Even with the city planning to kick in $3 million of a proposed $6.1 million increase to keep Gloucester schools level funded in the new school year, Superintendent Ben Lummis cited possible cuts to balance the fiscal 2025 budget.
He outlined a proposed $55.85 million level-services budget for the School Committee on Wednesday night. That is a 12.3% increase, or $6.1 million, more than this year’s spending, given a jump in costs for out-of-district special education and transportation, health care and contractual salary increases, among other things.
Lummis said the city plans to meet the schools halfway.
In doing so, the schools would have to cut $3.1 million worth of services, costs and staffing to balance its budget.
“At this point, the city has let us know they can fund $3 million of the $6.1 million the schools require for a level-funded budget,” Lummis said.
“But to be clear,” said School Committee Vice Chair Bill Melvin, “that’s not … It’s a reduction in services.”
Lummis said coming to a balanced budget — not the level-services one — would depend on several factors, including:
A $1.3 million supplemental appropriation prior to the end of the fiscal year in June to make pay prepaid tuition and special education costs. This would require a City Council vote.
Another $200,000 for one-time costs for information technology and buses this fiscal year.
A proposed $1.5 million annual increase in the schools’ operating budget from the city.
Another $3.1 million in reductions in costs and staffing.
“It is very unlikely that we’re going to be able to staff levels that we’ve had for recent years because of the increase in operating expenses, and also just to wage pressures as well,” Lummis said.
What might the reductions look like?
The administration wants to protect Tier 1 (core) instruction and curriculum and support vulnerable learners.
In the elementary schools, the priority would be to protect social emotional learning and mental health. At the middle school this would mean maintaining the house structure, and at the high school, the priority would be preparation for post-secondary success, Lummis said.
However, salaries and benefits make up 86% of the Gloucester schools’ operating costs, so reducing the operating budget means reducing staffing.
A $500,000 cut in the operating budget equals about seven full-time equivalent positions, Lummis said.
Reduction options
Lummis referred to two different levels of cuts. The first would mean reductions of $1 million to $1.75 million.
At the elementary level, this would include Tier II intervention and support, special education staff based on students’ Individualized Education Plan services, a move of some services to grants, and instructional support and curriculum initiatives.
At the grade six through 12, the administration would look to trim Tier II intervention support, pause the planned medical assisting exploratory launch as a new career and vocational program at Gloucester High until September 2025, reduce special education staff based on IEP services, move related services onto grants, reduce staff in one or more academic areas which Lummis said would increase class size; and reduce increases in student support services for mental health and social emotional learning.
At the district office, Lummis would trim IT infrastructure and delay upgrades, seek one-time funding for a one-to-one Chromebook initiative, and reduce administration and transportation costs.
Lummis said the reductions would still mean smaller class sizes in the elementary schools and a range of class sizes at the middle and high schools. This level of reductions would allow for diverse academic offerings and a broad range of programming at Gloucester High, improvements at O’Maley Innovation Middle School and high-qualify art, music, and performing arts programs.
However, those areas would be in jeopardy with reductions of $2 million to $3 million.
The schools’ operating budget is not benefiting fully from the state funding increases that have come since fiscal 2023 as a result of the state Student Opportunity Act, Lummis said.
For instance, in fiscal 2023, state Chapter 70 education aid to the city increased by $2.77 million and by $1.67 million last year, with the governor proposing $318,000 on top of that for this coming school year.
Lummis said the state has determined the cost of educating students has increased $2.3 million for the upcoming school year, and that the local contribution should increase by $1.9 million, plus another $318,000 for Chapter 70 aid.
Cumulative state aid for education increases since fiscal 2022 has totaled nearly $12 million.
However, during that time, the city has increased the schools’ operating budget by a total of $1.85 million above the typical baseline increase to the schools each year which is typically $1.25 million, he said.
Increased funding applied to the schools outside the operating budget since fiscal 2022 includes $2 million for DPW school facilities, $3.3 million for borrowing for school capital projects, and $4.2 million for one-time projects such as the Annisquam River flood barrier, demolition of East Gloucester Elementary School, grease traps, Gloucester High lockers, and American Rescue Plan Act funding for new playgrounds.
Finding dollars
There are opportunities to increase school funding, including the city funding the operating budget with the $2.3 million increase determined by the state, Lummis said.
The city could put American Rescue Plan Act funding it received toward special education tuition, transportation and wage stabilization, which Lummis said are all eligible to be funded this way. The city could also reduce the facilities budget for such things as flooring projects and allocate those dollars to the schools, he said.
Mayor Greg Verga, a member of the School Committee, said the city administration would continue to work with the school administration “to see what kind of rabbits we can pull out of our hats.”
Verga said he shared with Lummis a spreadsheet showing the city spends $22.1 million outside the schools’ operating budget on the schools, an increase of $6 million from 2022 to 2024.
“The kicker” is the city’s increase this year in new growth under Proposition 2 1/2 is 2.6% or $3.5 million. With a $130 million budget, total school spending represents about $72 million, he said.
With another $1 million going toward the city’s pension liability, and the proposed increase to the schools of $1.5 million, Verga said he has $1 million in new growth funding to spread around to the rest of the city’s budget.
One solution may be to lobby state lawmakers to pass the governor’s Municipal Empowerment Act to provide more opportunities for local option tax increases, he said.
The School Committee’s Budget and Finance Subcommittee plans to take up the fiscal 2025 school budget April 8.
By Ethan Forman | Staff Writer
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