NORTH ANDOVER — As the school district works to recover from a deficit of more than $3 million, officials have some breathing room with the budget.
Interim Superintendent Pam Lathrop provided an update on the fiscal 2025 budget to the School Committee on Thursday.
North Andover Public Schools’ starting budget for the year was $62 million, including $13.9 million for special education and $52.9 million for salaries. But the initial figure did not include encumbered salaries, reducing the budget significantly.
While the district has $4.7 million remaining in its budget, encumbered costs are expected to total $4 million this year. It leaves the district with wiggle room of potentially $667,000 left over, Lathrop said.
“It is challenging to look at that number, but we know we had financial issues and it is hard to recover from a financial deficit of where we were,” Lathrop said. “We are mindful of the money and tracking it very carefully.”
“This is positive,” she added.
Former Superintendent Gregg Gilligan resigned in August after being on paid administrative leave since April. In the spring, he informed the Select Board that the school district faced a $3.12 million deficit for fiscal 2024.
Gilligan attributed the deficit to “major hits” such as special education increases, homeless student transportation costs, and a lack of elementary and secondary school emergency relief funding.
For fiscal 2025, Lathrop said there are costs such as staff salaries for hourly positions that have not been encumbered yet. But these are costs the district is projected to incur this year.
The hourly pay is for substitute teachers, long-term substitute teachers, noon attendants and athletic coaches. Academic stipends, out-of-district tuition, tuition reimbursement, custodial overtime, teaching assistants’ stipends and special education and regular transportation are other areas for which the district would need to set aside money.
The district looked at data from the last few years to determine the projected costs for this year. Combined, the district estimates it will spend about $4 million to cover those costs.
“We believe this largely shows what we will have to spend on things in the district,” Lathrop said. “This is good data for us moving forward.”
Lathrop added that it is a positive knowing where the district has to spend money or the areas for which to reserve money.
The 2025 budget does not include any grants or Title I, II and III federal funding that the district would receive over the course of the year. Only one grant – for special education tuition – is in the budget now.
The district receives the title grants each year from the Department of Education. School officials are also seeking other competitive grants.
The district would have to purse a transfer of $1.5 million for special education. Lathrop said they have the money to fund the special education program, but it has to be taken from another budget line.
The district wants school officials to be able to see where money is being spent. A new feature for each North Andover school this year is for its officials to have a substitute teaching budget they can track. Schools are watching their own budgets to see how they are using the district’s allotment for costs associated with substitutes.
Lathrop said there is still a “soft freeze” on the budget where principals and other school officials can only purchase essential items. This may affect how the fiscal 2026 budget is set up to help schools receive items they could not purchase this year.
“We know that we had some issues and we are seeing that now,” Lathrop said. “Our budget wasn’t what it needed to be, but we have the funds to be able to handle it.”