By STEVE FREKER
MALDEN — The Malden Public Schools will get $2 million more in its budget for Fiscal Year 2018 under a proposal submitted by Malden Mayor Gary Christenson.
The mayor presented his school budget to the School Committee totaling $69,218,947 for the spending year that starts July 1. That amount represents a proposed $1.99 million increase over the $67,388,193 the schools received last year.
Christenson, who serves as the School Committee as chairman, did note the city would have to use funds from its cash reserve “rainy day” funds to make the overall city budget proposal work this coming fiscal year.
“We should not be using what we are using to balance the budget,” he said, adding, “but we should be able to avoid this method in the future.”
He said continuing revenue from real estate growth “shows that Malden is growing and Malden is alive.”
In a change from past city practice for school budgets, the spending plan proposed by the mayor this year has the school superintendent’s endorsement. In past years, superintendents presented separate budget figures.
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During all five years of former Superintendent David DeRuosi’s tenure, the school budget proposal number from the superintendent came in higher than the figure proposed by the mayor.
Interim Superintendent Dr. Charles Grandson IV said cooperation was the key to getting a meeting of the minds with Christenson on school spending.
“We worked together to get to the figure we feel is needed (for the school budget),” Dr. Grandson said.
The School Committee’s budget subcommittee will meet three more times in the next three weeks to review the mayor’s budget proposal before submitting it for approval to the Malden City Council.
Christenson said the proposed school budget includes one large budget line item that was unexpected and factored into the budget.
He explained that $1.7 million had been budgeted for special education transportation expenditure. But that contract had expired with local provider Malden Transportation and the company’s new proposal was a three-year contract at $3 million per year. The mayor said as a stopgap, a one-year, $2.55 million contract had been been negotiated with that company.
He told the committee on Monday that the school spending proposal follows state-mandated net spending guidelines.