The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has reimbursed districts based on a mileage calculation, and would be amenable to considering a mileage-based non-mandated busing formula for Whitman-Hanson rather than the current per-pupil calculation, according to Associate Commissioner for District and School Finance Jay Sullivan.

He made the comment in a Friday, March 25 Zoom call with district and Whitman Town officials.

“That’s a viable methodology for allocating your costs,” Sullivan said, noting few districts use the mileage method, but it is viable and it is an acceptable methodology. 

“That would count every student in the district, whose butt is in a bus seat,” Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said. “That’s what we’re working on through the Budget Subcommittee here.”

He said they are calculating based on every student to whom they must provide a seat based on distances from school of between a half-mile and 1.5 miles from schools.

School Committee members Christopher Howard, Dawn Byers, David Forth and Steve Bois as well as Galvin, Selectmen Randy LaMattina and Justin Evans and Whitman Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman joined the March 25 call with DESE.

“That makes a lot of sense,” Sullivan said of Szymaniak’s question, but he cautioned that every rider has to be assigned some level of cost, with two options for calculation — per pupil or mileage.

“The good thing about the mileage method is, the houses don’t move,” Sullivan said.

W-H has been using the per-pupil method, having just encountered the mileage method.

The Budget Subcommittee planned to meet Wednesday, March 30 to get a turnaround on a formula method to DESE as soon as possible, because time is a concern.

“If we can come up with an alternative methodology that allows us to appropriately capture a higher reimbursement amount, which will benefit both towns in the district, then that is our goal,” Howard said. 

Sullivan said such a method could maximize the district’s reimbursement, which Szymaniak said is the ultimate goal.

Galvin and Whitman Selectman Randy LaMattina reached out about a second meeting following the March 14 call, feeling there was a better way to explain their methodology to DESE.

“After watching the last Zoom Call you had with the superintendent, the town has a position that some of our concerns and points we were trying to look for clarification on, may not have been addressed fully,” LaMattina said.

While being part of a region comes with some benefits — one being regional transportation reimbursement, he conceded, the board feels, as things stand right now, the district is not submitting their true mandated or what you classified as eligible, bus costs.

“We think that by using the district’s own documents, that we can actually prove that,” he said, noting that they forwarded a copy of Whitman residents John Galvin and Shawn Kain’s proposal to DESE. “We feel the actual cost of non-mandated busing is slightly higher than $1.6 million as opposed to the 1.1 million, which gets submitted.”

LaMattina said his point was bolstered by a vote at the last School Committee meeting when a vote was taken against funding non-mandated transportation.

Galvin pointed to a Feb. 9 School Committee meeting when Szymaniak outlined what would happen if Whitman opted against providing non-mandated busing.

“Several scenarios were presented. … There were discussions in the last Zoom meeting that these were simulations,” he said. “I don’t really believe that to be true, because for several year now, Whitman has had a significant concern over the way we were being charged for non-mandated busing to the [point] where the superintendent felt the need to address it to the School Committee on what would happen if, this year, Whitman decided not to fund non-mandated busing.”

Galvin said a document produced by district Business Manager John Stanbrook broke it all down. Even removing Whitman only saved a total of $131,000, Galvin said, yet Whitman is being assessed $487,000.

He argued the actual cost for Hanson is $101,000 — not $121,000.

“It didn’t make sense to us that the district wasn’t filing for what it would actually cost them if the two town meetings voted not to support non-mandated busing,” he said.

“Number one, the town meetings can’t tell the School Committee how to spend their money,” Sullivan said.

“It was a little concerning hearing that the towns were making the decision as to whether or not to transport non-mandated students,” said Christine Lynch of the DESE District and School Finance office, repeating what she had told Szymaniak on March 10. “I don’t know what might happen moving forward.”

LaMattina said where they came up with 20 buses is because, by the district’s own admission, according to the district’s bus structure documentation, that is the number required to provide mandated transportation.

“Why is that number not the true mandated cost?” he asked, noting that, in addition, the School Committee voted at its last meeting not to fund non-mandated transportation and asked if that was their decision to make.

“It’s the School Committee’s decision to set the policy of who they’re going to transport and who they’re not going to transport,” Sullivan said, asking if that meant the district would not be transporting between 750 and 900 students to school next year.

School Committee Chairman Christopher Howard said it was not correct.

“We looked at the regional agreement … and we looked at that section specifically related to transportation,” he said, noting it reads that transportation shall be provided by the regional school district, with the cost apportioned to the member towns as an operating cost. Every year the committee votes to decide whether non-mandated busing will be paid for by the regional school district.

“The vote that was taken was that the regional School Committee would not be paying for the cost of non-mandated busing,” Howard said.

If the School Committee decides against providing non-mandated busing, which Howard stressed, they did not do, an article for Town Meeting would be presented to the selectmen of each town for approval by the voters. He said the School Committee would be seeking clarification from legal counsel what the intent of that second section means, but right now the focus is on calculating the cost.

“We’re talking about a subjective scenario here, that really has not come to fruition,” Sullivan said, noting that in 2019 — before the pandemic — the district transported between 3,000 and 3,200 students. While mandated busing is required for students living two miles or more from school, but towns are reimbursed for transporting students more than 1.5 miles of a school.

“That’s the incentive to provide the service,” Sullivan said, noting that reports from the district over the past five years indicate two-thirds of students (more than 1,500 students) live 1.5 miles or more from school and nearly 725 under 1.5 miles away. Last year the cost was $1.6 million for bus transportation — $1.12 million over 1.5 miles and $543,000 for under 1.5 miles.

Sullivan also said buses must run at least 75-percent capacity.

“The way this has always been handled is we vote the assessment, and there is a non-mandated busing cost that has been provided to both towns, and that has been handled, I believe, in both towns as a separate article,” Howard said. 

Heineman clarified that, for many years, after the School Committee votes against funding non-mandated busing, it then gets a separate assessment number … only to be interrupted by Howard, who countered that it was a decision of the School Committee and not the Budget Subcommittee, while agreeing it does pertain to the town and transportation.

Later in the video meeting, Heineman was able to ask his question about whether DESE agreed with Whitman Town Counsel, which has opined that the school district may only assess an operating and a capital assessment — and not a separate non-mandated busing assessment. An article for the latter must be done via a separate article unless non-mandated busing costs are included in the operating budget. Whitman’s town counsel is also a legal representative for several school districts.

“I’m not necessarily suggesting it’s illegal,” Lynch said of separate busing assessments. “I’m suggesting it’s problematic” because if one town does not approve it, services would not be equal for all students in the district.

She said most regional agreements divide the cost by number of students, but recently districts are looking for new ways to calculate costs when methodology no longer works for them.

“You can’t steer the conversation away from topics you don’t want to address,” LaMattina said, explaining to DESE that the towns receive an operating assessment, a capital assessment and line for non-mandated busing that the district calls a special operating cost.

“If Town Meeting votes not to fund it, then we’ve got a problem,” he said. 

Howard asked if DESE would approve changing mandated busing costs based on the analysis they have.

“Right now there’s no intent to do it this way,” he said.

“Somehow this world is turned upside down here,” Sullivan said. “A decision’s got to be made by the School Committee about the service that they’re going to provide, they send the bill to the town and, if they don’t want to fund it, that’s fine — then you won’t have a budget, then you’ll have to go through the 1/12 process.”

“It should be one assessment number, first of all,” Lynch said. “But regardless, it is, again, the School Committee’s discretion in terms of what it’s going to offer the preK to 12 population — In both towns.”

The School Committee certified a $58,492,314.12 budget, with a general fund increase of $1,694,734 — or 2.98 percent — for fiscal 2023 at its Wednesday, March 16 meeting. Whitman’s assessment would be $16,889,943.66 — an increase of $785,040, or 4.87 percent — and Hanson’s would be $13,341,812 — an increase of $695,694 or 5.5 percent to the operating assessment.

The budget Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak presented includes: two more special education teachers; implementation of full-day kindergarten without the use of from excess and deficiency (E&D) funds; using $400,000 (E&D) for Chromebooks; and $123,000 from E&D for paying the Whitman water bill settlement — all under Scenario 3 of 11 possible spending options presented on March 9 [see related story].

Budget documents reflecting Scenario 3 have been uploaded to the school district website whrsd.org under the school district heading in the “select a school” drop-down menu. The seven professional staff members covered by ESSER3 funds, one of the uses permitted under the grant program, are also listed. The funds have to be spent by September 2024.

“This is what these monies are for — so we can provide remediation for these kids,” School Committee member Fred Small said. “To me, this is the perfect thing we should be spending this money on. … I don’t see how we don’t do this.”

Committee member Dawn Byers had urged a budget that added the $400,000 for Chromebooks, instead of using E&D funds, placing the budget at $58,892,314.12. That motion was later withdrawn, when Business Manager John Stanbrook said it would be merely a shift of the funding source for the Chromebooks, not a dollar amount voted. By moving the funding source out of E&D, he explained it could possibly increase the assessment to the towns for that expense. The committee then voted to use $523,885 from the $1.8 million in E&D to be used for a Whitman water bill settlement and the Chromebooks. There was an influx of funds in E&D from one-time COVID relief funds. 

“I feel this is extremely dangerous, but that we are facing a fiscal cliff and if we have $1.8 million in E&D right now, we are by law allowed to [retain] 5 percent, so we could keep an E&D balance of $2.9 million for emergency,” Byers had said. “Reducing this down to $1 million puts us in a position to not replenish very much next year.”

“We have to look at why our enrollment is declining,” Byers said in her initial argument for including Chromebooks in the general budget. She said it it may be more about programs they lack, rather than declining birth rates. As technology is changing education, not including Chromebooks in the general budget would be more realistic.

Committee member David Forth also said he has heard from residents who moved to Whitman and were planning families, not realizing the district didn’t offer free all-day kindergarten already.

“I know that we can do better and this is a path forward to let the towns know that this is the actual cost of education,” Byers said.

“We have a plan, too,” Szymaniak said.

The committee also voted against paying non-mandated busing costs — $121,475 for Hanson and $487,839 for Whitman — sending the cost to the individual towns as has been past practice.

Without a reduction in the non-mandated busing assessment from a purely financial concern, Whitman Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said, his town’s budget would be out of balance by about $224,000. He reminded the committee that Hanson Town Administrator Lisa Green has said her town can only handle a 3 percent assessment increase.

ESSER funds

The district is also one of six in the state taking part in a Rennie Center study, at no cost to the district, on how school districts are spending the ESSER affects learning and what happens when the grant ends, according to Szymaniak. W-H has partnered with the Rennie Center on social-emotional learning studies in the past.

Szymaniak said he is also hearing that eight retirements are coming by the time the grant expires.

The blueprint that’s going to be developed should show the district whether and how the ESSER benefit is sustainable and how they can move forward and keep it sustainable, according to Assistant Superintendent George Ferro.

Chairman Christopher Howard said he had approached Heineman for information on the town’s budget figures. Hanson was still working on their numbers, as of that meeting, Howard said. As soon as he obtains the rest of the numbers, he said it would be shared in another meeting.

Szymaniak reported about the meeting he and the Whitman Finance Committee had the previous night, adding that he requested that the schools be added to the Finance Committee’s budget schedule earlier next year.

“It was a good discussion,” Szymaniak said. “Not many questions were asked and we were able to present the budget to them … and I appreciated their dialog with us and continued work.”

Howard said he had reached out to Hanson Finance Committee Chairman Kevin Sullivan to reach an  understanding of where the town is and Sullivan had extended a tentative invitation for the schools to meet with Hanson FinCom on Tuesday, March 22.

“That would be after our assessment, so it really wouldn’t be a budget presentation, it would be simply [to] understand where the town is,” Howard said.

He left it to the committee to determine if such a meeting would be helpful. Committee members said that, while they could see no reason not to hold the meeting, their job was to certify the budget that night, Szymaniak indicated he would attend, if a firm invitation was issued.

In discussing the use of ESSER funds, School Committee member Hillary Kniffen warned that, while there are teacher retirements ahead that may help the budget, the interventionists that have been brought on to help students catch up, might need to be kept around past 2024.

“Kids need more these days and we need to give it to them, so far as funding public schools,” Kniffen said.

“It’s up to make a responsible decision on a budget,” Byers said, noting that next year — despite planning — the budget may look very different. “One of those is to accurately reflect what the cost is of education.”

Ferro said it was a recommendation that $275,000 be set aside annually for the next large numbers of Chromebooks that are expected to go off line in 2026 and 2029. The current $400,000 sought is to replace the large number of Chromebooks going offline in June.

Three curriculum purchases have been off with between three and four years before the next purchases are due, Ferro said.

“We will be OK as long as this money comes back for the next cycle that we need,” he said.

Howard said that is one reason the five-year plan is something on which the committee will continue work.

Small advocated including all the district’s needs in a comprehensive budget and make the case for it.

“This doesn’t reflect our needs, but it’s a beginning,” Byers said. Increasing programs equals increasing enrollment and getting nearer to the minimum local contribution to the budget and target share that will eventually bring more state aid.

Both Selectman Randy LaMattina and resident John Galvin both cautioned the committee about Whitman’s fiscal health if the school budget was passed at the current funding level.

“Passing this budget the way it is, you’re putting services at risk, whether they be town services or services within the school district itself,” he said. “And then it compounds, and then the use of E&D.”

He said that forcing it on the towns would endanger the school district in the end.

WHITMAN — Does the town need a new assistant town administrator or would a human resources, procurement and grants director better meet the town’s administrative needs?

The Board of Selectmen discussed the issue on Tuesday, March 1. Their selection to become assistant town administrator, Rogeria Medeiros-Kowalczykowski of Stoughton, and the town were unable to reach a contract agreement last month. The board will continue the conversation at its March 15 meeting and will work to develop a common list of expectations in the meantime.

Selectman Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said the board received two job descriptions — one for a human resources, procurement and grants director and one for the assistant town administrator position — as the board had requested.

Selectman Dan Salvucci noted there were no schedules included, such as a five-day work week or a requirement to attend all the different meetings. Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said he would ordinarily include that information in the job posting, but it could be added to the job description.

“This is basically a choice that we can make, whether to look for an assistant town administrator or someone who is specifically labled as a human resources, procurement and grants director,” Kowalski said.

Salvucci said his question would be which position is more valuable to the town.

“The fact that we have an assistant town administrator, first of all, when Lincoln goes on vacation, or is sick or something like that, who steps into your shoes at that time?” Salvucci said. He also had questions about responsibilities of making certain decisions and getting things done on a day-to-day basis.

If an assistant town administrator was opted for, he asked if that person would take on a human resources role, or would that stay with Heineman?

Heineman said he called some colleagues in other towns to “shake the trees a bit more” and get some more comparison points.

“If the board’s intention is that the town would post a position at maybe a slightly lesser range for a salary … that if it is not titled assistant town administrator, but instead, an HR director — I would suggest focused on HR director and grants —  if the board’s intention is we pay a little less, we might attract some other folks,” he said. “We won’t know for sure until we get it out there.”

He said there are communities in the midrange, are whatever reasons, are offering salaries a bit less than the midrange for town administrator positions.

“I think it’s true, with all these factors in play, that we … would likely be offering less than a very similar position in similar community,” he said.

Salvucci touched on some of the areas on which the town had some flexibility, Heineman suggested — the possibility of working from home on Fridays and attendance at night meetings, for example.

Selectman Brian Bezanson said he did some research on the positions through some of the online employment sites, and got the sense that the nationwide average for a straight HR position was about $70,000.

“I do think we could pay less than a town administrator,” he said. “But, based on the climate you described in the localities you talked about, I’m no sure how much less we’d be paying and would we be putting ourselves in a little bit of a pickle not having a town administrator.”

He said that was one reason he made the suggestion about an HR director/grant writer.

“It’s a give and take as to do you want to save money or do you want to have the proper people in place?” he said. “I think we have to decide what the real goal is here.”

Kowalski said at this point, he is not certain on the issue.

Selectman Justin Evans said he is concerned that making the switch may make it harder to return to the current model down the road, and favored keeping the assistant town administrator position.

“There’s a certain amount of work that needs to be done, and two people [himself and executive assistant Laurie O’Brien] aren’t enough to do that,” Heineman said. Grants are a concern because there hasn’t been enough people to tackle the mountain of paperwork involved.

He did see it as a professional position, rather than a leadership position.

“I personally don’t want to get bogged down by the title,” Selectman Randy LaMattina said. “I think it’s the qualifications that we need to, as a board, decide that we’re looking to fill.”

Besides the human resources and grant writing, he said going to meetings is important.

Heineman said dealing with HR issues such as COVID requirements, family medical leave and other matters is a lot and is growing all the time, making it difficult for him to take care of that since Whitman has been without an assistant town administrator.

Kowalski agreed that asking them to work in the office on Fridays and attend meetings should not be an untoward requirement.

“The problem I’m trying for us to avoid is repeating what we just went through,” Bezanson said. 

Talking budgets

A joint meeting with Hanson Selectmen, and Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak has been set for 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 8 to review the school district’s fiscal 2023 budget and long-range school district sustainability, Heineman said.

“It’s not like a command performance,” Kowalski asked about an invitation extended to Szymaniak, schools Business manager John Stanbrook and School Committee Chairman Christopher Howard.

“We’re inviting them,” Heineman said. “I just heard before this meeting, that the School Committee might have posted that [meeting], it’s up t the School Committee. If the choose to post it, if they intend to have a quorum there, but our intent is a joint meeting between the two boards of selectmen.”

A meeting must be posted if at least a quorum of a board’s members plan to attend any given meeting or decide to gather to discuss committee or board business.

Kowalski said he had been texting with Howard that day, noting that Howard expressed  a concern that the two boards intentions were different.

“He had heard that the Hanson board wanted a budget presentation, and I said that wasn’t really part of our intention,” Kowalski said. “Our intention was to, hopefully, come together with the Hanson board and come up with some common views about the budget that would help the School Committee in their deliberations.”

Heineman agreed that was Whitman’s intention.

LaMattina said he spoke with Hanson Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett and said that, while there may be individual intentions regarding questions, he does not believe that they were looking for a full [budget] presentation.

“I think the superintendent should be there to speak on a budget that he presented,” LaMattina said. “We should be able to ask questions about it.”

Salvucci suggested any selectman with questions could also watch a recording on WHCA-TV’s YouTube channel of the School Committee meeting in which the budget was presented.

“I’m thinking maybe the schools are looking for direction as to where both boards are standing as far as funding goes,” Salvucci said.

“I think that’s our intent,” Kowalski agreed.

“There’s been so much conversation over partnerships and, ‘We’re all in it together,’ I’m kind of taken aback that some people seem to think it’s unreasonable that two entities that fund this are not entitled to ask questions,” LaMattina said.

Sewer update

The town’s sewer force main project has received a bid that came in about $2 million under the amount appropriated, Heineman reported.

“Another piece of hoped-for, and we’re cautiously optimistic about [news] regarding the cost of the project, is that part of the force main is going underneath an old dump in Brockton,” he said. The land is between Whitman and Massasoit.

The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) had previously said it would require directional drilling rather than trenching, which would be more expensive. The town’s consultant is inquiring about the possibility of being permitted to do some test borings in the dump area to see if digging a trench for that stretch of the pipeline would be environmentally permissible. The DEP is considering the request.

Estimated cost savings would be between $500,000 and $1 million in total project costs, if a trench is permitted.

In other business, Heineman reported that, on the COVID-19 front, the Board of Health had voted on Tuesday, Feb.15 to recommended removal of the mask mandate in town buildings. The state DPH has removed the mask recommendation effective except for those at increased risk due to health reasons, age or someone in the household with health risks or is in an at-risk age group. The mask requirement for schools ended Monday, Feb. 28.

The DPH continues to recommend masks for unvaccinated persons and in settings such as health care and public transportation. The CDC is recommending masks for people in “zones of high transimission.”

“We are now, according to their guidelines, in a low-transmission zone,” Heineman said, noting the people who are sick or coming off a five-day quarantine continue to mask. 

The CDC is no longer requiring masks on school buses, Heineman reported.

HANSON — The town is close to $1 million in the red going into the fiscal 2023 budget season, according to Town Accountant Todd Hassett.

“We’re not in the position to present you with a balanced budget, like we typically attempt to do,” he said. “We’ve got a bit of work to do over the next few weeks.”

He and Finance Committee Chairman Kevin Sullivan and made their initial budget presentation to the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Feb. 22. “Where we’re at right now, based on the requests, is that we have about a $966,000 shortfall,” he said, adding that he and Sullivan would be working closely together in an effort to close the budget gap in the town’s best interest. “We’ve got a number of decisions that we’ve got to really grapple with over the next few weeks.” He indicated the town would require “some partnership and cooperation” from the regional school district, or “we’re not in a position to fund the budget as initially requested.”

The $300,000 snow budget is already in a deficit position, as well, with more snow forecast on Friday, Feb. 26, Hassett said.

“We’re starting behind where we normally are,” Sullivan agreed, noting that he had little to add to Hassett’s report. “Even though the town came together last year with some heroic efforts, we still have a deficit to overcome — a fairly significant deficit — and I think we need to look at the individual departments.”

He said that, as personnel is a huge cost, he questions whether this is the right time to add new personnel and pointed to the subsidies provided to both the Transfer Station and Recreation Commission as the usual questions to be considered because the retained earnings “just aren’t there anymore.”

The school assessment is less of a gap than the town has had to cover in previous years, but is still a concern. [See related story, page 1].

Hassett indicated Hanson would not be able to afford much more than a 3.5 percent increase in the school assessment.

“We are a little behind schedule, as you know, in terms of pushing forward the FY ’23 operating budget,” Hassett said, noting that they have developed a sense of the town’s recurring and nonrecurring funding sources available to support that spending plan.

The town’s primary source of revenue is property taxes, Hassett noted, followed by local receipts and, to a lesser extent, state aid, with the governor’s budget showing about a $41,000 increase in revenue — about 2.5 percent higher than current state aid.

Hassett said he anticipates a 5 percent increase in local receipts, related to motor vehicle excise taxes, permits, licenses and other departmental fees.

Property taxes in total are projected to go up about 3.4 percent — a combination of the statutory 2 ½ percent available, which represents about $613,000 — and estimated new growth estimated at about $250,000 — or about 1 percent. Hassett noted that figure is lower than in recent years as there has been a slow-down in construction related to the pandemic and subsequent supply chain issues. There has also been a reduction in permit revenue.

Recurring revenue is projected to increase about 3.5 percent, Hassett said.

There are also debt exclusions still on the books from the police station and the regional high school.

“The state aid is more of a factor for the regional school district that it is in the town,” he said.

“We have a healthy free cash [fund], the two enterprise funds have retained earnings — or their free cash — both of which are on the low side compared to prior years,” he said of funds available for one-time expenses.

Free cash is just over $1.7 million right now, but Hassett said he could foresee that being reduced to around $100,000 by the time Town Meeting is concluded.

Departmental requests include a second of a three-year collective bargaining agreement for all town unions except the water union, which is on a different cycle; 2-percent non-union cost of living adjustments; a few reclassified positions at the Library; the IT director being increased to a full-time position; and a change to full-time status for the building inspector and a request for another police officer. The Highway Department also filled a position and a part-time outreach position for the Council on Aging has been added.

A $5,000 audit bill for required oversight of federal grant programs, including the CARES Act and ARPA is also included in the budget. Every other year an actuarial review of OPEB is required, costing about $7,000 this year. A $20,000 increase has been requested for legal services.

There are also more expenses around elections for the year as 2022 is a midterm election year.

Projected subsidies for the Recreation and Transfer Station accounts were also included in Hassett’s presentation — about $300,000 from the general fund breaking out as $135,000 for Recreation and $165,000 for thee Transfer Station. The latter, a recurring cost, came from free cash this year. There was no subsidy in FY ’22 for Recreation. 

They propose to use $35,000 of about $36,000 in Transfer Station retained earnings to support the operating budget.

Hassett said the town’s five-year plan — which must be voted in May — will also depend on some input from Recreation, the Board of Selectmen and more than $13 million in system improvements from the Water Department.

In other business, Selectmen voted to refer a citizen’s petition to the Town Meeting Warrant to the Planning Board to ensure the proper language is included. 

The petition had been brought before the October special Town Meeting, but the petitioner agreed to table it so the language could be refined for the annual Town Meeting on May 2. Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff will be attending the Monday, Feb. 28 Planning Board meeting remotely to discuss the article, indicating it may be split into two articles.

“The good news for Hanson is that we’ve had a couple of runs at this so we have some templates to go off of,” Feodoroff said. “With all the iterations that went back and forth through various town meetings, etc., there needs to be a cleanup of that particular bylaw, regardless of whether the town wants retail marijuana or not.”

The first article would incorporate that overhaul and the second would involve a potential retail facility and where locations might be permitted.

Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer asked if the article was limited to retail or if it included all the new business opportunities, including cafés.

Feodoroff said no one need worry about cafés, as the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) still has not “gotten its arms around cafés. A pilot program is still underway and Hanson would not even be eligible because the 12 communities selected for it has led to a need to tweak the regulations. 

“I just want to make sure we don’t unwittingly cut our legs off for what has already been permitted,” Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “A grow facility, delivery, those are already kind of there and have gotten support.”

Feodoroff said that was a good point.

“That’s where I thought it was good to do two separate articles because retail is the one that’s going to generate discussion at Town Meeting,” she said, stressing the first article is purely to clean up legal language. If it were to fail, the old bylaw would remain in force.

“It’s just a messy old bylaw,” she said.

Selectman Joe Weeks wanted to be certain there is enough time to do all that work before Town Meeting.

“One of the things I don’t want to do is try and give too much of an expedient timeline on this and then have that be the reason for debate on Town Meeting floor vs the merits of the actual article,” he said.

Feodoroff said there is enough time, especially if the Planning Board submits a report.

“Because we have such a long history here in Hanson of various iterations of marijuana, it’s not going to be so big of a haul,” she said.

Frank Milisi, who brought the citizen’s petition to the October special Town Meeting, thanked Feodoroff and the board for working on it.

“I don’t think there’s any more of a clear indication for what Todd and Kevin just said, that we need some revenue in this town, how ever we get it,” he said. “Three percent [tax] on any [marijuana] business that’s in here could fund a new police car or fund things like that.”

• 

Democrats will convene at 9 a.m., Sunday, Feb. 27 virtually and at the Patio at McGuiggan’s to elect seven delegates and four alternates to represent Whitman at the 2022 State Democratic Convention. This caucus will take place in line with public health guidance and attendees may participate remotely. To pre-register for remote participation, please contact Michael Hayes at 781-447-2550. 

Registered and pre-registered Democrats in Whitman 16 years old by Feb. 4, 2022 may vote and be elected as delegates or alternates during the caucus. Youth (age 16 to 35), people with disabilities, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community not elected as delegates or alternates are encouraged to apply to be add-on delegates at the caucus or by visiting massdems.org/caucus. 

The 2022 Convention will be a hybrid convention, with in-person proceedings taking place alongside virtual participation options on June 3 and 4 at the DCU Center in Worcester. Delegates will convene to endorse candidates for statewide office ahead of the September Democratic Primary. The MassDems are closely monitoring changes in public health guidance and will update plans accordingly.

Those interested in becoming involved with the Whitman Democratic Town Committee should contact our chair Mike Hayes at 781-447-2550 or visit the Whitman MA Democratic Town Committee Facebook page, or find us at whitmandems.com and @DemsofWhitman on Twitter and Instagram.

The W-H Regional School District on Wednesday, Feb. 2 unveiled a $58,939,591 fiscal 2023 budget — a 3.7 percent increase that “adjusts to the needs of the post-COVID student.” 

The assessment for Hanson will be $13,372,100.76 — or 39.4 percent — and Whitman would be assessed $16,936,529.76 — or 60.6 percent of the total assessments.

“This is just a global view of what we feel we need, coming out of the gate, for the FY ’22-’23 school year — hopefully getting back to somewhat normal,” Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said in introducing the presentation. “The past two years have been very difficult on us as a society, our community, our school system and, especially, our students. Masks, hybrid learning, remote learning missing school days due to COVID, being ill and quarantined, have affected our students, academically, socially and in ways that we have not yet determined.”

It was the first time the School Committee members were receiving the budget documents, according to Chairman Christopher Howard, and all members were given the opportunity to ask questions after Szymaniak’s presentation. School Committee member David Forth attended the meeting remotely.

“This is the start of the budget process,” Howard said. “The presentation is tonight, we will have time at the next meeting to go through it, as well.”

W-H Business Manager John Stanbrook, in reviewing the calculations involved in determining assessments said there are 26 financial documents posted on the district’s website (whrsd.org/school_committee_budget/budget). He said the districts excess and deficiency account — generally used to finance unexpected expenses — began the budget process with a balance of $1,868,318. Proposed uses of the funds are: year two and three of the Whitman water bill settlement ($123,885); half of the full-day kindergarten start-up cost of ($370,404.64); and for Chromebook purchases ($400,000) for a total of $894,288.64 in expenses, with an ending balance of $974,000. Szymaniak said all the district’s Circuit Breaker funding has also been used in calculating the budget. He said it was up to the committee to decide how much of E&D funds they wished to use to help balance the budget.

The meeting may be streamed on the WHCA-TV YouTube channel and is rebroadcast on its educational television channel. 

 In addition to fulfilling the needs post-COVID students, Szymaniak said the budget works toward the strategic plan initiatives that support School Committee goals while providing academic and social services to all 3,442 students in the district.

“Although the budget presented tonight doesn’t get the district to where I think I’d like us to be, it’s definitely a movement in the right direction for all of our kids,” he said.

School Committee priorities voted on last summer are tuition-free all-day kindergarten, one-to-one student personal electronic devices and a robust related arts curriculum.

Anticipated increases in the budget include contractual increases for staff, custodians and transportation; special ed services; insurance costs; moving staff salaries from expiring grants to the budget; building utilities; $740,000+ tuition for full-day K; and two special ed teachers (paid with federal funds). Unanticipated increases include an increase in charter school tuitions. He also reviewed setbacks and achievements of the past three years.

The student-to-teacher ratio is now 14.6:1 thanks to recent faculty additions, with the only larger ratios in the area at Bridgewater-Raynham and Abington. The state average is 13.4:1.

“We’re better than we were and I thank the communities for supporting our budget in the past,” Szymaniak said. 

Enrollment is dropping, however the district is starting to stabilize in the elementary grades. Student enrollments and departures during the school year make projections difficult, he said.

As student numbers decline Szymaniak said teachers now on staff may be used to fill retirement vacancies throughout the district.

There are 670 special education students now enrolled in the district with individual education plans (IEPs) — 456 are in full-inclusion within general classrooms. 95 in partial-enrollment programs, 78 substantially separate from general classrooms and 42 in separate school placements.

Full-day kindergarten implementation will require an additional three teachers and three paraprofessionals at $740,804.27 in FY ’23.

“I think it’s been on the docket for quite a while,” Szymaniak said.

School choice students at the high school, meanwhile should bring about $309,154 to the district. 

Szymaniak said that, since full-day kindergarten has been a topic of conversation for some time, he proposed three option to fund a fully tuition free program.

“I took the one right in the middle,” he said.

Option 1 would use no excess and deficiency funds and would increase assessments to $17,160,993.87 for Whitman and $13,518,039.80 for Hanson. Last year’s assessments were $16,104,903.22 for Whitman and $12,646,117.72 for Hanson.

Option 2 would use excess and deficiency for 50 percent of the startup cost — or $370,404.64 — and would put Whitman’s assessment at $16,936,529.27 and Hanson’s at $13,372,100.76.

Option 3 would use excess and deficiency to fully fund the $740,804.27 startup cost with Whitman’s assessment being $16,712,064.67 and Hanson’s at $13,226,161.73.

School choice

Tuition for students going to other districts will cost an estimated $222,684 and charter school tuition will cost $1,043,981 — up $229,827 from the current year.

“That was unexpected,” he said. “We do get some back, but it doesn’t cover that [gap].” 

Special education is one of a handful of uses for which the district may use federal ESSERIII (Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief Act) funds. ESSER II ($1,001,704 which must be spent by Sept. 30, 2023) and III ($2,314,697 which must be spent by Sept. 30, 2024) are multi-year grants. There are strict stipulations on how the ESSER funds can be used.

There are about 1,400 Chrombooks that are expected to reach end of life in June, meaning they are no longer useable for testing, assessments or the current curriculum. The district already has the replacements for those, but another 1,500 go out in 2026 and the district must begin planning to replace them, according to Assistant Superintendent George Ferro.

“We’re trying to get on a fiscal cycle of where we can earmark that money — keep that money, but now know that yearly we’re putting that through,” he said.

While the budget can be worked on up until the Monday, May 2 town meetings, it must be certified and sent to the towns by March 19, so Szymaniak has scheduled Wednesday, March 16 as the vote to meet that deadline.