to the fact we just wrapped up an executive session This meeting is being recorded and will be made available for viewing on the Mthuan Public Schools website Uh Secretary would you please call the role member Daglio present Member Dunovan
here Member Keegan present Member Maxwell present Member Shabilia here Member Wlette here Mayor Borgod here We need a motion and a second to accept the agenda as presented for March 31st 2025
Motion from member Shabilia Second is from the vice chair Discussion There's no discussion Will vote All those in favor say I I Opposed The eyes have it Now we will rise for the flag salute
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 Next is public participation
Uh we do have uh some comments that were submitted electronically Uh does anyone else though before we do that have any public comment if not we will read into the record the content that was submitted All I attempted to compare the
proposed budgets by measuring a few key metrics However the information provided in the packet and previous year's budget packets were not sufficient to compare to prior actual expenditures The chart of accounts in the education budget expenditures is severely lacking in
definition and organization There are no delineations between fixed and variable cost or delineation between expenses and labor related expenses and labor salaries Additionally there are no mappings from the numbers presented in the provided packets to the cost centers
or accounts in the general ledger And this prevents my comparison or understanding of how the presented expenditures will affect the finances of the city There are no discussions in the packet about school performance or how the expenditures from the previous year affected school performance or the
forecast of how these planned FY26 expenditures will affect school performance A significant portion of the FY25 budget was paid out to a vendor to vendors and consultants through contracts However there are no discussions of contracts their
performance and no visibility into which items in the final budgets and actual expenses are sent to vendors through contract vehicles Our contract performance goals established are key key performance indicators established and monitored in
cost plus contracts Are the cost adequately evaluated promptly essentially are there vendors performing their services as required and how can you show your work in CY24 the city of Methuan's education department was proven unable to monitor
school performance as identified by the rodent issues and the heating failures both of which were distinct failures of supervision of either personnel performance or vendor performance FY26 is an opportunity for the city of MDUN education department to refocus on
results requests One provide the FY26 budget estimates in the same chart of accounts that is used to report actual expenditures at the city as seen in the transparency dashboard Two provide definitions for the usage of each account Three provide a view of the FY26
budget that categorizes expenses into at least three organizational classes labor contract general expenses Four provide information about the contractor's contract performance for any contracts that will be funded through the budget Five provide an example provide an
explanation as to the department will use the FY26 funds to prevent the cat catastrophes that were witnessed in calendar year 24 Bobby King my understanding is that the that's the only comment that was submitted electronically Uh so at this point we
will close public participation If you are unable to make a meeting in person for public participation you can send an email to Martha S Royce at masir o i s mthuan.k12.mma us before 3 p.m on the
day of a school committee meeting Uh so at this point uh superintendent I'll invite you to uh start the continued discussion uh regarding uh this uh look ahead at uh the fiscal year 26 preliminary uh budget document Um
just for the sake of discussion uh this is going to come up as a question I know uh we are still in the process the cafo and I are finalizing a number in terms of the city contribution We will get that to the superintendent this week drop dead this week uh deadline for that
Um I will say that there are a lot of other uncertainties that are at play namely regarding uh the availability of federal funding I know that we're still waiting on official word about what to expect uh in that uh regard And then
also uh what I will say is um I know there was a story in the paper about how this is a proposed $20 million increase uh to the uh proposed budget At this point you know we're having these initial discussions about what some of the needs and desires are going forward
for fiscal year 26 but uh I can say with uh you know we're going to have the number this week but we're certainly going to be significantly closer to net school spending than I think we're thinking of here Um but nevertheless we can begin the conversation with that as
background Okay So uh I have I did give everybody a packet of uh slides for tonight I did add a couple of slides based on some conversations since the posting of this Thursday So this has been reposted just the last few slides
Um again just some information that came from a few school committee members We might as well put it out there since I had it Um but basically the slides are in order uh of just uh trying to synthesize some of the requests from the school committee from the last meeting
information right I think this was information that was a lot to process uh and I do expect and if you don't I guess I I totally understand and if you do have more questions tonight that's also what we expect um to uh search and sort
of find other answers uh that you guys might have to your questions Um so this was uh one of the questions uh that came from member Keegan of which of the positions that we have on the books right now that are new are non-negotiable meaning that our service
delivery uh based on requirements So I have put those here so you can see from each school which positions those are and the total amount of dollars that those positions equal Um 26 of those are special education I kept the four ELE
ones in there because while they are not in an individualized education plan like special education uh without those additional staff we will not we will 100% be out of compliance for service delivery for our English learners Again
it's a little bit different Um but uh I just need to make sure that that is really clear for everybody Uh so I did leave those four requests uh in here that you'll see I also there's a note on the side
member Keegan had brought up as well that the narratives didn't seem to match with the program assistance that we were eliminating So uh that has been uh corrected and the narratives uh reflect an accurate reflection of the total number of program assistants coming out
of the K4 program if indeed we go ahead with constellations So I don't know if there's any questions about that slide or that information Member Keegan or anybody else Did that answer your question member Shabilia
So this is 1.3 million of net new positions needed to keep us in compliance Correct I know that you aren't prepared to answer this question but I'm ask it anyways of our budget now What is what is required to keep us in
compliance just do you know a percentage off hand like of the positions we currently have i don't have a number but I would say that current in the current FY25 budget anything that we haven't reduced because
of case loads and numbers which we've already gone through that process So you'll see in some of the schools last week we presented a reduction in I'm looking at uh resource room teachers in a couple of places just as kids move those numbers become smaller
Okay Um so we've already done that So we've done the case load part of that work with special education and any reductions that we felt were necessary have already happened So everything else that's currently in the budget or presented to you last week is what we
would need for compliance to actual for service delivery Any of the speech and OT request that's all part of this as well And this can change after October 1st This could change after today right yes
Thank you You're welcome Um and just to be clear that if we do not fund these positions then these students have to go out of district to get the services that we're required to give them and that would cost even more money Yeah So so yes on the we're
required to provide the services So one way or the other I mean that's some of these are onetoone nurses uh that I can't I can't replicate that in the district for some of the needs that the kids are have at this point Um but yes
if we can't service those those become compensatory services at some point Again these are all a little bit different Some of these are onetoone PAS So I h I I I won't be compliant with the students services if I don't have those
positions I know I don't I don't know which other I know you guys are trying to ask me to say it in different ways I don't I don't know how else to say it There are some of these position like I'm we're going to have to have these positions so I have to figure out how to get to give give to get Yeah
Yeah Um thank you Mr Chair Yeah I I know we have to fund these positions but also that like I said I'm not this is not negotiable but the problem also what it's going to cost us more money because finding people for these positions are also hard So we're going to be in that
situation anyways but I understand from the point I just want the public to know it's really hard to find these positions So we need that extra money anyways because we're going to be paying for out services until we get these people in the school So that's why just having
them there we at one point we could bring them back So I want people to understand that from both sides of that Any other questions if not we'll move on Okay So this was a a question a request from member Maxwell
I think just to break down uh I had it into three groups Students with special needs versus students with subsparate needs and non-subspparate needs So we had some of that in the narrative but it it we had some additional things in there So I basically just broke it down
into the three groups So if you look and I kept it with 21 versus uh 20 no current so five-year difference So the first uh line there the stu the SWD PK through 12 those are the total number of students with disabilities we have in
the district So 1395 in 2021 and 1581 this year Um the SS stands for subspparate So subsarate prek through 12 plus In 2020 we had 209 and this year we have
286 Uh and the non students non-subspparate special education kids make up the rest So I don't know if there are any questions on that information I have um I have some questions So it says students with disabilities Is that
is this IEPs and 504s no just IEPs So through the numbers that you provided the last uh meeting there were 13 1,380 students on IEPs Yep So th this would include out of
district students as well This is our total student population I can't forget about those as a total Um so this is actually the number of of students we have with IEPs the 1581 the 1380
Yes Okay Um so it's a total number So what what are I mean how many students are out of district 180 175 Um and how many of these um so I I guess
with the with the budget that was from last week and I guess with this slide here I you know I did write and ask about separating out the services provided of reading services or writing versus OT and speech
I think that that's critical for us to know because um I mean you know for instance we have the marsh who has 227 students on an IEP and we have 268 at the tim and I understand that the marsh has high needs
so I'm not suggesting that anything be taken or not given to the marsh but I think that obviously it looks like here that the tim is you know very underserved in comparison with their teachers So I'm just curious to see the
breakdown of um the actual services needed Yeah So um I did respond to your request on Friday in an email just saying that if we were going to do what you requested it would be every the seas would have to go through each IEP by
hand Um so there's a way that we can break it down a little differently It wouldn't be as specific as what you're looking for but it would be the data that we send to the state and I can get that It's definitely not going to be broken down by each student's grid with
how much service they receive We don't I don't have that I don't think the need of how much service um they need is as important as finding out how many have certain needs for certain services and do we have the staff to
service them so so the the budget that we're presenting to you has been developed with the seas the principles and GINA at every single school saying this is the service delivery requirements of the school by way of
teachers by by way of related service providers program assistance etc So everything that we're presenting is what is going to cover the service deliveries of each of the schools with what we presented to you last week I mean um I would I would just be
interested in seeing the breakdown because I think that that's like I said I think that's significant and I think that it's important for us to make that decision with the budget in mind I I feel like maybe we don't need certain positions or maybe
we do need more positions and and that is very interesting to me because I I want to make sure that every child is getting serviced the way that they should Also there are IEPs in our districts that are stay puts and there
are also IEPs that aren't currently being serviced So I would be interested in seeing those numbers as well because we have you know we have let's say 1300 IEPs How many of them are state puts and not actually being serviced
a state put doesn't mean that they're not getting serviced They're getting serviced by their most recent Sure Right Right Yes Um thank you But I think those numbers are important as well only because I think that the it kind of gives us an idea of how many
kids may be either on their way out or on um on your radar of needing more services or whatnot So I I guess I'm I'm still confused Yeah please I just want to make sure I get the request
is there on sorry when I met with the Tim staff we looked at all the services case load all of those pieces so for the Tim for the budget we're proposing an additional resource room teacher because the level of need for students that require the pull out resource room or
inclusion support is higher than in some of the other buildings whereas at the marsh Marsh we're asking for more staff to support the subspparate program but when we actually looked at their resource room services and levels we're reducing a a resource room teacher at
the marsh as well as the CGS So through the budget process and all those discussions those are all the things that we're looking at throughout the year to determine so that when we propose the budget we are increasing or reducing necessary levels of service
Okay I I mean I I still am interested to see the breakdown of what services are being needed versus what is not and what we have for staff and what we don't I I would still I mean I'm still interested in those numbers I think that that's
really important especially for this budget So I understand the breakdown We'll get you what we can Y I I'm still confused about what you're looking for for staffing So what we presented to you last week in the budget narrative has FY25 compared to FY26 Right I understand
that what you presented is what you think or the schools think would be most beneficial or yes that that is the desire of what that school needs I would like to see the need rather than the want So the breakdown of
those numbers are going to help us with the actual So I would say to you that anything special education rel related is a is a need not a one Okay I would still request the breakdown Okay
Any other questions or discussion if not we'll move on Okay Okay So this was a um request from member Wlette a historical breakdown of uh custodial and maintenance reductions
over the course of and we went with FY14 was the actual year that I could find the most reliable information by staffing Um so uh I went with FY14 compared to FY25 and within that time frame we are
17.5 less custodial and maintenance staff Um so I don't know if there's any questions about that Mr Chairman thank you Mr Chairman So in terms of the the grounds uh operations for the school
department Yep That does that entail in a municipal chargeback to take care of the grounds or are people doing double duty of our custodian building interior building exterior correct Our custodians duty Yes our custodians have taken on
some of the general grounds work groundskeeping around the buildings and then in the summer we do have um some contracted service that do the laundry lawn larger like lawn mowing and mulching and things like that But for the most part it's the custodians in the
building that do the preventative maintenance and stuff around the buildings So is there a municipal chargeback involved at all is there outside vendors that come in is it landscaping companies that Last year was the first time we
went out to bid for uh landscaping over the summer just because we didn't have the staff to really pull out of the buildings Um we did get a company out of LOL um that did five of our six buildings We did Branch Street ourselves Um and it was to the tune of like
$80,000 Way cheaper than hiring a three-man ground crew Okay Um they did a decent job They're willing to do it for the same price next year So we're in the process of locking them up for that next year Um there there is not an exact
chargeback from the city per se for mowing fields or anything like that They may do you know some of the bigger fields the baseball fields and stuff like that Um but we do get as as part of our um chargeback agreement um which needs to
be renewed but um it's been pretty consistent over the last years we do pay a certain percentage of the um DPW's total charges and I'll get the exact percentage of you It's not that high Um but that that includes trash removal and
things like that in in terms of like what was past 10 recommending to us in terms of reclamation of taking away the foliage and and bringing down trees and um is
that landscaping company doing those things cuz when I went to the Tim that No that is a they they do mowing weed whacking they do like a fall cleanup they come around they get you know all the leaves and they they do the beds and that kind of stuff That would be above and beyond Okay we do have tree
companies that we work with that that is in our it is in this budget to do it right away in July um under the uh extraordinary maintenance line So um but it's not the it's not that group Okay
And then um do we have a sense of like when the $4 million deficit took shape based on a prior superintendent um is that when we hit the wall in terms of the custodians because you're talking about a roughly a
10-year look back period So you have the final number versus the the prior number Um was the the $4 million deficit did is that when we really hit the custodial ranks or was it because we had again we
had two successive $8 million increases to to our budget due to the student opportunity act and I know the city had an obligation to pay down that school deficit because of a prior administration with the stu uh superintendent When did we hit that wall
with the custodians i mean I would say um it wasn't all at once I would say it was more gradual It was a peace meal Yeah it was a peace meal Um when we did have those years of the good funding nothing was cut or very little if you
know maybe a retirement we didn't refill if we felt it wasn't you know worth it But um for the most part it's been peace meal up until this point And then um I know with the the ice ring that's based on the revolving account and they get
paid out of that Correct Okay Now the lunch program I know it's it's kind of difficult because we're talking about federal versus state I know the state with the millionaires tax does have a revenue stream The federal we don't know It could probably be cancelled or
stimulus funding that ended Yeah Now the lunch program is that potentially or evolving to clean up the the lunch areas with those custodial crews or you have to be careful We do we do have a certain percentage of
um we have custodial support within the cafeterias so we can justify right now we pay two full-time custodians out of the cafeteria so districtwide And then what schools would those be at um what
we do is we we pick two we do half half of a custodian at four grammar schools is what we do so that it so that it's evenly when when the auditors come in they I can justify you know a 0.25 position to help clean
the calf wipe down the tables and that kind of stuff But it also I I don't want it to appear as though we're we're using the US government to fund all of our custodians No And again so that's why I'm just that's why we split it up and make sure it's a you know 0.25
at each building I'm sorry.5 at each building which equals uh two full-time custodians Yeah Well again the reason why I asked the question is is that one of the the schools was pretty even kill with the the maintenance crew from be
beginning to end in terms of the years we're talking about Another school had a reduction of of two another school had a reduction of one but another school had a reduction of uh three and another high school had a reduction of four I just
want to make sure if it's common sense of backfilling as much as possible that those two people are allocated to schools that have been kind of like reduced in terms of the workforce uh as opposed to rotating because again issues
arose and we need to be able to backfill and help with those situations Um I think one thing we did do in here is last year obviously we cut a a CGS custodian and we feel you know we cut too close to the bone I believe So first thing we wanted to backfill that and at
least make them whole be before we start adding additional to other places and and I would add as many as I could if I knew we had as much money as we we needed But again we got to have find a happy balance I believe And then um this
was something I mentioned during prior meetings in terms of the rental fees what it's being allocated for when's the last time it was visited Um again I only represent one voice one vote I want a hybrid approach maybe have uh cleaning
crew when we have vacation breaks or someone's on a sick leave or we have a depleted staff um that rental fee account especially with the Tim and the Tenny because those are hightra schools What exactly is that entail is that just
a repair internally the schools is it help with overtime does it could potentially help with the outside cleaning crew yep The uh it does both It helps with facilities to some degree buying supplies paper towels stuff for the bathrooms that get used and consumed
So we do make sure we back fill there It pays for all the overtime for custodians who are working those events It also pays for a full-time custodian out of central office Um we have a courier and a second shift custodian out of central office We use the funds from the small
gym at Branch Street to cover one of those salaries Um so yeah we do we do use those funds We're just careful how we do it Okay And when was the last time it was revisited with terms of the rental fees when was the last time we should probably rewrite the We should
probably rewrite the policy Okay It needs to be revisited We just need to find someone to revisit it Maybe uh Mazbo has a Yeah has a policy I appreciate Thank you Ian Thank you Mr Chairman
Any other questions or discussion regarding Here we go U member Daglio Yeah real quick Um um so when it comes to the grounds crew um again like I know
Wlette um covered it like I said going back when uh super the last superintendent was in office like I said we did volunteer work we did that again I feel like that is something we can capitalize help kids
maybe do an internship program I know money um is tight But like like I said I feel like with the $80,000 maybe we could put it towards that and get kids jobs working with the schools maybe potentially become a a
stream of baby custodians cuz I know that's how the last superintendent did it That's how she kind of found a little pipeline Um I don't know if we're interested in doing that or we have that type of capabilities right now I feel like if we can deplete
$80,000 and put it to something good we could think about doing that I I agree It would be great to get kids involved Um when we did do that we had three full-time staff members that we were paying um to the total of probably about $150,000 a year to supervise those
kids and make sure they were safe and then paying those kids on top of that Um we might be more interested maybe not this year with the vendor we have coming in but maybe next year we go out to bid for somebody who's interested in hiring a couple of our kids on their crew And
you know they add that to the bid and it's a little bit more but they're working for them they supervise them it's on their insurance but our kids are getting the skills they're getting the jobs they're getting the the income So maybe that's something we should look at for next
next fiscal year Not not 26 but 27 Yep Yeah Perfect Remember Dunovan i know we're all looking back at what used to be um when there was a lot more money around but I remember having the
grounds crew from the city side come and do some significant this was a while ago significant like the pruning the going around the buildings getting rid of the shrubs I don't know if that's feasible now but um and I think member who was it
for retro brought it up at our joint meeting I think it would not be a bad idea if it's feasible to utilize if I welcome the collaboration with the city What i welcome the collaboration with the city I mean we work well with a lot of the departments Um so how would
recreation You know exactly One handwashes the other How would we get that conversation started and I know we have to consider all the members involved So yeah I think you know there's there's always a better way of doing things right and um you know it doesn't hurt to
look back at things that have worked in the past and uh see how we can incorporate that potentially going forward as a way to streamline things as we plan for fiscal year 26 on the city side So maybe it could be brought up I I don't know how this convers we talk about it's a good idea but how can we
take the steps to maybe have a conversation to see if it's feasible I think at this rate you know I'm in the process of uh meeting with each department head to plan for fiscal year 26 So uh this is something that I can certainly bring back to to DPW
Member Wlette just a quick question through the chair to uh Ian when we have these vendors and landscaping companies and outside people coming onto our campus do they have to abide by the the Corey checks like any type of employee
and again I'm not a big fan of Corey should be the FBI database It's more comprehensive It's not state adjudication matters but do they go through uh Corey any type of vendors all all our vendors go through Corey check They don't have a Cy they they don't
have our buildings And then also um in terms of what the city council was doing work in conjunction with the mayor Do we know about like their tax status um and also in terms of E-Verify to make sure they're all on board Is that something
we as a committee should explore further i'm not sure the ins and outs of E-Verify but we do have to go on to the state There's a state website we have to go on to make sure that they're tax compliant and they haven't been uh debarred okay by by the state So uh we
do do that before we sign any contract Okay But it's something for future discussion too in terms of verify because I want to make sure and again I'm not accusing any particular company but something to to explore Okay thank you
All right so I added the next one uh just in the the spirit of the one that member Wlette asked Uh I had the information so I calculated it Um just so you all could see since 2014 we've had nine less clerical staff I know
we've been asking for uh additional clerical staff to come back uh in probably almost every budget I've presented to the school committee in seven years Um but just to see sort of a a snapshot of where we are with clerical
staff in the district Maxwell um I know here it says that all the lower schools have two clerical positions Um so I'm assuming that's the upper school and lower school receptionist Correct what is the parent
liaison if they are not the receptionist so the parent leaison is um really just that they are doing translations They're sitting in IEP meetings to translate if the phone calls come in and we need somebody who speaks uh primarily Spanish Um they're translating those phone calls
for staff So they are not primarily a secretary They are not That is not actually their primary role and that's unfortunately what many of them have taken on because of the need But that is not their primary role is actually meetings parent conferences They come to the parent conferences for the afternoon
and the evenings as well Any other questions regarding the clerical slide member Shibilia So this trip down memory lane has been um enjoyable Do you like that member Donovan i'm glad
Um and that's and and it's great It's sad We used to have money and now we don't and here we are and we don't know what we're getting and what we're not getting and it's you know it's going to be interesting But I guess other than to
show that we've had staffing cuts which I think everybody already knows that the positions we're discussing have been cut What did we accomplish in the last couple of slides just request from the school committee and showing But then that's great but
what what did that information do for anybody because I feel like we were just rehashing previous fiscal years And what we I think it's just it's a it's a show U
member Shibilian I totally understand where you're going Um but I think there's uh a conversation and uh I've heard from this committee loud and clearly the more data we can share uh the the better off we're going to be in the community as well And I think part
of what uh I know I'm hoping is that people really understand uh we're in a place that I don't feel we should be in And as a superintendent of schools I feel very confident in saying that over the course of my career here
in Mthuan there's there's been almost every year it's been about cutting Every year I've been in this district for 23 years it's been about cutting And I think uh for me it's it's the it's there's a time in I don't know if we're
here and I don't think it's going to end here but um just to show the community that at what point are we going to stop cutting um how much are we going to have to cut right i I think there's again there's some really unfortunate narratives out in the community that
have lived on for many years previous to you you know even living in Mthoan and I think there is something to that here that people still talk about right of uh certain things that happened 12 years ago certain things that happened 7 years ago certain things that happened 10
years ago so I just think putting the information out there uh in in a fashion that everybody can kind of understand and grab on to uh is only going to be helpful for us to fight for what we I know think we need Um and again I'm not
here to bankrupt the city so don't misunderstand but as a superintendent of schools it is absolutely my job to advocate for what the schools need and I will every year I will also do the hard work to make sure that we prepare a budget that is going to pass and won't
bankrupt the city Um so it's just it's a place that we seem to always be in every single year in this community So I I agree that was a long answer of the what did we just accomplish it's just it's information I think sharing and so there's actually numbers out
there instead of just throwing out a nebulous we've cut every year It's just holding on to some of those tangible numbers maybe So I agree and I I I've been one to advocate for the data But I guess where my frustration stems from is I've been listening to the conversations
and it comes back to oh we need to add bodies here We need to add bodies there We need to add bodies here The secretaries are overworked They're they they can't they can't answer the doors at the CGS because they're too busy doing things And you have parents upset at the door because they can't get into the building that the custodial staff is
overburdened and we just spent a boatload of money to clean up the buildings that we don't have a plan to maintain Not that we're not trying but we don't we don't have the human capital to do so And we're talking about adding
heads but if we're going to be closer to net school spending even the slide you showed us last week where we're not getting the additional 40 is a pipe dream And I know that you know the the mayor had mentioned we'll
have the number by the end of the week and that is both fantastic and slightly ominous but it's it's just I'm I'm having a hard time because I feel like we're we're just kind of dancing And I guess that's that's it for
that one I guess Keep going All right Then anyone else mr Mayor member will just very briefly the reason why I asked for information is to give me context For example member
Donovan had talked about the groundskeeper and pruning the trees and in the grounds And that was identified in the report submitted to our attention regarding the rodents and the pests that you need to prune your trees You need to
get away from the foliage You need to uh remove the leaves and any debris outside of your buildings So we are dealing with a very constrained budget I understand that But I'm also obligated to talk to
constituents and they have issues And again the superintendent is bringing up certain issues Now ultimately I might have to vote on a very difficult budget that's a barebones budget because we're not going to receive any assistance from the state And there's a possibility we
might not receive as much from the federal government But in the very least we should be having these conversations because these were brought up in reports These are issues that were brought up in the past And if things are
neglected we should at least talk about it Now I know the superintendent has a reorganization plan about custodians and maintenance and that might be one of my priorities Last year he was talking about the crisis intervention and I said
I'm not going to vote for a budget unless it has the crisis intervention I have certain goals in mind but I'm not going to lay out my cards right now I never did in 14 years of service This is a fluid situation We have to wait for
the numbers and we will have good give and take and debate and we try to reach a consensus If not we have a a majority that will vote on the budget But you know things were brought to our attention from constituents speaking at
the podium and it's included in the superintendent's report And I give her kudos that she is bringing up these issues to us because again if we neglect it if we do like the deep cleaning through the mayor that's outstanding But if we have these issues four or five
years down the line without a plan in place without some type of accountability shame on us But that's part of an ongoing conversation that I have no problem with If someone requests information I'm not going to uh critique
the information they're requesting I I never did I said "Okay that's great I'll review it and if I have questions If not I move on." Thank you Thank you member Willlette Any other comments about the clerical slide
just to quickly echo just I guess piggyback off of what member Shabilia said So if I had the ability to give the school department literally everything that they were looking for in terms of uh meeting the needs outlined in this
presentation I think as somebody who has been really focused on education I know you would Yeah I I I I would if I could The thing though that we have to keep in mind is that uh this year of all years is probably one of the most difficult uh
planning uh years in terms of budget that uh potentially the city has seen in many years Certainly superintendent you can probably reference uh I don't know if we've ever had a time uh like this in
at least recent uh memory in terms of uncertainty from the federal level uh on down And so you know ultimately you know my responsibility is going to be to ensure that we're able to preserve our
city's uh fiscal health by making difficult yet uh responsible decisions And you know I'm going to do the best that I can with the resources that we have available But nevertheless uh you know when we're talking about overall a
projection of you know a $20 million increase year-over-year for the school department budget I think that anybody uh here at this table can understand how that's not possible That's not going to happen Uh but we're going to do our best to ensure that we're providing our
students with uh the education they deserve and uh we're going to do what we can to get to that point But nevertheless we're in for a tough couple of weeks in terms of planning Member Daglio Um name Mr Mayor And Mr
Mayor I I I've been on school committee for 5 years now and this is your first first time as mayor so I'm not going to hold this against you but the previous mayor always said the same thing that we we're always tough but I would love to
give a bucket of money to the schools And you know and I get it We are the biggest budget and the and I know the needs with the state um and everything but I've I've heard it five years in a
row that it's like I would give it to all of you and I would love to do this and then every year we're cutting It's It's been every year which I'm not saying that you have a difficult decision to make which I'm not I'm not doing that But for some
people it's a really hard pill to keep swallowing when it's like I get it when it's it isn't your fault It's the state It's everybody else's it And I'm not going to go into the details but it's just it's really hard to swallow it over
and over again especially being in this well not in this chair but um but it is it is hard to keep hearing that when we have students like they're the future your child my niece my my future
my nephew And I keep saying it over and over again It's really hard to pill to swallow when it seems like our kids and this is throughout the Commonwealth is always taking the back burner This is a state issue and I
understand that and I want to make sure parents hear this at home Why is our children always the second to everything else that's all Thank you Mr Mayor Thank you Member Daglio Just in response I I have a six-year-old who's going to be
going into our public school system in the fall So as somebody who's going to be a Mthuan public schools parent in just a couple of months I completely understand and appreciate what you're saying I think though that anyone who is critical of the difficult decisions that we're going to have to make in terms of
priorities uh as it relates to the budget I mean the only other solution is for those individuals to go to the public and request a Prop 2 and F override which I can tell you exactly how that's going to go Um so I think it's just important to just be cognizant
of the realities Uh certainly aiming for the best here But uh the other thing too I I want to point out you know what we have here for the school department you know we're talking in the context of budget This is more along the lines of a spending plan It's not really you know
you think of a budget there's a you know revenue source and everything This is really a spending plan And you know ultimately you know we're going to reference the word a cut making cuts You know I think in terms of the presentation that we have here that $20
million suggested increase in this presentation you know those are things that perhaps the district is hoping for aiming for but reductions to that I don't want to say that's a cut because it's actually not Um I just want to be careful about the wording that we use as well Um I I'll leave it there Member
will Thank you Mr Chairman And again um I got to give credit to the superintendent in terms of if you look at North Andover what's what they're experiencing And they again have very intelligent people They did an analysis of the budget They went through a
process They went through a collective bargaining agreement They had similar issues to us with the maintenance Um and they also had a explosion of special education dollars and they're a wealthier community than us right they
are dealing with a dire straits budget of a $4 million deficit Personally I don't want to go down that road again And I just want to say for the record is that other communities the stimulus money they really use for personnel
which they shouldn't have done And the superintendent I looked at the prior budget that was finalized for us We did for the circuit breaker we did a carry forward provision So we paid ahead and I I think that was a very prudent thing
Unfortunately because of the explosion of special education that's gone right now Now if you look at transportation of the the prior budget in a couple of years ago there was a increase of about $100,000 it was kind of stabilized
Projecting forward for special education transportation the regular ed budget it's going to be about $2.5 million in that range So you got $2.5 million that we're not going to have with the circuit breaker carrying through because of an
explosion of special education cases You got another uh 2.5 increase with transportation What we were talking about is October 1st with member Shabilia is beyond that you're on your own of any additional students So that's
a $2 million increase What member Keegan was talking about with the special education in terms of information So if you start lining up everything and then collective bargaining agreements health insurance increases municipal chargebacks and then you get a a
pittance of I would say more towards the the co days of almost pre- studentent opportunity act right we're going back in the wrong direction And we had like two solid years of funding from the state and then all these revenue streams
that we talked about during prior meetings And if you look online it's a lot of it's going to the general fund It's not going to local aid or to to student aid or the school aid And again there's people at home and the teachers
and the parents and even the students Stop making calls to your elected officials at the state house because you still have an opportunity from the governor's budget We're all disappointed in right and the
MTA has like about 115,000 members Imagine if 115,000 members called up their state senators and state reps and be on record or we called up I already did a letter I did a letter last year The only person that responded to me was the state senator
The state reps didn't respond to me So I don't know if they're packing it in or they're just relying upon the governor's budget If we don't speak up we're going to go through the same painful cuts again And I want to increase the budget and I have certain goals but I also if
you look at the reality of the situation you're starting to just automatic costs and statutory obligations in transportation circuit breaker special ed and all these things Um it's not we're going to have the same thing
as last year because people are not mobilized They'll mobilize before us They'll mobilize before the city council but right now they should be at beacon help But we've gone through the same conversation in years past Thank you So when it comes off of transportation
like I said I requested this like I think three four and member Shabilly agreed with me on this and we were trying to look into it about redistricting part of um especially when it came to the marsh and the tenny Um
I'm looking because like I said I'm looking at this budget where we could cut corners everywhere Is there any estimation what would happen if we were to bring those like especially where Laurel Street is with those where those buses pick up kids to bring to the tenny
what would have happened if we could get rid of those bus routes how much would that cost or in reduction like I said I'm looking at anywhere where we we can cut and make it I know that's a big thing to do but that's why I was preparing for
that I think it was like 3 months ago I brought this up So I would like to know where we can if this would be feasible Yeah I think moving kids from a march bus to a tenny bus um we don't it's not like the tenny buses don't have kids on
them right now You know we would still need those buses Well no They're just bring bringing them to a different school Especially when you're talking about the the Forest Street L Street area Yeah That's not walking distance to anywhere Yeah But what so if I'm correct though
if if if that one bus is picking up because we pay do again let me break transport We don't pay for gas right do we pay for the gas and all that stuff part of our contract Part of our contract Yeah Part of our contract So that would again my dad was a truck
driver gas everything It pays pays it to it I'm looking at how much and how many buses possibly we could cut that route down and have people drive their kids at one point Yes please help So I think what member dis uglio was
getting at and what he may be missing and keep me honest is the buses that are coming and passing the tenny buses that are passing by on their way to the tenny as the kids are waiting for a bus to the marsh Now I don't know what the vacancy I don't know what the seats are on those
buses I don't know how many kids are there and I don't think I mean I I'm sure Ian I'm sure you I mean you know everything so I'm assuming you do No pressure Let's not go there But that being said I it's it's not going to happen for July And like I said that's not realistic on a calendar perspective
But what our friends in North Andover did was hire a consultant to look at redistricting And I know the Rword is scary because it's an absolute nightmare And I saw Lisa's head flip around when Ryan said redistricting earlier
And when I be before the federal government decided to do cartwheels with our funding that was something I wanted to ask for and I had had a conversation with uh Attorney Macaro about is being able to put some money aside to bring in a consultant to to look at it because I
I mean I don't think I mean at least in my 12ish years in the city I don't think it's ever been done Has it ever been done in your tenure 1990 I mean this city has changed 400 times since 1999 We have no idea And I know it's a monster of a a project
That's why we would bring in a consultant but you know now we're kind of out of money Um but if it's something that we could consider because remember ugly I think that gives us our answers because to ask our internal staff to go do that
analysis it's just not real I think if I may there I no it has not been talked about in my intent I mean talked about bandied about Um I know it's always a a rumor flying around Yeah I I think um
when it was uh talked about maybe openly or in a public session with any prior school committee It was talked about in a way that that is that is a like a three to five year process of like examine subcommittees committees community committees what does that look
like um so I I I don't think there's any opposition to that Just understanding how much time that's going to take and what who knows what the outcome may be um with different lenses and a focus on it But it's not something that yes our
team can just pick up and put that on our to-do list to start looking at different you know schools And I think the one way we've we've I don't want to say subsidize No I'm going to word retrieval is going to get me
Um because we have these district-wide programs at certain grammar schools right the the English learner beginner program is at the CGS and the pathways program is at the Marsh primarily because they have the
space to hold those programs right a lot of those kids in those programs are from the Tenny and Tim district and I don't have any more space either you know so so there's a lot of that is happening as well Like you have these district-wide programs right our tenny special ed
specialized program houses 80 kids but they're from all different all four schools right um so so yes there's no you know again opposition to that there's just an enormous amount of commitment from the community uh and you know the the work that will go into that
I you know again I don't think there's opposition to it it's long overdue uh how to get that started and and who who needs to be a part of that you know those are all questions I think to work through I know you were hoping to retire before we would have to do that I might
Uh I mean again it's a long process I don't you know I think that that's just something that you have to commit to And I think it's also hard when you have school comm you have twoear votes Uh and I don't mean that in a negative way I just that's a reality here in Methuan You have the political turnover is also
challenging when you're pushing something like that that could be longer term right that I that could need more than two years worth of work to commit to Right But I don't think at this point you want to commit to anything And you you may know from your conversations with the superintendent Yeah In North
Andover but my understanding is they did this that this consultant come in they did some analysis they consulted did things with how who knows Yeah But then they came forward with the plan and said "This is what we think you should do." And then the school committee was able to review it and decide do we do we want
to redistrict do we not want to redistrict based on now the information that they have because that consultant their one job was to sit down with that data and figure it out You've done 497 jobs Yeah And I certainly I can inquire with her who they use just to see uh I'd
be curious and then maybe I mean we've got 20 million in free cash certified by the state So can't hurt to ask the mayor to uh I will ask I will definitely inquire with with the superintendent or the end
of her Thank you You're welcome Um in the short term since we're on busing um something that I would like looked at is busing is not something that is necessarily mandatory for a lot of our
students and um it is one area that we could possibly look at to reduce our costs that wouldn't affect class sizes would not affect learning etc And so what I'd like to do is explore how much busing we could reduce
to save money so that it doesn't affect academics Um and I know um for instance we are not required to bus anyone above grade six And do I think we should cut all busing above
grade six no I do not But what makes sense and what what could we expand our our radiuses of who's not receiving busing so that we can possibly reduce
that $20 million down a considerable amount without having to touch personnel Yes we were expecting that this evening So Miss McCarthy and Mr Gaza already
began to discuss what that we weren't sure exactly how it was going to be asked We expected it to come up tonight So uh we will definitely explore We have some ideas already on what we could explore Member Maxwell the member Daglio I just
um off of that I just kind of want to maybe we can keep in mind the safety um of no sidewalks Yeah we wouldn't Yeah So the I'm and let me preface that by our exploring would be anywhere with sidewalks how close to the schools they are any neighborhoods that would have
safety We would never uh talk about no sidewalk Correct This is what I'm saying Like it it's going to be in pieces It's not going to be a wholesale Like we we could never say within a mile and a half of every school we're just going to take away busing We can't do that in this community because there's not sidewalks
everywhere Can't happen But are there neighborhoods are there different places sections closest to the schools that do have sidewalks that are safe that are within that mile that we could reduce bus routes because right now everybody gets buses in this district
And just for the sake of discussion we've had not everybody but most said that he's like wait a lot of kids get buses withund emails right now within a quarter mile half a mile from the schools Some because of safety and some because the buses go right by Just to
mention we've had we had a recent meeting with DOT They have it's called safe roots to school program and uh we had a meeting about uh initially the marsh and improving sidewalk access at at the marsh but then that turned into a
conversation about taking a look at the CGS and other uh schools that are in need of a lot of you know investment when it comes to uh pedestrian safety So that's something that is a topic of
conversation now Member Dagio Yeah So um first to piggyback off of member Keegan I would be all support of the six new loot up The problem is when you have a tenny student coming from Lel Street You you
can't really cut that off for a sixth grader So that's why I would probably say that wouldn't work out until you redistrict But just don't And second of all I am so happy that the fact that DOT is doing it However and I and I've made
this public probably for 3 years now um is I hope it's concrete sidewalk instead of the T sidewalks that we get all the time cuz tar sidewalk uh the the is ugly and concrete It is It is It's awful when
especially on 110 when you have concrete for one pot and then it becomes they're coming back to that's part of the next cycle of their project is they're going to be installing the concrete So Oh okay Thank you Okay Thank you Vice Chair Um
just to be clear member Daglio just to address this um if we were to get rid of all busing from six up we probably would have a huge attendance problem at the high school right because that means everybody like from the Marsh district would have to somehow get to the high
school right and so it's not realistic to say that we're going to get rid of all busing um even if we redistricted the middle schools right can you clarify what specifically because I thought you were saying six
and Yeah I I said I don't think that's realistic We can't do that because our high school kids coming from the Marsh district how are they going to get to school right like we have to be we have to be smart about it And so that's why I'm saying can we explore what is
realistic and what we can do as opposed to just say okay we're just we're going to take the state law and just run with it I don't think that's feasible in in Mthuan All right I sorry Yeah then I misheard I thought you were saying let's explore six and up And I'm sitting there
going "Okay so we were on the same page We're on the same page." Okay we're all This is good We're all on the same page Uh cuz although the law allows us to not provide busing for certain grades and within certain perimeters we're that's not what we're really going
to entertain We're just looking at places and neighborhoods closest to the schools that we might be able to eliminate some of our bus routes because it's close and safe for kids to get to Right That's that's what we had in mind when we were talking expecting this
conversation to be brought up So we have ideas about that We will absolutely be able to provide that the next meeting And Mr Chairman this is just factf finding This is not an actual proposal These are numbers that you're going to derive and present to us This is nothing
concrete This is not a proposal Nothing that we necessarily going to finalize So I got to I got to qualify it So yeah it's the same like this that we would present to you This is these are the neighborhoods that this is possible and it could eliminate 17 buses or one bus and is it feasible
and is it going to do anything that we needed to do yes And I and I was part of redistricting I think at one point way back in the in the you know galaxy far far away It was a herculean and colossal task So and I know with North Andover
right they did a redistricting consultant but then they they're shutting down a school anyway So that got thrown out the window So I don't know We'll have to really explore that other one Thank you Keep going Okay So the next uh the next slide this was something that member
Wlette asked So this is as concrete as I could get for you today with the numbers that I had from the state So there was a question about CTE enrollments do bring in additional funding for our high school students So uh with the
information that I had last week uh I had the FY25 foundation budget rate so it's only going to be a little higher So I'd say that um I did receive the link this afternoon for FY26 I just didn't have time to go through it and change it So uh it was not on the website last
week So for a high school student in FY25 the foundation budget was set at $11,042 per student If that high school student was also indicated to be in the vocational pathway their cost now per
pupil is 16 not cost uh their foundation budget uh I don't know what it's called amount I guess uh is $16,490 which is a $5,000 difference So if you take if we add CTE so the
question at hand was we have some new CTE programs on the horizon our media production which we already that it already exists we're hoping for it to become chapter 74 certified right that's one our Mr Wilkins is here It's already
a program We are trying to certify it to be chapter 74 certified so that it can count in this vocational Right that's one And then I also have two new FTEEs that we're requesting One for EEC because that pro program is full and the
requests are high And also for marketing So we have two currently two teachers in marketing and the request is to add a third because that program also is booming So what I did is just to keep it as again concrete as possible the number
could only go higher right if you look at two uh the two new FTEES so let's say and I'm not going to say it but let let's just talk about two new FTEES in CTE that would add about a 200 students to that enrollment that would have that
increased per student cost fund right so um for the FY25 numbers we're talking at minimum a million dollars of additional revenue from the
state that we would see not in FY26 it would come in FY27 So again I did that because I wanted to be what I knew concretely and minimum So it's only going to go up right so so even if we do not get the
two new FTEEs but our media becomes chapter 74 that is still an additional amount of money because those kids right now are not actually receiving the $16,000 per head cost for the state They count for Perkins They don't count for
chapter 74 I believe I said that correctly right so that that just gives you a sense of how the foundation enrollment works It's fascinating Uh this the budget rates that are set uh every single category of
kid has a different budget rate set And so this is the magic of that formula Um and again I have the FY26 now I just I didn't have it on Friday Uh I requested it specifically from the director on last week to see if they had it Does it
make sense so I hope that makes sense But again just gives you a little perspective which I think is what you were looking for Member Wlette Yeah Uh thank you Mr Chairman Um so there's going to be a funding lag Is we're going to have an an increase and then we're
going to be responsible for it or is it's over and then going forward is because there 200 students that potentially could be that we're gearing up that we don't right now qualify for it because we don't have that designation You got it Okay So we wouldn't even be able to qualify for the
grant funding anyways because we don't have that designation for some of the the courses that like the broadcasting one So the broadcasting one is the is the pathway that we are in the final stages of certifying as a chapter 74 program We
already have that program at the high school Yes we're looking to all so we want that program and we want all those kids in that program then would count as a vocational student with the fund here In addition to that Mr Caret and Miss uh
Golovski have worked to the two programs that are kind and bursting at the seams right now that we would like to expand and have students who want to do it is our early childhood program We currently have one teacher Okay and the clo courses are her five sections are full
Um and then we have two uh marketing teachers and both of those teachers sections are full Okay And so we're looking to those two are already certified We add a teacher to those Those automatically become vocational because we already have that designation
for those two programs Okay But is it is there a funding lag or that will we the funding lag is the next year nothing counts for ne we won't see any funding for next year It's all from the October one enrollment for 2025 that we'll see for FY27
Okay I know that's hard to but like you don't see like the investment for this You don't we wouldn't see the funding until we got the foundation budget in January of 2026 for the FY27 budget Okay All right I appreciate Thank you You're welcome
Questions about that one okay I'm going to skip this one Go to this one I'll go back to it I promise Um I just wanted to The next four are all the same which is why I think these are just going to be a little bit easier and
quicker Um I put these on here because I had conversations with at least three of you via email andor directly uh regarding sort of this idea of like what happens when or if and so I'm I'm giving you I'm arming you with information I'm
not telling you what's going to happen or not going to happen I'm arming you with information Um for each of the grammar schools this is something we already had I figured I would share it tonight so you have it This is not I didn't have to generate anything new This is what my team does to prepare for the budget So what you'll see for each
of the grammar schools it's much more challenging at the high school We can do it It just won't be as accurate because of the numerous uh offerings and the different grade levels So it's it's going to be a little bit of a hodge podge if we start looking at we can do it It just takes us a little more time
The devil's in the detail when you're talking about the high school courses Uh what's required what's not required very different for social studies than it is for English and math right so we just need some time to go through that But for the grammar schools and again this is just grade level We're not talking
about specials That would be our next I would provide that information next to for you guys Um but what you see in yellow highlighted on each of these grids is what we presented to you last week Those were the class sizes we presented to you Those were the number
of teachers in the core grade level All right So so if the question came up and again I think member Shabilia I'm going to call you out but you said like I'm interested in like what happens if we had to reduce sizes of those class those grade levels So
you're basically going down Wherever it is highlighted you reduce one That's the class size Correct So so where we are in the yellow right now so the Marsh their preliminary budget as per as given to you guys in the narrative they're
they're presenting a kindergarten with six teachers at 16 We're trying to keep that kindergarten small Uh their grades one and two are both at five teachers right now Their grade four they're reducing to four teacher Grade three they're reducing to four teachers And
then in grades four through eight they're currently at five teachers So again you reduce one you basically go to whatever that class size is in the max column Each each of these for all four schools work the same I didn't go any
farther than this but there's this pattern to this Basically you reduce one you add five at least So if you had to go down to three you're going to add five to that number So for example grade six if we had to go to three teachers it
would be a class size of 31 or 32 I'm just saying I'm just I'm giving you the facts I didn't these are the typically the columns we do in the in the Tenny and Tim We actually do 765 We don't go to four because it's not we can't go to four right we don't have
classrooms that fit that many kids So that's what you're going to see in each of these Right so this is the timony As you notice there's no column with four here but you can do the same kind of math If you had to go to four you just keep adding five Am I making sense to everybody so I
think one thing that you'll see here is for the most part we reduce one in each of these grade levels We're already starting at starting at class sizes typically 26 28 in almost everywhere Okay So that's the
Timony Then we have the CGS and the Tenny So again you can see as you move it over one it we're starting off in a challenging position in most the majority of places We're we're we're getting closer to 30 than we probably
all feel really comfortable with And and actually here at the tenny you're you're over if you go down to five teachers you're over 30 to start in the school year Member Maxwell and member Donovan Just just a quick question It seems like
the tenny has a lot of students in each grade Yes they do So does the Timony Yeah So I mean is I mean never mind I guess that is a redistricting thing The Timony and the Tenny are neck andneck right now at about just under,300
students and the CGS and Marsh are about a thousand So if you think about that just in functioning there's like two more grade levels at the Tenny and the Timony for the same amount of administrators uh and custodians and staff in the
building It just gives you a little different perspective by just the sheer numbers of kids in each grade level being larger Yeah And if I could just build on that I mean when you look at the numbers it's it's always startling like at one school
96 eighth graders at another 156 So you're thinking of where the rooms are going to be right um trying to keep all the kids at the same grade level near each other but should we in a perfect world be thinking about the specialists
who are taking on Yes their CL I a specialist at the Tenny or the Tim has much larger classes and I think that's a you know you worry about safety you worry about
classroom management and um and I don't know if there's any room it hasn't been proposed but I do feel for them yes so uh you're absolutely right member Donovan that the Tenny and the Tim struggle more as you have grade levels
with seven teachers and in places eight I'm not sure we have any eights this year Oh no we do have a couple eights this year Um those eight home rooms are filtering into six five band five plus band
specialist classes So at the CGS and the marsh the specialist classes are five going into five and you have at the tenny and timony seven going into five six going into five So it absolutely is something to take into consideration because as we reduce these right you
have now are we reducing the amount of specialist teachers because we have the same then we're going to have the same situation So that's why I said this this comes without a I'd have to do a grid like this for each of the grammar schools so you could actually see the
average class size and the specialist classes because they are very different school to school because of exactly what you just said We have the same number of specialist teachers at the Tenny and the Timony as we do at the Marsh and the CGS for
exposure and you know consistency of access of those topics and and in a perfect world you you break that out to guidance for case loads right I'm thinking like the particularly the eighth grade checking
in with all those eighth graders may look a little bit different or are the guidance staff adjusted too Okay good Okay thanks for the Tim and the Tenny do have more guidance staff than the CGS and the Marsh Okay that's good Okay thank you You're welcome
Um just one more question I know it says general ed class sizes Is this including the kids that are in inclusion classes yes Okay Yes So this these are any students that would be in the mainstream classroom that we're including in our class size So the reason and I will I shared this
with you guys during the actual presentation last week So the reason this one looks different that says anticipated gened class size for CGS We remove the the newcomer Excel students So we have to adjust the actual what's the number of students in a gened class
because we have a newcomer uh Excel classroom teacher who who only teaches the newcomers and they're not mainstreamed yet And then we have some kids who are newcomers who are ready to be mainstreamed So Miss Pretti has done all of that here I've just hidden some of those columns to show you what the
outcome is So So the everything highlighted here in the class sizes that Miss Prowetti presented would be any students that would be also mainstreamed and included in the gened And the same thing with the marsh
We pulled out the subsparate pathways in the enrollment because those students are not going to be in the general ed but the other special education students who are included their resource from students in the pathways resource are going to be
included in these numbers Okay All right So again armed with information All right So the last one uh I guess I should have put this last So this is again information Um and I just I think it's important information and again it's information to have out there
uh for our conversation Um and I would be remiss if I did not advocate as strongly as I could for our districts um and our school department and the work that has gone into every year preparing uh what we need what we believe we need
best for our students But this is something that is I did not create these numbers This is on the DESIE website You can look this up for yourself tonight if you want to check my numbers Um but basically it's it's a comparison of required net school spending versus
actual net school spending So it's not money that would be spent for transportation Right so that's not what we're talking about It's just required versus actual The state gets these numbers and they certify these numbers and it's listed publicly for every district in Massachusetts So there's a couple of
things The four on the bottom are four of the districts that number one they're urban districts in Massachusetts So they're part of the urban gateway network Um but they're also what Desi would consider comparable districts to us So when you look at our profile these
are four Framingham Salem Somerville Peabody They come up as four of our comparable districts by percentages of high needs students with disabilities English learners low-inccome Okay so I know those look very different but that's how DESIE does
it They look at our percentages by our subgroups and our low-income high needs students with disabilities Um I put HRO and Andover on there because they're geographically what we compare ourselves to all the time and these are the districts that other staff
might be going to and such So you can see here I think one of the things I'm just trying to show is that our our actual net school spending for 2024 was $600,000 less than our required net school spending which Ian could explain
and was not intentional Uh however which I will let him explain Uh I will let him explain My point here is that all of these other districts function because they are above net school spending and pretty significantly above net school spending
year after year If I went and looked at 23 and 22 I would see very similar numbers right and so this is this is something that I do think is information Uh I understand and again I will say it
again And I'm not here to bankrupt uh this city but I am here to fight for what the schools need And every year we are faced with a really close to net school spending budget which is never going to get us ahead and the two years
that I had to stand at this podium and face the city council when we got chapter 70 money that was absolutely deserved and overdue I was met with incredible fire of why is the
school department getting so much money and you don't need so much money and that was really challenging because I live in this community and people should have been so excited for the community to finally get money that the schools deserved And so this is where some of
the frustration comes because we are always right skating right on that net school spending line and it will and I know we've talked about it but if we're fighting if we're if we are right skating on that fine line it is going to
be catastrophic to this school district this year If we're looking at net school spending only we are looking at evenings and evenings of cuts that are going to be catastrophic So so the expectation of
maintaining buildings and getting our stu students all the services they need and servicing our second language and expecting MCCAST scores to grow and making sure our behavior management is in place Those are all going to be really challenging and I just I feel
that I I would be remiss if I didn't say that and advocate for that That is my job That is what you put me here for Um but I I think that this is part of the story and and it does uh you know it tells part of the story in this
community what is important in this community and I hope you know as a school committee um that we fight for for these things And again I mayor we're not looking right we I think we're on the same page of not wanting to bankrupt the city but what can we do differently
to make sure that we're not you know again just completely devastating the things that we've tried to build And nothing helps And we know that right nothing nobody's going to come to our rescue right now We know the state has not uh given us what they've promised
And there's nothing anybody in this room can do about it in a time that we needed to get done That's that's the reality too right we can advocate and we can go to our legislators which I have been doing I know many of you have been doing I don't think that's going to fix what we need in the next 6 weeks uh of what's
ahead of us to have a budget that is ready to go uh for this community So uh that's that's my my last piece but again I just felt it important to just share some of this of like how are other districts doing it it this is how other
districts are doing it They're they're not just planning for net school spending Um and again I don't know how to get there in this community You know I don't know what the answer is I don't think any of us have a magic wand or answer for it Um but you know I hope we
can continue to work towards towards it I'm done Member Shabilia Thank you Um I want to I want to echo what the superintendent is saying and I mean there's no easy way to say it and I'm going to people are going to get
upset but Methuan does not value education This is embarrassing I wish I had remembered to bring it with me but I had pulled the last seven or eight years worth of net school spendings and the lowest one on here is
8 million over net We've never been there in the 10 years I looked at We balance our budgets on the backs of six-year-olds who need speech therapy on kids who need to learn English as a second language
on on the kids who need a bus We are balancing our budgets on the backs of our children because this community doesn't care about education I said it in 2018 when the first time I sat down and actually decided I wanted to care
about methan politics because I knew my kids were going to be in these schools Everyone wants to come out and Dr Kuang catches an awful lot of grief but she has been handed a raw deal because we don't fund education This is disgusting What kind of city do we want
to be people move into a city for the schools Ryan you're a young guy You're going to have a family someday You're going to look for a house and you're going to say "Where is my kid going to get a decent education?" And if we don't start building towards that
again we're we're off the map Right now people are moving to Methun because it's a affordable But that Oh true It's not It's not that that ship is sailing and we we last year couldn't even hit net
school spending We're we're planning for the minimum which I'm still going to let Ian explain Well right Right And I I I know and I know we carried it over and I I get that we have to eat it this year now and but quite frankly I don't I really don't care how it happened because it shouldn't have happened in the first
place We shouldn't be planning for Dminus That's ridiculous and embarrassing And unless the mayor has a rabbit up wherever he keeps his rabbit that was I caught it Um we we we have no plan We're going to be at net school
spending That's the ultimate reality And we can sit here and talk about it and look at the history and bring up skeletons and we're going to be at net school spending I don't think anyone around me can say that we're not going to be It's the way it is unless there is a massive tide change And it's it's not
the mayor's fault He inherited a mess It's not the superintendent's fault She's advocating for what she can get It's it's it's the city We we don't we have not prioritized it How How do we fix that we are the
only department in the city that has to take what comes to our door DPW can defer maintenance The the clerk's office can say "You know what we're short staffed We're going to do half days on Thursday." The fire department does not go out looking for fires And if there are and we need it we buy them another
ambulance We buy them another fire truck If there is a gang that moves into town on their scooters we hire more cops The school cuts Every year the school cuts Every year other departments hire So I got a lot of grief last time when I
said I'm not voting for a budget that hands the council a softball And I I stand by that I am I I don't see how we as the school committee who was supposed to advocate for the school knowing full well that we're not getting the the budget that Dr Quan put forward because
that's aspirational and that's not real But putting our kids into classrooms of 30 that's ridiculous We should all be embarrassed I I don't know where we go and I don't know how we fix it but quite literally everything needs to change
and we c I can't I will not vote for a budget that has class sizes of that high I just won't do it Thank you Member Daglio So to piggy back off of uh membershill
and again I know I I always put myself on the opposite side of things as an educator Um my class sizes right now at 28 where if anything changes in the next month I could have 30 kids in a
class Um as a teacher uh it's very difficult to deal with IEP kids 504 kids all in one setting Um and I know for other teachers and my team it's very difficult for them
to do classroom management So and and I'm trying to look at it from a different perspective of that It's very overwhelming where it's not just the shellacking of the superintendent and
the mayor but also teachers get a shellacking when test scores don't go up and things don't work well be and when we're being overwhelmed over and over again because some people do blame teachers I've been
blamed for kids not meeting certain requirements and all that And I look at it this way Well when you're dealing with 30 kids almost in every class in an hour classroom an hour and 10 minute class it's very difficult to fulfill
every child's need So as I said with member Shabilia last time as I did last year I will not vote on a budget that is going to put not just the teachers and other staff members at a disadvantage
but our children at a disadvantage because our teachers can only do so much in one classroom It it is and I'm only been the third year but when you have trust me I would love for you to all sit in a classroom of almost
29 kids yelling across the room maybe throwing a paper ball once in a while You know it it's all these other things that teachers endure and that children endure at the classroom we by voting on
cuts is being a disservice over and over again not just to the teachers but to our students And we just had a poll literally 60% of the Commonwealth fourth graders do not know how to read on grade
level All right that's and everybody's kind of shocked which I'll sit here and I've been saying this for five years It's because the state with the regulations of how they put on education compared to when we were in school when
we used to have conduct and effort put on our report cards They don't even do that anymore All right It's all meas No they don't We do We don't We really wow Every other district I've talked to literally
doesn't And then Wow That's amazing We do Yeah No like we actually do that So well well that's shocker because I heard parents tell me all the time they really don't know that So but anyways they all laugh about
it It's fine I made a mistake What we do um but at the end of the day let's see see people sit in a classroom with 28 students and see how you guys do because I'll tell you this our teachers will be overwhelmed And you think what we dealt
with for the last year will be bad Watch the future That's how I want to end it with that Thank you Vice chair So 15 years ago when my oldest was in kindergarten she had 36 students in her
kindergarten class Her kindergarten class We have gone in 15 years we've gotten that number down to 17 That's phenomenal the work we've done in the past 15 years to get those numbers down And it is heartbreaking to think that we
have to go up again It's absolutely heartbreaking because I know how hard it was for my kids to learn in class sizes of 30 And I mean honestly 36 in her kindergarten class Imagine five year olds Like think about that 36
5-year-olds in one classroom and they had five classrooms right like it is you can't learn in that environment There's no way you could learn in that environment And right and one teacher one teacher to 36
kids It was unbelievable the herculean effort that those teachers did to educate those kids And did they learn absolutely my children can read right so that's it's great that my kids can read but there are lots of kids who fall through the cracks and can't in that
environment We can't go back to that We can't undo all of the the work that we've done to bring those class sizes down That said we've we need to find other places where we can trim And
that's why in the past 15 years we have lost janitors We have lost secretaries and we can't lose any more of those positions either So we're going to need to figure out where we're going to trim and that's the work we have to do But I
agree I don't want to see class sizes back up there because it's not reasonable It's just not reasonable Thank you member Wlette Thank you Mr Chairman
is such a difficult situation because and I I don't dispute anything that the superintendent has said and I've said in years past you are obligated to tell us your deficiencies or needs within the system
And the number again of the $20 million increase that was just a like a preliminary number that's going to be obviously reduced Just to give context we're about slightly over uh
50,000 population maybe 53,000 from Mthan Boston is like roughly about 600,000 people Their entire budget increase was about $53 million in Boston Now I can only imagine what type of
cutbacks and reductions in retirements and lack of services because they have well over a billion dollar budget for the city of Boston and they have roughly let's say 600,000 people and we have
roughly about 53,000 people and we're talking about a $20 million increase and I'm not disputing that versus what they just finalized as a budget is about 53 million Um it becomes an issue about
Beacon Hill and um I I hate to cast dispersions to a neighboring city but and member Shabilia might be able to reinforce it to a superintendent I think when you talk about net school spending you can be below a certain amount up to
maybe even 4% and still deal with this the state Um the problem is is that um certain communities are being inundated with school aid and and we're being
sacrificed as a a community because of a obsolete chapter 70 formula I I know again I I point to Haveril um and he did an analysis of the gateway communities and Mthan is one of them
Habil is one of them Um and the disparity between the inflationary rate versus what we should be getting Um you're talking about uh in HRO is $20 million in Mthan it's got to be at least what $10 million I would say
hypothetically if we did the full analysis Yes I would say hypothetically we're if we accounted for inflation as it's been over the last four years and the the maximum amount statutoily is 4.5% We've lost $10 million to
inflation So imagine what $10 million could have been used for our school system over the years That's the biggest problem And we're going through like I said the revenue streams I mentioned that at a prior meeting And I'm not going to belabor the point but if you
have the city of Boston that just has a $53 million increase for their colossal budget we're going to obviously have to make significant cutbacks And I don't dispute the motivations of anybody on the school committee um and they read
their packets and they do their research but it comes down to you have a levy limit you have uh a levy space and then you have a final budget that has to be approved And unless the state kicks in and assist us because that was the
problem with the Ed Reform Act of 93 Prior to that you had massive disparities between the wealthy school districts and the poor school districts And they try to stabilize that right then you had the Student Opportunity Act and that was a further stabilization We
had two significant years of increases Unfortunately that's when the inflationary whammy hit us And so again if you can say like hypothetically it would be about $10 million that would do as an estimate that's significant amount
of money that the state is not accounting for Um and I don't know what the solution is and it could be on deaf ears at the state house I know again the senator was the only person that responded to my letter last year and this year and he had a conversation with
me and I know he filed an amendment on the gateway communities I know he'll do it again So I encourage again teachers parents mobilize and make start making calls because the house budget has not been released yet There's going to be an amendment process The Senate will have a
campaigning budget Then you have a conference committee You reconcile it Senate to the governor And it has to be a message from both the House and Senate that we're we're really uh dying at the local level in terms of school aid We really are and whatever you're talking
about in terms of millionaires tax and pot dispensaries and casinos uh and draft kings and everything under the sun It's going a lot of it's going into a general fund I know the mayor can attest that incrementally we really
haven't had that much of an increase in local aid you might have had some increase in chapter 90 a little bit and then school aid we've been decimated by and we're going almost into precoid era now with it's going down with the inflation it's still there um it's a
very bad formula and we fight for our students obviously and I have kids in the system like many people have kids in the system and I can't you know compare to being a teacher I was never a teacher I was a public servant and I didn't get paid that great of salary But again it's
it's our fight is not local right now Our fight is that the state at least make an effort to approach your leaders on Beacon Hill But again last year I didn't see it but I'm not seeing it now So it's it's a very difficult situation Thank you
member Donovan and then member Maxwell Yeah I'm sorry Mr Goslin's going to share the Okay And then uh my follow-up question it's to you Dr Kong I mean are there any updates there's so many crazy rumors going around about our federal
funds the titles money Maybe you could address that if there is anything to address I I can that's quick Uh I don't have any updates Uh I think the hardest part for us is that uh Mr Goslin and I are both hearing that our colleagues are
just going with it and expecting the funds and not not and potentially preparing for a contingency plan That's not typically how I can work and I don't think that is a safe way for us to work Um so I have
not received I asked again today Uh I did send another email to the director of federal grants at DESIE who I emailed a week ago I don't want to be I don't want to overwhelm them Uh I have not heard back but um I have not heard confirmation one way or the other So I'm
just kind of holding on okay where we are I mean we know exactly how much it would be removed or added You know I think that's a decent place for us to be at this point At least we know where those salaries would be added and how much money that we would actually be eligible for that I did get confirmation
that we would be our our eligibility is equal to last year So so he did confirm that with me as of January our status would be the same uh whether or not those funds come It's just nobody wants to put that in writing and confirm it at this time
And then Ian can explain to you the Yeah I don't want you to think it was intentional by any stretch on the city's part Um but our budgeted number was above net school spending by almost $300,000 200 and some change Um when we do the final end of the year report
there are some numbers that come prepopulated which um it's the state populates them So we punch in all our numbers what we spent and everything There are two numbers in there Well they combine It has to do with charter reimbursement So we get
assessed for charter schools but they do reimburse us for some funds They deducted that off of our spending which put us just under that school spending So we had budgeted above I would never let the city budget below net school spending Um I just was unaware they were
going to deduct those reimbursements right off of off of the budget So okay that's my my short and sweet explanation And it was we had to fix it in 25 Yes Um and when you're off when
you're slightly under they look at next year's budget to make sure that you're above that our FY25 budget So when I do the end of the re year report I have to do actuals for FY24 and then I have to do what's budgeted for FY25 Yeah And
what's budgeted for FY25 covers that difference So the state was happy with that That with what if we spend what's budgeted this year we'll cover that $664,000 And one of if I may one of my questions I was really curious to see you know
what we have to pay for the chart of school students and I'm wondering if you've seen um a big We could tell you change Yeah I was going to say I was there I just read an article before I was leaving the house that somehow perhaps our federal administration might
somehow be forcing communities to use title money to pay for some of these tuitions I just glanced at it briefly so I hope I misread it I I didn't actually hear you Can you say it one more time loud and proud I know
it's hard I'm not too proud about it Um no I'm very The money we spend to pay for charter school tuitions I know there is some rumbling at the federal level about how title money may be used Yeah I
read it on the way out the door I read it So I will reread it Somehow some of that money may be used to fund tuitions to yes charter schools
I will send you the article I mean I can the the current the FY26 assessment for school choice and charter is 3.169 million 2.169 2.5 for charter and about 600 for school choice tuitions
How much okay And the balance was for school choice Thank you Member will Okay Oh member Maxwell I'm sorry Um I just I just want to point out like I don't I don't think anybody's trying
to take teachers away to add more students I think we want to add more teachers to lower the class size So I I just want to put that out there because the conversation seemed a little confusing But um as far as the desi comparable districts I feel like I'm
told all the time that our most comparable district is Malden Is that am I wrong uh it's it's one of our comparable districts I didn't add all eight just because I didn't want to make this so small Okay I I just asked because like that is the one that is
always like this is our comparable just Barnstable is another one that would have been on there that would have had similar number Yep Barnstable is another comparable district for Desi Taton and Malden Uh and Quincy So they're just Yeah they're just
those four were additional ones Again I just didn't I was typing this out today I didn't add those four to make it as small I I thought it was important to add Andover and Hil just because of the GE geographic um understanding Yeah but you're absolutely
correct We do mostly Malden because it's a K8 district That's why we're so comparable to them Desi doesn't care about the K8 part We we are comparable because of the statistics this the groups I gota uh but but we often compare ourselves to Malden because they
have K8 schools and there's not a lot of districts that have K8 buildings like ours Yep You're welcome Any other questions or comments member will Thank you Mr Chairman I think the governor has in her budget that she
presented does account for uh federal funds So ultimately if we're all in the same boat and it becomes an unfortunate situation with the elimination of federal funds which I don't believe will occur right the
governor's budget does account for Medicaid funds and other federal funds coming down the pike and she presented that in her budget So I think we have to be again very careful and I think the superintendent has the right approach Once we receive information it'll be uh
presented to the school committee Um but I will not uh subject to um speculation other than that personally Thank you Members real quick I just want to restate and remind
that Ian you had mentioned that we were planning last year to be 200ish K over net school spending That's the D minus I was talking about We we are planning I'm saying that that's the number right but I mean none of these
communities were in jeopardy of oops we we are we are planning to be not even mediocre we are planning to be sad and pathetic that's that's our goal guys
for for for unfortunately for the mayor sorry buddy unfortunately for the city council like that that is our plan we We are planning to be the bare minimum possible to survive That's that's our goal That's
where we are as a city right now Any other questions or comments member Daglio Um just as member Shibilia keeps saying but this is where I like I said I I feel
like I know I know the mayor is going to give us a number and at the same time we accept it we don't accept it and we send it up to to the council Um like I said like I did last time last year I said I
will not send it the budget up Uh and I know that the council will kick it back and people are upset that we play that whole mind game but I just want to say the counselors that I continue to talk to um will always say we always say yes
They always say yes Well because they know there was a number given so of course they're going to say yes to it They can't tell us no and cut more Yeah But but in the end No But it wasn't but it wasn't as much as they
they if we go over it No it they they gave you a number you sent them a budget they kicked it back and said cut some more That's that's facts Yeah What so Oh wait I still have five Yeah it was less than than what it was the year prior
Two years ago we were we received a number Yeah We met the number and the city council rejected our budget and we had to reduce more for them to accept our budget We had we had to reduce it by $350,000 and and agree to a an audit
Member Wlette and then member Donovan I think I think the operative word here and the the mayor highlighted it and I concur with him is Proposition 2 and a half override which I know for a fact because I've served in this community for 14 years will never pass So you have
a levy amount and you have a levy limit and I think the the prior budget was about $300,000 in terms of the space of the final If you went over that you would have to do a prop two and a half override Again the reality of the
situation is we're going to have very limited uh options as a community We should face that unless we get additional infusion of dollars from the state which I've been saying for the last couple of years But I won't be party to that even close to that
Proposition 2 and a half override And looking at the prior budget I can't see how you can have a much uh bigger increase Thank you member Donovan Okay so while we're I feel like we're looking in the seat cushions you know of the sofa for money let's talk about the
cable money Every year we hear No every year I I mean I've been watching city school committee meetings for years for reasons I can't explain But that said every year there's a discussion where does the cable money go because we know
we get money from the companies that contract with our city And from my understanding I could be way off on this The check goes directly to the city We're supposed to the schools are supposed to get a percentage the city gets a percentage and there's a third party Help me out Tan I don't know who
that is So when those contracts are negotiated between the city and Verizon or the city and com the city and Comcast which we are we just approved the Comcast contract Wednesday Thursday of last week whatever day it was there is a a sum of money that gets cut to the city
based on the number of subscribers historically it goes to the city and it's supposed to be divided between the city the school and Mthoon community television okay that was that makes perfect sense I don't know what MCT TV is received I do know and I've learned
since we had this conversation that not too long ago in the Ed Lucia era right there were all those drops and fiber was brought to every building was about $100,000 And I just wish we could and no offense to anyone but if offense is taken I'm
good with it Can we please have an accounting of where that money went because I think it's been I don't know every year it's like oh yeah and maybe it all comes out in the wash but I would feel better in terms of transparency are we getting everything that is due to us
I don't know so on top of the DPW request may I ask mayor because I think it would come from you other than um this team I don't know tell me otherwise you don't see it at all and I would hate for any of
that to kind of come back to bite us If it's meant to go in one place it should go to that place I think So if we could have that information that would be very helpful I will have that for the next time Appreciate that Thank you vice chair
Um totally changing topics Um and can you tell me what percentage increase from last year to this year is our budget um and I'm asking because you know people are always asking us "What are we doing with
all our money?" And I just want to point out that we've negotiated lots of contracts that's automatically going to increase our budget by x% Every year And so I I'm curious as to how how how much what percentage over
our contractual increases are we from year to year do you know what I'm saying so so like yes the $20 million over last year is a lot but what percentage of our budget is that and I
know I could figure it out but I don't I don't have it right Um and I just want to point out that you know we have contractual obligations that have increased our budget If we just kept everything the same our budget's going to increase And what percentage of net
school spending from last year to this year is is the increase do you see what I'm saying so like does net school spending even cover our contracts yeah Our contracts that we just negotiated and gave people raises
right so if if we increase just by net school spending we do not have enough money to cover the contracts that we've negotiated with our staff Is that correct or transportation okay
the answer is no We do not have net school spending does not give us the increase we need for transportation contractual obligation increase out of district tuition obligation increase or contractual staff increase Okay So if if the city gives us just net school
spending we're still cutting We have to cut what we have right now because it doesn't cover our contractual obligations for what we have right now That's not adding a wish list That's not adding anybody Correct And then we have
30 positions that we have to fund above and beyond what we have this year And we're that's gonna be above that So I just want people to understand that that that net school spending isn't even
going to cover our contractual obligations that we currently have right this minute Correct And I don't think people understand that They think that we're spending extra money on more things and we're not It's the price of what we have right now has gone up and
we can't afford it with because the net school spending isn't going up enough to even cover what we currently have Correct And and that was Yes you're 100% right Yes Correct Correct In that this is this was part of the reason I had the
as much detailed conversation as I did last Monday for people to understand rewatch hand out whatever it is to understand that the way and and I I will apologize because I think I misspoke when member Wlette asked me when the
last time the foundation formula was adjusted and I said 2019 and that was incorrect It wasn't adjusted The foundation formula stayed the same They just added the supplemental S SOA amount to that formula So I did misspeak It was added to it It wasn't changed So you
still have this foundation formula that again gives you this crazy percent of in district special education kid a crazy kids a crazy p 1% of our out of district tuition kids for the right reason which
I do understand now they don't want to incentivize students being overidentified however it is so underfunded the way that it is calculated and I don't know how else to explain that other than looking at if if I show you
and I'll be happy to to share it with all of you the base foundation uh per pupil where I got that 11,000 versus the six it's a big chart that comes out of this 10page how they calculate the formula and then you're left with this chart and that's how they calculate each
child and and it it's every student category is a different amount so your K4 kids are a different amount than your middle school kids than your high school kids than your CTE kids then your special education kids then your English learner kids It's it's a remarkable
formula Um but it's somewhat I mean it again to account for in district services with one flat number for a 3.9% of your total in
district students of which all we're trying to do is keep our indisteper programs in their neighborhood schools and not send them out of district I don't know how we continue to fund that because what we are funding
are out of district programs but in our community for our kids with our kids in the neighborhood and so they are with each other and we've also held that I know since I've been here that has not been something that any school committee or any superintendent I've worked with
has wanted to do differently but those numbers are growing and so we're expanding our in district program but the state is not recognizing the changes to that in district special education child and how much those children as well cost for
transportation Right so so one thing we could do right now so I take back what I said a little bit on the like the state's not going to fix our problem that we need fixed in six weeks because that's our reality The the the conversation about circuit breaker is a reality and people should pay attention
to that right now all of us because whatever is decided with circuit breaker right now with our legislators absolutely can impact FY26 And while it's not going to fix 15 million or 20 million it's going to fix some of it It it will increase the
amount of reimbursement we get it could increase or make uh definitive the amount of out of district transportation and not have to wait until the state has leftover money and then we get something later We could budget for it Right now we're not budgeting for any out of
district transportation reimbursement We don't know if we're going to get it Again I'm not willing to roll that dice I don't think you are either that we would say "Oh we'll budget for 44% reimbursement cuz that's what it was this year." We don't we don't know what it's going to be So we're not going to do it So so that is something that I
think we all if folks are listening at home the conversation about circuit breaker reimbursement is real and live and actually could impact our FY26 movement Um so I would encourage everybody to write your legislators right now about that to really increase
that fully funded to 90% Right and fully funded doesn't mean fully funded right but the the amount above that threshold tuition amount rise it to 90% That gives us a little more reimbursement and give us an
absolute they want to get to 100% reimbursement for out of district transportation Confirm it Make it make it just done so that we can budget for it Um that's that's a huge cost and a huge struggle So it would help and again
it's not going to be the end all of this but that is something that we could do right now Thank you member Wlette and then member Maxwell Thank you Mr Chairman and thank you for the clarification on the foundation budget and chapter 70 I I
recall going back to the school committee and we had uh experienced a massive decrease in the expected chapter 70 growth and one of the revealing things was even that amount of money I think it was $3.8 8 million that was
destined to be swallowed up by special education costs automatically that you had that chapter 70 increase So I can only imagine the the smaller amount I think is 2.4 million that's automatically out the window and it's a
commitment to special education Um and again so like I said uh and I already sent the letter um and the senator was the only one that returned my call and returned the letter as a response Uh Senator Jake Olivera is the one that's
filed the legislation to increase it to 90% And I think it's important to emphasize is that it's a very fluid situation about the out of district special education uh transportation cost because we just got that recently at 44%
But that could be erased very easily Uh so that has to be the circuit breaker I I think it's a a strong term circuit breaker Um the house is uh in peril right now and again these
kids are entitled to services I don't want to have any calls from anybody that says I want to reduce special education They're entitled to the services I think we've made made major headways and like uh the vice chair mentioned in terms of
the class sizes all that's going to be out the window if we can't uh wrestle confidently the circuit breaker So 90% reimbursement maintaining at least 44% if not more with the transportation costs um because that's going to devour
the rest of the budget People talk about Medicare and Medicaid and entitlement programs and that's swallowing the federal budget uh and the projections We know the circuit breakers swallowing um our budget and it's not fair to the kids
It's not fair to the parents It's not fair to us as a school district But that's the reality of the situation So I think that's maybe that's the right focus is to have people make calls on that front Thank you Member Maxwell
Um so it looks like everyone's like almost ready to go home but I have um I have a few questions that were in the budget now that like now that I was able to review them at home Um are we going to bring this back to the table
and talk about this section again or are we just talking about the packet that you gave us today it's a discussion Bring up the questions you had Um so I have a few I just assumed that we were going to go um like section by section again but um I'll
I'll try to narrow them down to a few Um so one of my questions specifically was the addition of the risk coordinators I know that we added a risk coordinator to the chimney last year and
that was based off of the we had 197 ODRs and 70 of them were um fights bullying and harassment and and and the argument there was that it took up a lot of the assistant principal's time what is what are the ODRs at the other
schools and how many of them are um level uh tier 2 So I think in the question um in the narrative for the CGS and the Marsh I think they had in their paragraph about the risk coordinator um they put some of their own uh data in
that paragraph that said how many school office behavior incidents they had how many students were involved how many were repeated Yeah The only question I had were how many of them were level uh tier two so I'd have to ask Okay Yeah Um that was one of the questions Another
question was I know that we have the media centers in here and don't get me wrong I want the libraries back I I totally want that Have we um have we looked into volunteers and PTO groups and all of that to try and take the need
away from hiring someone um you know where is the we will explore whatever the committee would like us to explore Okay Um um I know
that so in these in these budgets um the timony for instance is relatively the same as last year in a sense of like staffing needs and all of that I'm curious because um last
year we were going to look into Fatimony specifically to find out why um 51% of their students versus the other schools weren't reading at or above grade level Um and I know that you said that you would come back to us kind of with the
investigation on that I I know that we haven't heard back on that and I just feel like with the staff that they're requesting are you know what is the change is there a significant change that we will see a benefit to the kids in their growth this year or are we just
going to at the you know I'm I'm assuming the reading rates are coming out soon but are we going to see that the Tim is still at 51% that aren't reading at or grade at or above grade level versus the 42 and a half% that aren't at the tenny
the 39% that aren't at the marsh Um what have we done to correct it like where when are we going to see the measurable results for that what are we going to do differently um you know I just I I'm just curious because I know that you we said that the curriculum is
the same and the style is the same and the you know we really just didn't have an answer on why there was such a difference at the Timnney because we took EL students out of that number It was you know out of 885 non-ELL students 51% were not reading at grade level Yeah
I think um we have agreed at the April 14th meeting that we're going to yeah we're going to do a quarter update because we should have done it in March but we I thought we wanted to do the whole thing for the budget to get that out early So Lisa's going to do an
update which will have the midyear scores and the questions I believe that you just asked Okay So I that is delayed a little bit but we had it originally on the agenda to do both things on March 24th and then uh I thought about it and
removed it because I thought the budget meeting would last a little bit longer So that will be April 14th Um I also couldn't find any information when I looked up [Music] the that program Um I know it started
with a C um constellations I couldn't find any information If maybe you could share a little bit more information about I know you gave us like a breakdown but and it doesn't have to be public You can just let me know but I I'm just curious what that program actually is like what they have agreed
to do for us specifically Yeah And one last thing I'm sorry guys I know you all want to go to say sorry Um I know that we're looking to add um we're looking to add team facilitators to each school
and correct me if I'm wrong Is that not what the um director of special education does in each school they're like the team facilitator Yeah So the special ed administrator right now does all of it They evaluate and supervise the teachers and they run all of the
meetings and compliance and that has become incredibly overwhelming for one person to do in the buildings as large as they are At the high school we have two administrators that run the programs at the high school and we would like to see something similar to that at the
grammar schools Okay It's just it's an impossible job right now that we're asking one person to do and maintain compliance And is there a way to make that a a district position or is there a heavy need per school it's really Yeah it's really per school
because the it would the person would be running initial evaluations and re-evaluations and those are happening every day Okay Yeah Um and as far as far as the um STEM supervisor and the no that the humanities isn't in here
the STEM supervisor I'm curious with our comparable districts I've looked up um a lot a lot of their positions and it looks like they have directors of those programs rather than just being an individual school title Is that
something that we could look into having one versus four and maybe that could save some money yes So those are all ideas that I think will come from our continued discussions Okay Yep I think that's the majority of my questions if there were more Yeah So the the bigger
ones I can the Lisa I think will answer the reading questions during the April 14th quarterly Okay Um I will have to get you the information from the March and the CGS about the ODRs Okay Mhm I think that's what I just heard as far as asks Yes Thank you Yep
Other questions or discussion i'm I'm going to quickly wrap uh before we move on to selecting the dates for our additional budget workshop meetings Um so I think tonight the conversation was one that was certainly
based in reality Uh and that reality is that we are facing in our city when it comes to our uh outlook for fiscal year 26 in terms of revenue We're facing a perfect storm In the past couple of months we
lost one of our largest sources of non-residential tax revenue by way of Holy Family Uh very grateful that the hospital is still alive and uh operating under the umbrella of
Lawrence General but Lawrence General's a nonprofit and uh that revenue is out of the picture Our residents at the local level I think if you were to talk to uh any uh residential taxpayer uh
you'll probably hear the same message and that is that they are taxed enough already It's already a struggle for people to pay their bills We have an increase in the cost of living that folks have endured and that uh is only becoming more difficult We have limits to state funding that we've talked about
We have uncertainty at the federal level But uh you know even though those challenges are certainly there and we have to be cognizant of them I have been on a mission as our new mayor to make
our government function better And at this point in developing my first budget as our city's mayor I have a few different priorities in mind as it relates to a plan forward So right off the bat uh we are identifying and
pursuing opportunities to make our government especially on the city side more efficient And uh another thing that we're doing as well is uh we're going to be going through the process on the city side as well of putting together department by
department a strategic plan which is something that hasn't been done in some time in terms of the budget on our end on the city side as well Uh we're going to be uh putting forward a responsible conservative uh budget that ultimately
preserves essential services for our city but does so in a fiscally responsible manner And I think the most important thing that we're going to do aside from maintaining as conservative of an operating budget as we can is we're
going to be embarking uh going forward on a real concerted effort to expand our commercial tax base so that our residents aren't forced to bear as much of the burden There are no quick and
easy fixes to any of these issues We're not going to get to a point where I think we need to be overnight but this is the direction that we're rowing and we're going to get there in spite of the difficulties we
face in the coming weeks and months At this point we'll move on to the next part of the agenda which is the selection of the dates for the next budget workshop meetings Um open to discussion about that Do we have any proposed dates superintendent
question is do we want to have another meeting next week prior to April 14th that's really the only option is to meet you know next week before the April 14th business meeting Um if not that will be another uh pretty lengthy meeting Uh I just again worry about the
time frame between April 14th and the time our our budget approved vote and budget hearing is scheduled already for May 21st because of the timeline that we have to follow for the city unless that is pushed back or changed that is the
timeline we're following uh that we have had for the past I'd say two or three years Um so I'm just a little worried about that time frame to do the work that we may have to do I'm not saying it can't be done Um so I'm
looking either if we're going to meet again on the 14th I will certainly have some of the requests that you've asked some additional information for that evening Um but we should probably schedule between April 24th uh which is a workshop night which is
good Oh no 24th Is it the 24th the 28th 28th uh is a workshop night We should probably schedule I would say one for the week of May 5th at the very least to have another one in there before May 12th which is
when we're going to have to have a final budget which again the the weeks are just structured differently because March got that today in March got the 31st in So it's moved all the
weeks back from when our meetings are So if the mayor is committing to having us a number by the end of the week and next week I mean we're going we're going to need some time to digest that Your team
is going to need time to digest that Our meeting is regularly scheduled for the 14th and I assume we have like other stuff to do that night Is everyone opposed to doing something I don't know midweek Wednesday
Thursday because I mean to Dr Quank's point if we wait this is going to be a shotgun wedding I'm open Um I would recommend Wednesday as opposed to Thursday because Thursday is a half day and you're going into April vacation and Easter and Good
Friday etc So I would I would just recommend Wednesday versus Thursday I'm sorry I missed that and I apologize Recommendation was avoiding the Thursday before the Easter weekend I believe Yeah
Oh yes So the 15th or 16th for us is No is good Yes We'd prefer not to do it on the 17th but we'll do it if we had to I'm down for either Wednesday the 16th That gives us a day So I' I'd make sure everything was
posted on Monday which is good because that gives me Monday to get like as close to a final uh packet and numbers as I can 16th at 6 o'clock Are we good good Very good [Music]
All right Uh so we have our next date Um at this point do we have any other business from the committee may I ask and I apologize Can I ask a clarifying question do you want me to not have a budget on the 14th like do you want me to not have um
that topic on the 14th and hold it for the 16th and just have a workshop just about the budget yes So business meeting on the 14th we can do the quarterly we can have awards we can do everything that's on our normal business and then budget on the 16th will focus Okay Thank
you That helps me Thank you Mayor Yeah Other business Other business I I would just ask um for an update from member Dunovan um from our January meeting when you were going to meet with the superintendent to review changes on how school data is
reviewed school data I know you said you were going to meet with the superintendent to discuss um Oh I'm sorry That's okay I'm sorry Maybe I maybe I was thinking that it was other data Yeah Okay
The school committee how we presented the data to the school committee was the the new chart with the enrollments and withdrawals and residency so that it was in one place and more efficient for the team I didn't know if I didn't know if that meant the school data that's given back to us on the regular Um you know
like um I'm trying to think of a certain specific report that you give back to us I didn't know if that would affect reports given back to us or if it was just that specific enrollment Um
yes Um no I was just looking for an update I didn't know if there was more to understand Um and then one other question is can we potentially look into um map testing um map i'm assuming you know what that
means We do Okay that's all that that was my only um I know I'm not on the committee but I do want to give you an update on the studio equipment at the high school Uh we did have a contractor come in and um look
through it and find out what the problems are Gave us a stock list of new switches new equipment that we need to the tune of about $16,000 Um we're in the process of getting quotes for that stuff right now My deadline to get the quotes is Thursday morning so that we can put in
an order Thursday afternoon Um and I've already um signed an agreement for that vendor to come in and install it and get it up working correctly So I'm working as quickly as I can to get it done Just it's gonna probably be a week or two Let's say three Yeah we will We'll keep
you posted We'll keep you posted If we have to have the meeting here on the 14th our business meeting I will make sure that uh MCTV knows that uh so that we are in the clear Unless I have the full 100% guarantee and all the equipment is installed by the 14th I
won't take that chance I will I will let you know next week Yeah TBD I'll let you know next week If everything comes in as it's supposed to we could be fine for the 14th So off off hand here I I threw out the idea as you were saying that it's going to cost
$16,000 to probably fix that equipment Um I threw out the idea of simply saving money by having our meetings here but member Shabilia just referenced uh accreditation for chapter your CTE class You need that maintain
Okay You're not on that committee All right I know right yeah Member Donovan I I just feel like we need to acknowledge a few things This has been a tough meeting
Um Friday night member Keegan and I Dr Kong Um we were lucky enough to go to the military ball the ROC It was I can't describe it Amanda asis was u recognized as teacher of the year selected by those
students So it was it was really meaningful Um and I'm not and in addition this week I've been hearing about some of the college acceptances which is not my story to tell but I hope we get to hear some of the colleges that
our students are going to Um it just is amazing So there is some good stuff happening as we deal with the Yeah there is as as we try to find a way to fund the continuation of the good stuff So um I just wanted to share that
I'm sorry Um I just also want to congratulate the winter color guard for coming in first place at finals this past week Um those kids work so hard and it is not a trivial um thing and they they have come so far in the past few
years and I just want to say congratulations to them All right Anything else thank you All right At this point I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn So move Second A motion from member Shabilia The second is from member Daglio All those in favor
say I I Opposed The eyes have it The time is 8:33 and we are returned Good night Mthuran