COURTESY OF TOWN MANAGER SCOTT CRABTREE’S OFFICE
A chart presented at the budget workshop reflects the Town of Saugus’ actual net school spending vs. required net school spending. Saugus’ actual net school spending is 30.6 percent over the required net school spending, and 10 percent above the state average.
SAUGUS — Saugus parents and school committee members weighed facts about the school budget during the first in a series of budget workshops Tuesday night.
Town Manager Scott Crabtree said the workshops are to increase transparency about the town’s finances and to improve the budgeting process by encouraging departments to work together more effectively.
“There has been a town versus school systemic problem that has existed for many years — long before many of us have been involved,” said Crabtree. “It’s a learned behavior and something that I think we need to work on. There is no room for finger pointing; that culture has not and will not work.”
Mark Abrahams is a certified public accountant and president of The Abrahams Group, a Framingham-based consulting group. He gave a breakdown of both the town and state’s trends for foundation enrollment, foundation budgets, state Chapter 70 aid, local contribution and required and actual net school spending. The information came from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
Abrahams is an independent consultant who teaches, writes and consults on governmental financial, operational and performance management.
Statewide, actual net school spending exceeded required net school spending by about 21 percent in Fiscal Year 2016. In Saugus, actual net school spending was 30 percent over required net school spending, Abrahams said.
“Saugus is a community that spends well above state average,” said Abrahams. “You, as a community, can spend whatever you want on education. Can you, as a community, sustain 30 percent? Sustainability is the question.”
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Required net school spending is calculated by adding the amount of Chapter 70 aid and the local contribution. It needs to be equal to or greater than the foundation budget. Chapter 70 is the sum of the prior year’s funding and the minimum aid, which was $55 per student in FY17.
School Committee Members Arthur Grabowski and Peter Manoogian argued that Saugus Public Schools couldn’t afford to lower its educational standards for financial reasons.
“What are you going to tell a child that can’t learn English properly when you cut (English language learning),” said Grabowski.
During a budget presentation Monday, Superintendent Dr. David DeRuosi described the financial impacts of the town’s changing demographics.
In 2012, the system had 88 English language learning students. Last year, the number peaked at 126 students, he said. The public schools have students who have “very limited English skills. Some don’t even have skills in their own language,” he said.
About 40 percent of students are considered low-income and qualify for free and reduced lunch program. They are also eligible to ride the school bus for free, he said.
The homeless population has gone up steadily over the past five years and peaked at 40 students in 2016.
“Enrollment might be dropping but the kids that we have are becoming absolutely more needy than the kids we had before as a population,” DeRuosi said. “As a district, we are beginning to feel the effects of a changing student demographic.”
Children leaving the district for charter and vocational schools has been a hit to the budget. In 2017, 165 students opted or a charter school, up from 96 in 2012.
“When children leave to go to a charter school, funding goes with them,” DeRuosi said.
Abrahams said he did not believe offering free, full-day kindergarten would result in an increase in Chapter 70 aid because it would double the foundation enrollment for the grade level.
“While it’s true that we wouldn’t necessarily gain any Chapter 70 funding, it would in fact mitigate the decline in student population that could also stabilize us,” said Manoogian.
“I think what we need to do is continue the discussion on these issues,” said Crabtree. “We have to change the way we’re doing things. I think this is a new start and a new future.”
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte