approve uh the meeting schedule as presented. >> Motion to approve it as presented. >> Second. >> Are there any questions?
No. Jody, >> yes. >> Lori, >> yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you everyone. >> Uh, subcommittee reports, admin review, did they meet? >> Not yet. >> Okay. Uh, pack
>> um follow up. >> Okay. >> Uh, so once in between the board of directors needing to do a treasurer evaluations for their treasurer. So the board of directors, it went out and they haven't come back yet. So that meeting our last meeting was canceled due to the snowstorms. Um and then they did a
second read and approval of all the policies relating to the board of directors. Uh and then regular other policies regarding um throughout the school like all pack policies are cons consistently reviewed throughout the school. So nothing else has been identified at this point for needing
review. Um and then the school the student the personnel policies will be what they're going to review next. So no schedule for that. Other updates is uh DC accepted the PAC's annual audit and reported back to PAC that they satisfied all state requirements and documents can be found
on their website. Uh and then the pack was awarded a grant from DC in the amount of $50,000 for supporting implementing updating regulations regarding timeout practices. Um the last is improvements continue to happen at
the pack standalone building pilgrim academy in Plymouth to include the installation of a playground this June in building improvements such as new flooring and security block systems and that was provided by um Becky from >> Thank you.
>> What's that? >> Sure. Thanks. Uh, Union 31, >> April 16th is our next schedule meeting. >> All right. Negotiations. >> Um, we are still working through negotiations with PAR professionals.
>> All right. Capital budget >> presented this evening as part of the overall budget presentation. >> Policy did not meet. Correct. Uh, youth and wreck. That was me from Mr. Dick Steel.
Um, we're planning our 27th annual egg hunt for this Saturday, March 28th. As in the past, we all go out. Please, as in the past, we go all out. Please see our website flyer for more information. 4,000 eggs, 300 kids. It's
all free. Two, the very popular after school school programs are finally up and running. Please check the Halifax Youth and Wreck website for programs and more info. I would also like to thank the head custodian Bob Clancy, Ellen Kenny, and Brian Prena for their help. Three, travel and in town basketball have completed their winter seasons this
past week. The rec department would like to thank the gym monitors, custodial staff, school administrators, players, and parents for keeping the area in good shape. The wreck would especially like to thank electrician and dad Andrew um Kur Nano, I'm sorry for butchering that completely, for saving our scoreboard
toward the end of the season. Because of a very generous donation, the school will have a new scoreboard installed over April vacation at no cost to the school to steal and PTO. That's me. Wonderful woman back there. Um have done so much since the
last time that we've met. So for the holiday season, they did a holiday staff lunch. They gave candy cane treats to the kids. For Valentine's, they had a Valentine's Day breakfast for the staff. They gave carnations to the kids. Um for donations they've made donations to the nurse's office um funded field trips for
each grade and deliver Oh and then during the um the break they had a delivery of Clorox wipes, paper towels, tissues and hand sanitizers delivered to the school uh for 40 classrooms. So that's huge. Um and they also made donations for the field upcoming field
day as well. Um, and then for February, they did gift cards for all the bus drivers and the custodians for the extra work that they did during the snowstorm. Um, and they also gave a gift card to officer Simpson to recognize him for the school resource officer appreciation
day. Um, and then the book fair is this week and they did the PJ fundraiser last week for the book funds for additional funds. So, so much. Thank you. love our PTO.
Um, >> yeah, >> days to remember. Thank you everybody for that speedy section. Um, March 26, uh, early release K through 6 at 12:30. April 3rd is Good Friday, no school. April 16th, joint
meeting for Silverlake and Union 31. April 20th to the 24th is spring vacation. April 27th is the next Halifine School Committee meeting and I would take a motion to adjurnn. >> I will make a motion to adjourn.
>> Second. >> Jody, >> yes. >> Lori, >> yes. >> I am a yes. >> Thank you everybody. >> Thank you.