Mhm. >> Our goal tonight is is to present a budget that's straightforward and clear to be very transparent about the funding that's available to us through chapter 70 and state aid.
To keep a level service across all school buildings. So, to maintain our programming. And we do have a few areas that we would request consideration for understanding that's a challenging budget season. Just to put on your radar
some remedies that we may think could solve some problems that we've been hearing throughout the community and in the schools over the course of the year. So, Ian and I will be tag teaming the presentation and I'm sure Gina will be chiming in as well. So, as we move
through if if there are questions that you have, please feel free to ask. The idea tonight is it's just the first pass. You haven't seen any this information before, just to give an overview, clarify any um misinterpretations you may have but
what we're trying to present. Then next week or over the weekend, you can delve more deeply into the information, formulate some questions, start thinking about priorities, and then when we continue with our workshops, we can talk in more detail about those.
So, I essentially just went through um the idea here or the message in in the slide where what we're trying to do is create a student-centered budget where maintaining strong classroom instruction and reasonable class size is paramount.
Continuing our investment in student services including special education and multilingual learner education and support and thinking about the academic, social, and emotional needs of all of our students. And that's largely grounded in our
strategy for district improvement. So, our strategy, as you know, is a 3-year plan. We are entering year three. Um so, it's really time to double down on what our intent was at the onset of this plan. The goal for the end of this year was to
have all of our key actions um in operation and at least in some um level of implementation. And then next year, we'd like to delve more deeply into that. So, again, to remind you our aim is to accelerate literacy
development and language acquisition across all subject areas to reduce opportunity and achievement gaps between student groups to improve outcomes and enhance partnerships with students and families to increase connectivity,
engagement, and belonging. To ground us in um some changes that we've seen, ground the conversation and our understanding of how our enrollment has shifted since 2020. We have seen a decrease in enrollment
from the 2025 school year to the 25-26 school year of around 200 students and that mirrors the trend across the state. In public education across the state uh public uh public school students are down 15,000.
And that's across all demographics, urban schools, suburban schools. Um so, there's a downward trend there. That's important when we're considering um our foundation enrollment which is established in October 1st and that um
has a direct correlation to the funding that we receive from the state. We've had an increase in our um students with whose first language is not English of 6.5% since 2020 an increase in 7.7%
of our English learner population students with disabilities has increased 2.7% and our high needs um population has increased 10.8%. This slide outlines the budget development process. So, in
um late winter, early spring we had lots of conversations with our district and school leaders listening to a lot of the conversations and comments that I've heard from teachers, parents, and students about where they uh perceive areas of growth
to be within the district and our staffing needs. And we're we're on the um second item here, the preliminary school committee budget workshop. On the agenda this evening um is an item where we would like to establish some
future workshop dates. We have a few weeks to get our um our budget solidified before um the mayor presents um to the city council. And there are just some key dates there for you to be aware of.
And we'll get more in detail in a bit regarding Chapter 70 and our enrollment and aid but just to to give the basic overview, our foundation enrollment leads to our foundation budget and that foundation
budget is comprised of uh the minimum city contribution and the Chapter 78 which together make what we know as the required net school spending. Um and so, you'll hear some of these terms come up. It gets more complicated
when we think about entitlement grants, circuit breaker, and some of the other aspects of of how we make our budget, but at at the base level, these are numbers to be familiar with. And here's a a slide showing what we
anticipate our entitlement grant allocations as being. These are not certain. This is what DESE has recommended that uh we take into account when building budgets. So, as you know, with these entitlement grants
the federal government gives an allocation of money to the state. The state then divvies it up to municipalities. So, there's a few steps there that may impact what we receive in the district.
We're looking at a potential 7% reduction in Title One and Two. Title Three, we think will likely be level funded. Title Four is likely to increase slightly and then Perkins, which is formally
called Strengthening Career and Technical Education will likely be level funded. And then IDEA, which is our Individuals with Disabilities Education Act most recently um as early as yesterday, um we
heard there could be a slight increase there. So, some of the numbers of funding that are coming from the government been hearing some some positive buzz that there could be um room for for increases in different areas. So, for tonight, we're having to
operate with what we know to be true. And and you have heard um a few times about the the a la carte menu um of of packages or bundlings that we think may be beneficial to help really impact some change across the district.
So, I wanted to walk you through what these requests would be so that when we move forward and we get into the school workbooks, you can see um the change year over year in terms of the staff that we currently have, the programming that we currently have um and also, we
have a separate column that denotes where these new positions would lie. So, first in the special education bundle and I'll pass this off to Gina, you'll see a mix of program assistants, teachers um stipends, building-based
educators all of which we find to be very important from a compliance standpoint and also an operational standpoint. Gina, if you'd like to give your input on that. Sure. Um so, for program assistants, there's a number um of program assistants that are required to remain
in compliance with programming numbers. Um Timony, you will see uh large number of program assistants. I will say with the move-ins that we received this year, the majority of the students that moved into the district resided in the Timony district and were
students with IEPs. Um and so, we've come to a point where to be able to um provide all the services, we need additional support staff to cover the inclusion services um that students require in the general education programming.
Um and then throughout, you'll see some um are needed for one-to-one purposes. Um high school, we're seeking an additional transitions program assistant. Um we have a large number of students that are transitioning into our transitions academy, our 18-to-22 program. Um and in
order to support support their vocational opportunities um and and other needs, we're seeking an additional program assistant. Um and at the Marsh, um we're seeking three additional um and you'll see a teacher as well because of the students
transitioning from preschool to kindergarten in our pathways sub separate program, we do need to open one additional classroom um to support that increase. Um this year, we currently have interim evaluation team facilitators um at the
Timony and the Tenney. We have an evaluation team facilitator at the Marsh. Um over the year, um I know in the fall with the former committee, um we talked a lot about the increasing demands um for the special education administrators for program oversight,
supervision, and evaluation um being support for families. Um the evaluation team facilitators have brought some assistance in terms of compliance um but you'll see in the binder, there's more of a description of why we're seeking to not have the
evaluation team facilitators in those three buildings and add an additional special ed administrator in each building. Um CGS is different. That number looks different. Um so, we're just looking to increase um a stipend that we already
have for a teacher that supports um some of the needs in the building. And then at the high school, um a building-based educator um to support for um continuity for students with um, programming um, when other teachers or program
assistants are out to have one dedicated BBE for special education. Thank you. And I'll have to thank the principals and directors and supervisors who were really cognizant of the challenging budget season we're having. And so, what's put forth here are the essentials
instead of um, lofty or ambitious ideas for future programming. Um, so in the English learner education bin, we only have one ask and that would be for a program assistant at the CGS.
The CGS houses our um, newcomer program for English learners as well as a typical ELD program. Um, and so Ms. Prietti feels as though that one program assistant would be helpful enough to relieve a lot of the um, concern around
supporting groups during wind block and in the classroom and in inclusion. She could make it work with one. In career and technical education, that's our vocational programming that we have been celebrating at the high school. We are uh,
we have five current chapter 74 pathways. And when that happens, we're required to have a supervisor of career and technical education or an administrator that's designated for that program. This year we've been functioning with a teacher leader um, who also serves
part-time as our biotechnology teacher who's done an absolutely outstanding job. Um, but she has expressed and we are very much in agreement that there there is a lot of compliance, paperwork, oversight that comes with that vocational programming. We feel that
that position um, is warranted in of itself. Also, that position could be helpful in helping to seek um, and obtain grants for the district and potentially grow to include some additional pathways which we would be thrilled to have. Um, and the other ask for that area is
the multimedia production and broadcasting teacher. We have one, Mr. Wilkins, who again does a fantastic job. It's always been a popular program under Mr. Wilkins. Now, with the exploratory um, celebrating CTE to the middle
school, we're seeing even more interest. So, of the five classes Mr. Wilkins teaches, one is dedicated to the exploratory program for grade nine students. Another is dedicated to externship, which leaves only three courses for students to access. So, the addition of another teacher, we're
confident we could fill a full slate of classes um, in that CTE programming and continue to grow. The next bucket would be uh, the or calling the STEM education bucket. Currently, um, we don't have any any
oversight or any administrator who's designated to oversee math and science. We've been very literacy focused, which we'll continue to be. Um, however, we are right on the brink of needing to adopt, search, seek, adopt, assess, and
bring on a new um, math curriculum. Which would be really hard to do in a few years' time, K-8, um, without anyone dedicated to that. Uh, I could justify that role as someone who would also be able to provide professional development, not need to
seek outside professional development as regularly. Um, the other part of that would be overseeing science. So, we have three sci- four science grants in our upper schools, all of which require uh, oversight for professional development,
a touchpoint from from our um, vendor partners, buying materials and the like. It would also relieve some evaluation duties um, from buildings. So, I'm looking to connect our high school um, STEM education with the grammar schools to
make a little bit more of a fluid um, road for students to travel. And on that note, we do currently have K-4 STEM as a specialist for students. Um, those teachers have done a great job developing that curriculum um, into trimesters. So, they spend some time
working on um, some more coding technical aspects. They spend some time working on some computer digital aspects. Uh, and then they move on to a different category. What I'm envisioning for the upper school would be something similar uh, entitled
uh, the upper school financial and digi- digital literacy teacher. So, that would be an added specialist. By doing that, uh, you'll remember that we lost Spanish last year. Created um, some struggle in terms of balancing those specialist
classes. Uh, there are fewer places to place students. Um, so an idea would be to add a different specialist class. This one was selected because uh, DESE does have uh, digital uh, literacy and and computer science standards which need to be
addressed. We also have um, heard loud and clear from students both in in civics classes across um, across the district and through Y par and other avenues that they would love to have more personal finance
um, and um, financial literacy instruction. There's also an AI component that could be woven into this. And we envision this person and also being helpful with our media centers. Um, and so that solves a few needs. That
would be the STEM bucket. And would connect K-12 with our STEM road. Okay, I'll go quickly here. The next we have wellness. So, we're worked really hard this year with our comprehens- comprehensive phys
ed um, and and health team to look at our curriculum. We had a uh, sizeable grant that helped us purchase materials that we need. When we lost this position or reduced this position um, a couple years ago, we
lost really someone who was evaluating nearly 30 people across the district, a presence in every building. Um, as you know, there's some sensitive topics in health and wellness that we would like the teachers to feel supported in having um,
a supervisor to go to. And also safety um, is a concern when we have pretty large physical education classes of students. Um, making sure that everything is operating as it should be. So, that's currently funded as a point four um, because we have a couple teacher
leaders, again, teachers with full-time teaching loads trying to do this work on the side. And we've been trying to help and stipend them. We think it's time to consider adding that position back in. And as part of that buck- bud- uh, bucket for the budget, the lower school
health teachers, which we lost last year. Um, that would give us a K through 12 um, seamless road for health and wellness education. As you know, bully- bullying has been um, a really uh, popular topic to discuss in the
community. It came up in the audit, but also in our own self-assessment of where we have holes in our wellness curriculum. We have discovered that we were lacking in this area. So, we have purchased bullying curriculum, additional SEL curriculum.
But unless we have the health teachers, we would be asking other educators to help take on that responsibility. Um, we would lose some consistency and some class time in other subject areas. So, that's up for your consideration. And then there's just two more.
One being um, our response to intensive behavioral and mental health needs. I have I have heard this loud and clear across all four um, grammar schools. And it's sometimes rare to hear it such a a clear trend and theme. But there there are a handful of
students um, in the district, primarily in grades K-12, who are having trouble um, with regulation in the classroom for a number of reasons. And when it's the case that um, a teacher needs assistance in the classroom because we don't have someone designated
to report straightaway, it's often um, a counselor who was otherwise occupied is happy to help, but it takes some time to get there. Same thing with the administrators, crisis interventionists. So, we're proposing um, a program assistant called the RIS program
assistant who would be this person who could report immediately to the room. And either the teacher or the program assistant, we would have a clear flowchart for that, would preserve the learning of the other students in the room without disruption while we'd have the other staff member working through
the issue with the student who is having the challenge. Um, and so that that's an ask that I think is relatively short money, although everything I know it comes at a cost these days with the four program assistants. Um, and then there's an ask in that same
vein for uh, additional counseling staff, one at the Marsh and one at the CGS. Uh, the the CGS has lost two counseling staff members over the past two budget cycles. The Marsh most recently, I believe, lost one. Um, and so we're
we're seeing them um, as complimentary in this response to behavior. So, we'd like to build it out so we have a counselor dedicated to this, the program assistant, Merritt in the upper school, and then build in some of the bright model which already exists at the CGS
once we have all the staffing in the other schools. And then finally, our support staff The first item on there is very important. That's the bilingual parent liaison from Methuen High School. That was lost last year in the budget cycle.
Really hard um to operate effectively without this position. The parent liaison also has um some attendance office responsibilities as the first the first um greeter when families come into the school as well.
Um translation and discipline hearings and translation in special ed meetings. Um it's really non-stop. And so that that's something we'd really love to have back. As well as the building based educators, Mr. Corrado is requesting three
um to help with coverage when teachers are out. Um if you've been in the high school during the school day, you know that our BBEs and our um hall monitors are moving non-stop monitoring bathrooms in the hallways really supervising space
for safety. So they're excellent utility players we would like to have. Um Ian has proposed a senior um bookkeeper to help with some of um the roles in his office that he's been absorbing um due
to a lack of staff. Gina in a similar position has asked for a student services secretary to help largely coordinate the out of district um transportation along with other roles. Um and then uh we're requesting two LPNs
because we've had trouble um with our our small nursing staff when someone calls out making sure we have enough coverage in the buildings. Um and it seems to be the annual um dilemma in the spring when when classes in schools are wishing to go on field
trips and we don't have enough support to enable that to happen. We've been fortunate thus far, but that that would be really important for us. I just want to add to that request. Um last year um we had brought on a float nurse um if some of you recall to help
with that coverage when we have an absence um or different things. Um what we're running into this year is we here at the high school, we have two nurses on staff here at the high school, but we are nearing because of our numbers
um not having enough nursing staff. Um if you have heard us over the years, you're supposed to have one nurse for every 500 students. Um and so without that ratio in place, it's actually we're out of could be out of compliance and it would impact our med delegation
licensing. So for field trips and things like that. So what we're looking to do is move the float nurse here to the high school to be a third full-time nurse here, which is why we're requesting the two LPNs to cover across the district. And it's a cost savings cuz when we have
that coverage in the offices when a nurse is absent, we do not pay the work alone pay or the float pay. So just wanted to add that in. Thank you. So the idea with presenting those in categories is um
for you when you're considering the budget and what your priorities what you you would like to have what priorities you'd like to have for just this coming school year, what you'd like to start with. Um it might be easier for you to to make a recommendation or a voice a a
suggestion if they're bundled that way. So let's let's move on to our our current state. Um Ian, would you like to take it? >> Sure. Okay. I'm going to go real quick cuz um the these next two slides are right off
the Department of Ed website. Um you can look at those. It just gives you a breakdown of the foundation and breaks the foundation down into how much is it from Chapter 70 and how much is required by the city. Um this current fiscal year, the city has
um contributed way more than the minimum. Um so we're not in danger of being below that. Uh the next slide just shows trends in the foundation over the last since 1993. That's just for your viewing pleasure.
Um the next slide says budget summary and that is net and non-net together and is broken down by section. And it gives you FY26, FY27 and the differences.
Um I want to caution you that believe it the spending did not go up $12 million dollars. Okay. Um the next slide I want to show you is is a little more telling. The next slide is now this is net school spending. So it takes transportation out
of the picture. Just what happens in the classroom, the buildings, etc. Um So in FY26, we have those numbers up at the top. That's net school spending $99 million in uh FY26 and FY27 it's at 111 right now. So
it looks like an increase of um 11.7. Um but if you look down, those numbers are base those numbers are after all these amounts are backed out of our budget. So circuit breaker, the yellow one, is a
big one. So last year we got an extra 3.2 right at the at the finish line. Um so we ended up being able to back out $12.5 million dollars from our budget. Where this year we're only at 9.2. We didn't get that bonus 3.2.
Maybe we will. Not saying we won't, but um it it's it's a reduction in revenue, not necessarily an increase in spending. Um and then I I did the same thing for Title One, Title Two, Title Three, Perkins, and IGEA. And you can see some of them went up slightly, some of them
went down slightly. Um but the total offsets last year we had about 17 $0.7 million dollars in offsets and this year we're looking at about 14.3. So after you take into those accounts,
total net operating without grants and without circuit breaker our increase would only be 8.3. From FY26, FY27. I went through that very quickly, but does everyone understand what I tried to
show there? Essentially the city's receiving less revenue this year to help fund us. So it makes it look like our budget's a lot bigger than but our budget really only went up about 8.3. Just the amount that the city has to pay
for it also went down to 3.2. Um and no fault of their own obviously. Um The next is um is non-net. This is just transportation. Um >> [clears throat] >> all each bus went up approximately 5%.
We did have a little We had an increase in some areas and a decrease. Overall, it's under an $800,000 increase for transportation, which I mean I wish it was a decrease, but could also be a lot worse. And I gave you um the next one is
special education out of district tuitions. And um taking into account the offsets, which is pretty much what I just showed you on that last um but this is just out of district tuitions. You have all the tuitions at the top and what they would add up to
before you take into account circuit breaker. And then once you back out circuit breaker. So really before we back out circuit breaker for FY26 and FY27 the increase is only 1.7. When you take into account we're getting
less circuit breaker money, it looks like five five million. So. Now um before we go to next steps, can I just um my goal is to kind of give you an idea of what you're looking at in here.
Um I do want you to know that that um ala carte list is level services. It's what we have right now. Okay? If you turn to let's just pick the Marsh um you'll see a narrative at the beginning
which I'm not going to read it to you guys. Um and then you go to the staffing sheet and you got the pretty colors and I gave you the color code. But if you can see, let's actually go to the
Let's go to the third page of the the Marsh. You can see that there's a new position for lower school health. I did add it to the the FTE one FTE but I put the amount out to the side.
So that you could that that column there is what it would cost to add that position. I have not added that position into the dollars yet. Um the only ones that you might see, so for example just above that, grade eight,
you see the yellow one, but the number is not kicked out to the side. In this building, they're going to reduce a kindergarten. So they're going to reduce a teacher in kindergarten who's retiring, I believe. Um they're going to use that FTE in grade eight. So it's not an additional
staff member. It's just moving it from one grade to another. So those are the only places that I I didn't kick it out to the side so that you could see it separate. I did highlight in like a reddish color anything that's a grant or a revolving
account so that you can kind of see where where those funds are going. And then behind it there's some green sheets. I always like to use green, color of money. Um it has all your your budget lines for each building.
And in next steps, I know some of you have already taken me up on it. Anybody who wants to come and sit down with me and go over any of the lines, any of the staffing, any questions, um come sit with me next week. It's vacation.
Um I make myself available. Earlier in the day the better, just in case I get to sneak out around 1:30 cuz there's no buses, but I will make myself available when it whenever you're available. Is there anything else you wanted me to
touch upon, Lisa, that I did not? No, I just wanted to um maybe put some minds at ease for people who may be watching at home or or looking at the um school workbooks. We post them tomorrow. When there is the occasion to reduce a
teacher in a grade, that's due to class size and enrollment across the grade. So that as you know, there may be some bubbles that are particularly large, others that are particularly small. So when it didn't when we found it um unnecessary to keep that certain number
of teachers, we could still maintain an optimal class size with one fewer, that's where a reduction was. And likewise, when that bubble moved through to a different grade and we need another teacher, we added one. So I believe it was a wash across the district in all
buildings, the adding and subtracting. So I don't anyone to feel as if um they're called out in this workbook. It's going to be a shuffling at this point of teachers. Also, you'll see in your in your um binders
as well in the narratives for each school, we tried to highlight the special education programming that's housed in that school, so you might have a sense um with that description of why particular staff members may be needed
for that certain program. Same thing for the English learner programming. You'll also see a line that denotes what class sizes would be um with the budget as it stands. Um and so there's a
there's a district review page that's also an overview that summarizes that. And so right now, with the staffing as it's listed in this current workbook, across the district in grades K through
2, we have a variation of um 17 to 22 students in a class K-1-2. And in grades 3-8, um 20 to mostly 24, a couple classes of 25. So that's where we're at in terms of
class size. Sure, it's it's it's in here um clearly for you by school, but uh in K-1-2, I have the range for each school. Um and so overall, it would be 17 to 22, and those aren't whole
numbers, so uh and then in the grades 3 through 8, 20 to 25 would be the range. There's only a few classes of 25, it was mostly 23 or 24. I will point out the um the staffing spreadsheet like we were just going
over. There was a column for class size um and it shows like if we reduced one, you'll see the the FTE went from say five to four, and it shows you what the new um average class size would be. So that you could if we reduced another one, you could do the math and it would
obviously jump up. Or if we added a teacher, it would reduce. So of course, everybody here is receiving this and digesting it for the first time, so I don't know if we have a ton of questions, but at at the very least, I'm happy to open the floor if
there are any questions. Um Just so folks are aware in terms of uh process, um I uh along with the CAFO uh and a handful of others spent uh the day working through
uh the whole uh citywide uh budget spreadsheets, so uh that process is well underway. Um looking at obviously a difficult uh budget year as we've all uh been anticipating, especially when you look at other municipalities, even uh some of
the more wealthy communities like Lexington, Brookline, uh they're really having a heck of a time with their budget as well. So it's something that's really prevalent across uh the Commonwealth, but you know, we're doing what we have to do um
right now going into the process of, you know, giving it to the council for their consideration, uh trying to make as many decisions, difficult decisions, as I can on the administration side uh leading into that process. So it's uh
underway, we're moving, and um you know, it's not easy, it's not pretty, but uh we're going to get through it. But with that, uh if anybody has any uh questions, any comments to share, uh I think that something that would behoove us would be to
uh be in contact with the delegation to the extent that we can, just to really push for additional help from the state. Um Representative Hamilton indicated that we are likely to see uh some additional funding come through on top of what the
governor already indicated in her budget. Uh so um you know, there are things that uh we can advocate for from the state. Um there are other things that I'm looking at in terms of uh some solutions at the city level, uh trying to think outside the box and
get creative. Uh so um long and short of it is that uh we're doing the best we can despite some difficult circumstances. Um Questions, discussion, member Willett? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um I would just like to emphasize, if
it's possible, I have requested in years past uh administrative comparison between our district and comparable districts. Uh I think there's a false narrative out there that we have to abate every year is that we have high
administrative costs in our school system, which is absolutely false. So I want to counteract that by having uh comparable districts similar to Methuen. Um I would imagine we're going to be again below average for administrative
costs. Um I also want to emphasize that the House will uh has presented its budget. It'll be uh offering amendments going into next week. It'll be an opportunity, and I would encourage uh teachers,
staff, uh elected officials from Methuen to review the amendments. Um in years past, and likely this time around, there'll probably be amendments to increase Chapter 70, which is critical. I know um there's going to be a
conference committee on the supplemental budgets and the differentials between the House and Senate. We're going to definitely monitor that, but in terms of uh budget amendments, um marshal your resources, and more letters and phone calls and
emails. Again, I encourage people to go to that podium. We welcome it. We're an open uh community, and we're transparent. It'll be difficult decisions, um but the primacy goal for me is to approach the legislative delegation
based on what the amendments will be filed. I know there were amendments last time around filed in terms of increasing Chapter 70 by about 200 to 300 million dollars, which would be a windfall for us. Also, the circuit breaker, increasing the reimbursement rate. So
those will be two items that I will monitor, uh and also maybe giving us some flexibility at the local level. Not necessarily Proposition 2 and 1/2, um which is to me is a third rail, but maybe on the meals tax, and something
that we could redirect uh to literacy. Um and I know that's something that the secretary is advocating for, and I know Representative Hamilton could potentially advocate for, and that's been bandied about by the Massachusetts Municipal Association is to give us
additional tools in the meals tax. I think locally, people would be in favor of that if they know it's going to literacy and the librarians in our schools. Obviously, I am very committed um to having the RIS counselors in our schools. I think we've had a very
successful turnaround, and it also um takes away from any distractions from the mainstream classrooms, and also involves the students that need those uh services directly. Um so that's something in terms of finite resources I
will be advocating for. Um and obviously, we'll be working with our partners in the City Council. I don't want this to be an adversarial relationship. Uh in years past, you've never heard from me uh being critical of the City Council, and even though at
times we've passed a budget that's uh different from what the mayor is advocating for, his heart is in the right place. We will have discussions, and sometimes they will be heated, but I will never personalize it. I will I don't think it's uh meritorious to go
before the City Council and berate them, because sometimes they're not privy to the budget as well. Um but I think the fact that we're doing this well in advance, and we're promoting it, and then also encouraging people to go to the legislative delegation,
um I think it's a very uh worthy to do that. Uh so, I just want to mention that. But, I appreciate this. Thank you. Member Joyce. Mr. Chair, I just wanted to Oh, sorry. I had my hand on it, too. Um, Assistant Superintendent Bozack, I
just had a couple of questions for her. Could you just um tell me under the special education new budget requests, what which of those requests will keep us in compliance with IEPs and student services?
Let me get to the page. Okay. Sorry. I'm So, the program assistants, um so, the one-to-ones, the um Pathways resource room at the Timony, the upper school Footsteps at
the Tenney, um Transitions at the high school, um inclusion at the CGS, and the Pathways at the Marsh with the one-to-one. Thank you. You're welcome. Member Keith.
Um, I have two questions. The first one is um under the CTE, adding the multimedia production and broadcasting teacher, is it possible for you to give us an idea of how much increased um income that would give us
next year um by adding this teacher this year? Right? Cuz that's a that's a revenue-generating position. So, I I'd like to know approximately how many more kids will be able to serve, and what that means in real dollars for us for next year.
Um and my second question is it's just not really clear to me um this is telling us what the required district contribution is, and what we're required net school spending is. That's the numbers from the state. Um, it's not
clear what the number from the city is. Um, and so, is there any way to that we can get what the number we are working with um so, we know for sure? So, what we've been using, Member Keith, just um so, you're up to speed with this, is at the baseline the required number from
the state in terms of net school spending. So, it's been, I think, in terms of the finance subcommittee, 112. The exact number is uh escaping me. But, um you know, this is all also depending on
the way that other departments are shaking out. I can say that um in terms of the work that we were doing uh over the course of the day today, um for the first time, I think, in a very long time, every department is going to
be uh transformed in a way that is not uh necessarily positive. Um, but uh we're trying to get to a point where uh we're able to have that uh solidified. Um You know, the other thing, too, and this
is the complicated aspect, and we saw this last year, you know, without that official determination from the state as to what we're looking at, you know, that creates a big gray area, as well. Um And the other thing, as well, uh beyond that,
and I I wanted to address this at the outset, anyway, so I'll I'll go get into it here. Uh there's the annual discussion about the use of free cash to balance the budget. And so, that's something that we did last year, uh try to keep it as limited as possible, keeping it to
one-time expenses to the extent we were able. Um, that's what the money's used for. And I I want to get ahead of that, because that is going to come up, I know, over the course of the next couple of weeks, where the city has uh right now just over $20 million in free cash.
Uh but, for instance, uh last year during the budget process, um there was a cut to, for instance, the uh tipping fee line item for trash. And so, roughly uh the exact number, right in that ballpark, of what was cut during the
budget last year, we're now projected to need to take out of free cash. Uh so, that's going to bring that down. Um, we're talking about uh things like snow and ice. That's something that we're in the range of $2.5 million that we need to take from
free cash to cover that. Um And so, there are things that right out of the gate that's going to bring that down. Uh but, beyond that, the risk of using free cash in this context, uh beyond, say, the one-time expenditures, is that it creates this
unsustainable pattern where, okay, we take out of it this year, it's not like there's a guarantee that that'll be replenished next year. And so, we create that reliance on it year over year. And so, you know, while it could be, you know, something that fixes issues today,
next year is just going to make the chasm that much wider. And so, you know, of course, that's a discussion that will need to have with the City Council. That would ultimately be within their purview to decide whether to do that. We can certainly take a look again at the one-time
expenses. But, I just want to share that now, because it's going to come up. And there's going to be the, you know, insinuation that, hey, we're sitting on all this money. Sure, you know, that that's true to an extent. Um, but at the same time, we have to be careful in how we use it,
simply because it's not something that uh we can sustain, and will make the pain even worse in future years. And so, we just want to be responsible with that. Uh but, to answer your question, um you know, we I think we're close to honing in on that number. Um
But, again, uh without that information from the state, you know, even if we were to say, all right, here we go, uh you know, we're able to go with, say, 113, 114 million is the the number in that range. Um >> [laughter] >> It's it's still tricky where if we get
extra from the state, you know, we don't want to shortchange that, either. So. It's a good question. Yeah, usually it's just like it's very clear in the in the budget. So, when people are at home are looking at it, I just want to be clear that right now our number is net school spending as
required net school spending. That's our number. And that's what we're going to have to get to. So. It is a moving target. Yep. Yeah. Member Donovan. Um, Ms. Bozack, could you just explain Now, the SEA positions that are
suggested for three schools, would that mean we'd have two SEAs at those three schools? Correct. >> Okay. Um, and I think it would be helpful for uh you to explain the difference between an ETF and an SEA. So. And then,
the second part, like I'm I'm sure you have it at the top of your uh fingers here, the the numbers of special ed or IEPs that SEAs have to uh responsible for at each
school. I can give you an overall. Yeah, I got it. That number is listed on the top of each school page, the number of students with IEPs. So, that's there, but So, that answer's there. Okay. Um, an evaluation team facilitator is not an
administrator. So, there's no administrative license. So, they can chair the meetings, meaning run the initials and the re-evals, um but, they cannot um sign off on compliance. They cannot supervise and evaluate other
teachers, program assistants, um holding the manifestation determination meetings, all um program oversight. They they really are assisting the SEAs right now in just running the initial meetings and the re-evaluation meetings. And they're
reviewing the documents, but then the documents still have to go to the SEA to ensure that everything is compliant and sign off. Okay. Thank you. That's helpful. So, at the at the three schools which
Ms. Bozack is requesting the additional SEA, which is the switch from the ETF to the SEA, the Marsh has um 240 students, Tenney has 238, and Timony has 271 students with IEPs. And I just to add to that, for the
Tenney and the Marsh, they have the large um subsets programs. Could you also um sorry to jump in. Um, the number of special ed teachers that they're overseeing and need to evaluate? I will get that for you. I don't have
that off the top of my head. But, I will get you the number of teachers and program assistants. Um, and just, you know, kind of food for thought, I can tell you for program assistants, just in terms of evaluations, um if we have year one
program assistants, it is three observations and evaluations each year, whereas our tenured or, you know, more senior program assistants only have one annual observation. Um, but that's important to note on top of the teacher
evaluation system. And may I ask you another question? Uh the addition of um counseling department staff members at the Marsh and CGS, would those additions bring equity in terms of caseload compared to
the other schools? Is that what you're looking at? The equity piece, like the caseloads >> Yes. are proportional across the district. >> that's one layer. Um, but also, whereas the CGS has has the Bright Program,
uh they're looking to enhance and expand that as they have some populations of students that that come with back backgrounds that necessitate a little more care. Um, and Timony's hedging that way and we'd love to see that built out at the other two schools. So. Just to
add on to the CGS, uh, big component that I want people to remember is, um, we had made a switch, I believe member Donovan, when when you were still principal, um, for the students from St. Ann's group home. They they Right. And
they transitioned to >> Right. Because previously they were just so everyone knows, previously they were considered, you know, in the Tenney district. >> Correct. Right. So, when students move into the St. Ann's group home and they're K-8, they're attending the comprehensive grammar school. And with
that, whether they have an IEP or not, there's a lot of case management, intense case management, that goes along with that and that does fall on our school counselors. Um, so that is another piece of of the asks at the CGS. Do we know how many students that we have that, um, are part of the St. Ann's
family? Right now, I believe we are at 11 students K-8. Does that number seem >> fluctuates. It fluctuates dramatically. >> I can I can tell you that this school year alone, uh, just to to kind of give
you an idea of of the the um like the how fluid the situation is. Um, when students are in foster care or group home care, um, and they enter Methuen, um
for placement I have to engage in a best interest meeting so that the previous district and the current district determine what's in the best interest of the student for which district to enroll in. Um, to date we have had 68 best interest meetings, um, since the start
of the school year. And if I can just make one comment, I I'm really glad glad that you have heard the concerns regarding, um, our younger students who just struggle and they're, you know, um, for the lower school program assistants who struggle.
Um, you know, being in an environment where there's a lot of expectations. Um, academic and behaviorally. Um, and sometimes how I have heard from parents how that dysregulation can disrupt and, um, really impact other
students. And I was very intrigued that you were using these program assistants to preserve the integrity of learning in the classroom and not address the needs of the student who is
having a really bad day. And I know it's become, um, a real concern. So, I I like that approach. And, um that would be very important to me. That would be I almost see like a program possibility. I don't know if it's feasible because I know so many of
those students have not been evaluated for special ed support because they're so young and they're new to us and you got to have a get getting to know you period, but I do appreciate that very much and I I do know there'd be a number of parents who would as well. That's a safety issue.
So, thank you. Everybody else? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Through you, first, um, I'd like to thank you guys, the administration, for this presentation. Um, it's very comprehensive. Uh, it's it's done in with a logic and with a
process that I can appreciate personally. Um, I'd also like to let the community know that receiving this information for the first time receiving this information for the first time I'd like to let the community know that I'd be going through this
information with intense rigor with thoughtfulness and with a mindset of going through this process through partnership. So uh, the community can expect from me questions
intensity, but with all else, with a mindset of partnership and protecting with the superintendent uh, mission of a budget that's student-centered with outcomes and well-being. With that said
my, uh, initial question just off the top of my head would be with just the level service budget um going into next year, for example. And taking into and taking into the
context the audit that uh, stated we were out of compliance in certain IEP areas would we be out of compliance going into the next year with a level service budget and would the new request
um, satisfy all the or most at least the issues that the budget that the audit has brought up in terms of being out of compliance in certain areas. Thank you. Can I just talk about the compliance piece for a minute?
So, in that audit, um, I believe, and I don't have it in front of me, I believe the out of compliance piece was an anecdotal um, piece and not based on data in terms of reviewing of our timelines. Um, we are reviewed by the state for our
timelines. Um, we have the, um, complaint process that we go through, um, and so I'm proud to say that for the majority our timelines are in compliance. Um, this year the the area that I will say we have struggled with the
compliance for timelines, um, was because of staffing because we did not have all of our psycho psychologists on staff. So, we had to contract out and so we were behind at the beginning of the year playing catch-up all year, so we were out of compliance for some of those
evaluations. I'd like to say we are caught up, um, and moving forward, um, but again that was at a cost because we had to contract out for school psychologists. But I just I wanted to make that note, um, that the the audit really, um, there was anecdotal
information, but there was no review of our actual timelines which I do review with the SEAs on an ongoing basis. Those requests will help us with compliance for covering services. Um, I believe you you like
the IEP service delivery, but not timeline compliance. Um, that wasn't the ask for these. Thank you. Before we select some dates before our next go-around, uh, do we have any other comments, questions?
Um, in terms of additional dates, um, I I can state that my schedule's sort of all over the place, but I'll accommodate whatever the committee decides. Um, I don't know, Dr. Galassi, if you have some other ideas. Um
maybe it if might be simpler to give a window of when we'd be looking to have one, two, three workshops and then we can sync up offline and and see what's best for everyone rather than trying to find matching windows now. So, I know Ian and I had some
discussions about, um potentially, um, Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. Um, getting going that way unless you unless you felt as though you need the week to digest the information and then begin, um
the following week. Just trying to be mindful. I think once you get back from school vacation, um, we have little less than two full weeks before, um, you would need to have the figures for your budget, Mayor. Yeah, that's about right. Um
we could maybe, uh, well, the other thing too is that we have ongoing uh, talks with the PEC regarding health insurance. That's underway as well. So um, I would say it would probably be better for us to have maybe more of an accurate picture of where things are at.
>> Mhm. Not next week, but the week when everybody returns from vacation. That might result in a more truncated process, um, but at the same time I would want to make sure that we have useful information that's up to date. up to date and accurate.
And member Keegan? Um, I just have a question about timeline. Um, if the public, um, sorry, if your budget to the city council is going May 8th, our public hearing has to be prior to that, correct? So, our public hearing is going to be have to be the week before May
8th. Um, and then our final vote will have to be before May 8th, which means we really only have one week. Right? Am I looking at that right? Um And we are working with an abbreviated
timeline this year because typically um, the, uh, budget workshops and the like would be closer to much later, like later later in May, early June, uh, almost. Right. Um, and so now because the process has been front-loaded from a timeline standpoint
to now, you know, we are dealing with that challenge, but I I think that was the biggest complaint from prior years is that we were front-loading uh, at the last second we were putting things in front of the council. Right. And I think by doing it prior and I have no problem meeting. I have
flexibility on meeting. Sure. Yeah, so we can work that out. We'll sort that out and we'll figure >> to count backwards from the public hearing, right? Because we need we also need time to post the public hearing in the newspaper, right? So, we have to count back from that. So, we really need
to take that into consideration when we're picking our dates. If If you'd like, we'd be happy to put together a proposal for workshop dates and hearings and send it to all I think that would be helpful. Yeah. >> Okay. Yep. That'd be great. Um so, that's good. Uh any other
business from the committee? Member Bias. Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um I would just like, on a totally different note, uh to announce the first and the first annual Methuen High School Job Fair
that will be happening on April 30th in conjunction with the Methuen Youth Center and the Methuen's obviously Methuen City Government and administration, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, I would like to thank you for expanding internship and job opportunities for our 16 and older
students. Um and I'd like to thank the Methuen Youth Center, as well, for providing a prep session that includes resume writing, uh job interview prep, um and general guidance when it comes to entering the
professional world and taking advantage of opportunities. So, I'm really excited and I'm really grateful for everybody involved in making this possible. Thank you. Thank you, Member Bias, for your leadership on that. We're happy to support you. Any other business?
If not, we'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Um Second. Motion's from Member Donovan, second's from Member Keegan. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. The time is 6:52 and we are adjourned. Lori.
So, the difference proceed to e-kids. Yeah. All right. So, for every high school student, our foundation is that much. For every vocational, it's this much. So, that's approximately
Sorry.