Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak presented a “truly a level-service budget” for fiscal 2025 to the School Committe on Wednesday, Feb. 7.
The proposed budget for FY ’25 funds exactly the same programs and staff now in place during the 2023-24 school year, with no proposals to add or change programs.
“What is presented tonight is apples to apples,” Szymaniak said. “With the exception that everything is a bit more expensive than last year.”
The proposed $63,590,845 budget represents a 4.7 percent ($3,105,687) spending increase because of cost increases, according to Szymaniak. If accepted as presented, the budget would set assessment increases as 11.03 percent ($19,695,553) for Whitman and 10.20 percent ($15,325,369) for Hanson.
All budget documents are available on the district webste whrsd.org.
By comparion, some area school districts are “looking at double-digit increases of their overall budgets,” Szymaniak said, citing Middleboro and Norton in particular who are looking at 11- to 13-percent increases. Most are looking at increases of 3 percent and up.
“We’re just trying to service our students the best we can,” he said. “I believe we’ve done a nice job … we’ve been able to work federal aid into the district budgets for the support of students.” Between the ESSER funding series of grants the district has received close to $4.6 million in federal aid.
After budget discussions with both town administrators in November to hear what they were allocating, Szymaniak said he told them he would get the budget to that allocation, but he was obligated to present to the School Committee what the schools needed.
A 2 percent ($61,694,861) district budget increase would require cuts of $1.8 million to the overall plan, and would place Whitman’s assessment at $18,529,713 – of 4.45 percent higher – and Hanson’s at $14,595,226 – or 4.96 percent higher. A 3 percent ($62,299,713) district budget increase would require cuts of about $1.3 million to the overall plan, and would place Whitman’s assessment at $18,901,636 – or 6.55 percent higher – and Hanson’s at $14,828,154 – or 6.62 percent higher. A 4 percent ($62,904,564) district budget increase would require cuts of $686,281 to the overall plan, and would place Whitman’s assessment at $19,273,559 – or 8.63 percent higher – and Hanson’s at $15,061,082 – or 8.30 percent higher.
“It really looks like 5.13 percent when we add the [Whitman] middle school debt … but, overall, for the assessment value of the district, we’re looking at a 4.74 increase this year to maintain level services,” he said. “Hanson is not going to be paying anything on the Whitman Middle School project. It shows in the budget … because it’s a borrowing on behalf of the school, but it’s not part of the Hanson assessment.”
Since 2016 only one other budget – when it went up 5.52 percent in fiscal 2021 posted an increase of more than 4 percent.
He also pointed out that Whitman-Hanson is still spending less, at $16,339.41, per-pupil than 11 other area communities. The state per-pupil average is $19,566.95.
“I am very thankful and grateful to say to the towns of Whitman and Hanson tonight that we’re not in the bottom third,” Szymaniak said. “We’re not up at the top tier, but we’ve made somes strong gains.”
That is an improvement from the bottom eight districts where it once had been.
Szymaniak said educational programs the towns have paid for have helped that happen, but that he is concerned about regressing.
“We all know this is a challenging time of year, as all department heads and chiefs in both Whitman and Hanson are advocating for their departments and employees,” Szymaniak said. “I’m taking risk here, but I think all town officials and leaders in both communities want a budget that will support their department and the town, and also provide the best possible service to the community. The regional school district budget proposal is no different.”
He noted that today’s students are “much different than the students we had in 2019.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on students academically, socially and behaviorally.
“Students have changed and our teachers and our district have had to change and modify how we deliver our curriculm and keep students engaged in our classrooms,” Szymaniak said. High-quality instructional materials, one-to-one technology, interventionists to aid students in making up any lost ground while helping all students, social-emotional supports, a growing English language learner population and an increase in students receiving special education both in and out-of-district, have increased the school budget over the years.
W-H is in compliance with laws, regulations and mandates from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) on high-quality evidence-based instructional materials, K- grade three screenings and interventions and enrichment.
“FY ’25 is no different,” he said. “The difference this year, is the loss of federal assistance to the amount of about $818,000, which we have incorporated into this budget.”
There are 11 district paraprofessionals ($351,388), one English language learner teacher ($90,859) and four Unit A staff members ($375,955) who were hired under the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Reief (ESSER) III funds for which salaries are being placed back in the general fund for fiscal 2025.
The budget is aligned with the School Committee’s Strategic Plan for 2023-28, focusing on what they term the four “focus area buckets” of: student access; communication; curriculum and community/culture, while simultaneously aiming to retain, recruit and develop staff as well as resources.
The budget process began with the Jan. 10 preliminary presentation to the School Committee and will continue to be discusssed at every committee meeting through April 17, if it takes that long, to finalize the budget for the May 6 Town Meetings. A meeting with the Whitman Finance Committee was held Tuesday, Feb. 6. The deadline for presenting the budget to the towns is March 21.
There are anticipated costs included in the budget, as well, Szymaniak said. These include contractual obligations, movement of costs from grants (like ESSER funds) to the budget and multi-lingual learner enrollment for which there are educational requirements the district must meet. Szymaniak stressed the multi-lingual learner population does not represent newly arrvied homeless migrants, as is the case in some neighboring districts.
“This is just direct residents of either Whitman or Hanson that has increased 198 percent over the past two years,” he said.
Unanticipated costs include specal education placements due to move-ins and increasing student mental health needs and behavioral supports.
At the same time, class size is down.
“We are at or close to, class sizes of 21 in all elementaries, if not a little bit lower,” Szymaniak said. Only the incoming kindergarten classes are not fully known right now.
High school enrollment, meanwhile, is decreasing as the town average between 60 and 70 students going to vocational schools, private schools or charter schools.
There is also 28 students supported by the district in its Community Evening School. Another 117 preschool students are also enrolled in that program at the high school.
“What does all this mean?” said Asssistant Superintendent George Ferro. “It means that we’re trying to do the right thing for the students that we have in our schools.”
That boils down to three district-based academic interventionists, 12 building-based interventionists, five district wide curriculum coordinators spanning all subject areas and a secondary data specialist. Interventionists help W-H students as teachers and paraprofessionals in math and ELA, gathering data to form intervention groups and work with staff and teachers in the buildings.
For social-emotional supports, there are five board-certified behavioral analysts, seven school psychologists, 10 adjustment counselors and transition rooms at Hanson Middle and WHRHS for students returning from hospitalization – which can run the gamut from concussions or minor surgery such as appendectomies as well as students with social-emotional issues or hospitalization of other treatment for any mental health issues.
“Our staff has done a wonderful job for the last 20 years, but we never gave them the schools that they actually needed – that are research-based, that are scientifically based, that do improve student learning that we now can offer,” Ferro said.

WHITMAN – The town is looking at a 1,017,394 deficit even as officials have been crafting tighter budgets.
The Select Board heard a budget update from member Shawn Kain and Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter at its Tuesday, Feb. 6 meeting.
The process was begun as a forecast, based on the fiscal 2024 budget and projections of what revenue and expenditures might be for the next budget cycle. The result was a “pretty tight” forecast, Kain said, moving Carter to issue a budget message to department heads in early December that was in line with that forecast to stay within the Proposition 2 ½ increase with no increase in expenses. The total revenue increase over last year is only 1.2 percent for funding all departments, according to Kain.
“The likelihood of an override – certainly a discussion with the schools about an override – is real,” he said.
“We have to balance the budget, that’s the bottom line,” Carter said. “So the tough work is ahead of us.”
Since December, Carter has met with each department head separately to listen to concerns about the department needs. The Finance Committee has gone through a similar process, and more information on revenues is now available.
On Dec. 5, the deficit stood at $273,813, but now comes in at $1,017,394 in a fiscal 25 budget totaling $43,312,919 – with revenues of $42,295,525 in department requests.
“The numbers we were looking at this year are pretty lean,” he said. “At this point we are now ready to begin to formulate the formal budget.”
They walked the board through that information Tuesday night.
The Fire Department, seeking a 15.83 percent increase ($615,529) for salaries and a 12.42 percent increase ($52,945) in expenses, includes adding a firefighter to fill a vacancy created by promotion and contract year for the chief and deputy chief as well as equipment repairs, service contract increases and the ongoing expense of transporting patients due to the Brockton Hospital fire. The Police Department’s salary line increase is 8.05 percent ($274,204) as the chief and deputy chief contracts are up for negotiation, shifts have been unified and police reform makes hiring more complex, but expenses have been held to a .92 percent increase ($3,200).
At the DPW, salaries are up 4.56 percent ($33,865) due to contracts and expenses are increased by 10.64 percent ($190,394) primarily due the increase in solid waste expenses, even as they offset by the trash rate. Capital needs included in transitioning to the part-time use of the armory as the new DPW building is under constructed are also calculated in the expense increase.
Library salary line increases total to 3.81 percent ($14,791) as director and assistant director contracts, other salary increases are contractual. Expenses are up by 29.14 percent ($28,773) due to materials, utilities and maintenance costs.
“If their budget increases, then the amount or money that they spend on books, specifically, has to increase in order to qualify for a significant amount of state funding,” Kain said.
Technology expenses are up 17.03 percent ($46,023) while the salary costs have been kept to a 2.5 percent ($5,777) largely due to software costs.
While the School Department budget wouldn’t be unveiled until the next evening, a level-serviced budget with an increase of 11.12 percent ($1,972,658) is anticipated.
“They knew that this particular year was going to be a drop off, mostly because of the sunset of the federal ESSER funds,” Kain said. “The level-service numbers are expected to increase because of the numbers that came back from the state.”
Carter has included a 5 percent (an increase of $886,975) school budget increase as a placeholder in the budget thus far.
“Anything above that, of course, is going to be a much higher impact to the budget,” she said.
South Shore Tech’s assessment is up by 11.79 percent ($189,177) as a placeholder, as Whitman is sending 14 more students to the school this year.
“When Mary Beth sent her budget message, most of the department heads gave really what they think their department deserves, and they’re advocating for their budget, which they should be able to do so that we and the public understand what their needs and concerns are,” Kain said. “But what they didn’t provide us is what would their department look like if it actually was a 2.5 percent and zero percent expenses.”
He said that is the information they expect to be learning in the coming weeks.
Board Vice Chair Dan Salvucci said that, with three building projects in the works, he does not think an override to balance the budget would pass.
“I think that’s an important discussion for us to have with the School Department,” Kain said. “Obviously, people in the community care about education, they’ve made that clear, it’s a priority.”
He noted the district was presenting a thorough presentation on it Wednesday, Feb. 7 on what it will be able to fund as well as what they won’t be able to fund.
Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski also saw the need for the schools to ask for an override this year.
“I don’t want to be pessimistic about an operational override because we need it to take care of the kids,” he said. “As long as we know that they’re spending their money responsibly, we need it.”
Salvucci said it depends on what the School Committee decides for a budget.
“They need to show that they’re willing to look at both towns and what their budget [outlook is],” he said.
Kowalski said a lot of hard work has gone into avoiding an override to this point.
“Some of us have been saying for years that, in order for us to serve our students in a way that is appropriate,” he said. “The town needs to say – not only in a survey can we say that we value the students and we value the schools, but they also have to say they are willing to pay for it.”
Board member Justin Evans said town departments are not without blame, either.
“A lot of those asks are well above two-and-a-half percent,” he said. “The money has to come from somewhere.”
Police Chief Timothy Hanlon said his department has been underfunded for years.

HANSON – Town Planner Anthony DeFrias updated the Select Board on projects in town on Tuesday, Jan. 23, including the MBTA Zoning District and bylaws, Main Street sidewalk improvement design (between High and Elm streets), the Master Plan, 0 West Washington St., the starter home district and Hawks Avenue with which his department has been involved for the past year.
“Each one of those projects were funded, or partially funded, by grants,” he said.
“Can we pause for a minute at the magnificence of that statement?” Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
Two grants were received for the MBTA Zoning District, which funded outside consultants. All the others were through the One Stop Master Plan program, DeFrias said.
Hanson is working with a consulting company called VHB to get through the final phases.
“Our district modeling is complete,” DeFrias said of state spreadsheets into which the town’s date had to be entered to determine whether it is in compliance. “It hasn’t gone live yet, but it will be shortly.”
Old Colony Planning Council (OCPC) had begun the data entry process with VHB has added some information and made some adjustments, which made the district a little larger. A subdistrict now falls within the town’s mixed-use district, which the state must approve. Draft zoning bylaws have also been approved for that area following public hearings and now must also undergo compliance review at the state level. That mush be completed 90 days before Town Meeting.
“We’re looking to go before Town Meeting this may to get this approved,” DeFrias said. ‘The Zoning Map will change and there will be an amendment to the zoning bylaws to include this district.”
The Planning Board has closed the public hearing and DeFrias will be presenting the Select Board with the district map and draft bylaws at which time the Select Board will ask the Planning Board to submit a report.
“I know it seems strange that we’re giving you this and then you’re going to have to give it back to us, but it’s part of the statutory requirements,” he said. The Planning Board will then have a public hearing at the end of February and town counsel will have to review the bylaws before moving forward to get it before Town Meeting. The hope is they will receive a ruling on compliance from the state in time for that as well.
“If there’s a hiccup at least we’ll have October [Town Meeting] to button things up,” DeFrias said. “The deadline for this is December 2024.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked what happens if it fails to be in compliance or, for some reason, does not pass at Town Meeting.
“Failure to comply will eliminate us from grants,” DeFrias said. “It will also open the town up to liability and legal action. The Attorney General’s office has issued an advisory to all towns that have to comply, stating that it’s the law and, if you don’t follow the law, you’re going to open yourself up to possible litigation and fines under federal housing, Mass. Housing, etc.”
“Doesn’t that help us a little bit with the 40B stuff, as well?” FitzGerald-Kemmett asked.
“It helps us with the affordability, yes,” he said. “All the town has to do is create the district. … They prefer it within a half-mile of MBTA [stops].”
The actual affordable housing stock will be up to the private sector. The district as it now stands would exceed the requirement of supporting 750 units.
“The tough part is the deadline,” he said. “There’s a lot to do, a lot to unpack and at state level, they have a lot of work because a lot of these are now coming in fast and furious.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett said that, for better or worse, the Healey administration is incredibly bullish about housing.
The Mass. Taxpayers Foundation issued a report last year pointing to housing affordability as a major factor toward the state’s trend of “hemorrhaging people,” – the largest outward migration in 30 years – with 110,000 moving out since the pandemic, most between the ages of 26 and 35, and citing the issue as a major reason.
“We don’t have sewer,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “Septic alone in this area, with the proximity of wetlands is going to be problematic.”
“This is really being forced upon us, basically,” said Select Board member Ed Heal. “It’s good to have housing, but I don’t want to be forced into doing it.”
Vice Chair Joe Weeks said a lot of people come to Hanson because they like the bedroom community aspect of it.
The way the law now stands, DeFrias said, Hanson could end up losing grants without the program, which could hurt the town.
Main Street
An existing conditions survey in June 2023 on needed pedestrian improvements along Main Street, has led to 25 percent completion of a design for the project for street scape improvements including sidewalks from High Street to Elm Street, DeFrias said.
PDF of plans are available in the Planning office for review and a public hearing is slated for the first Planning Board meeting in February. Sidewalks are called for on both sides of the roadway. Additional grant money will be applied for to fund construction.
“It’s nice to have plans, but I’d like for us to get grant money and actually get some physical things off the ground,” DeFrias said.
Additional projects
Hanson is working with OCPS on the master plan project and there is a survey on the Planning Department website s part of the project that DeFrias is urging people to participate in it.
On the 0 Main St. project, he noted Hanson has been assigned a “House Doctor” – a certified engineering company – to examine the property, which is adjacent to the existing Water Department location, the survey work, resource location and soils to compile a preliminary plan determining the most viable plan for that property, DeFrias reported.
The grant for the Starter Home District has funded execution of the contract so a consultant can be chosen to determine if there is a place for a district where create affordable starter homes with 1,850 square feet of livable area can be built under Chapter 40Y.
Another grant of $100,000 will look into possible Brownfield redevelopment on Hawks Avenue, looking at what the town owns.
Other grant projects include culvert and Camp Kiwanee drainage projects and researching a switch to electric vehicles for some departments and charging stations under a National Grid project. FitzGerald-Kemmett expressed apprehension about EVs as public safety vehicles. DeFrias said there are options for that type of vehicle, but ultimately it is up to what the town chooses.
He said he could arrange a meeting to go over more information about the program.

WHITMAN – The Select Board on Tuesday, Jan. 23 voted to begin drafting an energy aggregation plan with Good Energy L.P., a Municipal Energy Aggregation consulting company, for a competitive energy pricing plan for residents.
John P. O’Rourke, director of marketing and municipal affairs at Good Energy LP, , briefed the board on the service before their vote, which backed up a Town Meeting vote last May in support of the pricing approach.
He said Whitman is about a year away from being approved by the Department of Public Utilities.
The goal is to provide more competitive choices and longer-term, stable electricity rates, normally contracts are from two to three years, he said, noting that National Grid, changes its rates every six months.
“Aggregation only impacts the electricity supply side of the bill, the relationship with National Grid does not change,” O’Rourke said. “The only thing that changes is the name of the supplier on the bill and the rate charged. All other relationships that residents have with National Grid now stay in place, also any low-income or discount services also stay in place – that may be important for some of your senior citizens.”
Infrastructure, administration, billing and outages or problems with service are still taken care of by National Grid, O’Rourke explained.
Good Energy LLP is a national energy aggregation firm based in New York.
“Being a national company, we have plenty of backup to our team here in Massachusetts,” O’Rourke said of the company which has 20 years of experience on the national level and combined it with local experience, entering the Bay State market in 2014. It now has 68 client communities – with 52 active plans, three that were just approved by DPU four more pending approval soon, more plans in development and two new committed clients for which they are starting to develop plans – in the state.
Several of those communities, including Marshfield, Norton, Rockland, Scituate and Carver, are located in the South Shore area.
“It recently became the largest aggregation of its kind in the country,” he said. “Good Energy is active in all states that have municipal aggregation.”
Aids town
application
The company does “all the heavy lifting” through the Department of Energy Resources (DER) and DPU approval process, and then monitor and manage the plan, providing officials with a portal to determine how it is functioning in real time, he noted.
Board member Shawn Kain asked about consultant fees, which O’Rourke said are 1 mil per kilowatt hour – about 1/10 of one cent per kilowatt hour – paid by the competitive supplier, not the town.
“That’s our fee,” O’Rourke said.
Kain also asked if an agreement could be amended mid-term for a better cost.
That is not allowed for, O’Rourke said, but said a town could make adjustments at the end of the term and the town picks out the plan that is most advantageous to residents. Contract renewals are begun about six months before expiration.
Select Board Vice Chair Dan Salvucci, who said he frequently seeks out more competitive rates online, how the plan is selected, and customers are informed.
“This is an opt-out plan,” O’Rourke said. “Once the plan is launched, there’s a 30-day period where the residents get a customer information letter. It explains the program and, of course, before that, there’s more information that comes out.”
Customers can either do nothing and become part of the plan, or opt out of it, which affects only those under the basic service of National Grid. It does not affect anyone who has already chosen a competitive supplier.
“They are not notified at all,” he said.
The town is provided with a matrix including three or four suppliers bidding on the town’s electricity load, and offer a grid of pricing over different time period from 12 to 36 months out. The town selects the one they feel is most advantageous to residents, who then can decide whether to opt out.
About 10 to 12 percent of most residents in any community already actively seek out alternative energy suppliers as Salvucci does.
“Most people are still on basic service,” O’Rourke said.
“I think what everybody is looking for is lower electric bills,” Salvucci said. “It’s that simple.”
Anyone who comes into the aggregation can get out of it at any time without penalty or termination fee and go back to a third-party supplier or go back to the utility, O’Rourke said. Last year, when National Grid was 33 cents per kilowatt-hour, Good Energy was in the 10 to 11-cent range.
“It was a home run during that period of time,” he said.
“It seems like your program fills in the gaps for people that are afraid to go out and look, because it’s a very scary world and there are a lot of scam artists,” Select Board member Laura Howe said, adding that she liked the fact that people could get out at any time.
O’Rourke said they also go out for bids at the most advantageous times of the year.
“We’re not going to go out to get a bid in a market that isn’t good for you,” he said. “We sit on the same side of the table as you.”
Good Energy is also researching getting into the natural gas market for customers, as well.
Board member Justin Evans, who noted he has a potential conflict of interest letter on file with the town clerk because he works for the DPU – although not on aggregation – and has asked for an opinion from state ethics, said he can be involved on the municipal side.
He said he and Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter researched the issue and liked Good Energy because of its large customer base, which can lead to more competitive pricing.
Small businesses and school districts can also be included in the aggregation and could be negotiated separately for better rates at their level, but they do not want to interfere in any relationships with municipal or school accounts unless they are approached.

The School Committee had an early look at the fiscal 2025 budget on Wednesday, Jan. 10.
“I feel very comfortable that what I’m presenting here today is what the district needs next year,” Szymaniak said. “We are not adding any programs to the district next year.”
“This is a first presentation, so we all need to understand [that],” said Chair Beth Stafford.
Preliminary calculations put the fiscal 2025 budget – at this point – at $63,565,154. That is an increase of $3,079,996 or 5 percent over the current budget, as voted at town meetings of $60,485,158.
A $63.5 million budget would mean increases to the operating assessments of 11.2 percent for Whitman and 9.98 percent in Hanson. He also offered calculations on budget increases of 4, 3 and 2 percent [see page 3].
“I kind of want to call this a preview, like when you go to a movie, there’s a preview and I don’t know if this is going to be an action-thriller or, as we go forward, or a comedy or all of the above, but it’s budget time in Whitman-Hanson,” said Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak.
In a more serious tone, he described it as a pre-preview of what he will officially present to the School Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 7. He also noted he was invited by the Whitman Finance Committee to meet with them at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 6, he said that, while he will meet with them at that time he will not share the whole presentation that the School Committee will hear the following night.
“I’ll give them some data backing what I’m talking about today,” he said.
He has already met with administrators of both towns in November to discuss the budget outlook.
“We talked about formulating relationships with both towns and seeing where both towns were at,” he said. “Both TAs told me they were going to earmark a 5-percent increase of the assessment for next year, and I kind of looked at them and said, ‘That’s going to be kind of difficult for me, knowing that we’re coming off of [federal] ESSER [funds] and knowing our cost of living raises and steps and lanes as we move forward.’”
The budget is being drafted “rolls in everything that is in-district today –every person, every program, everything,” Szymaniak said. “It is a mirror image of what we have today.”
That includes all staff that were included in the budget through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund. While the Student Opportunities Act (SOA) is supposed to provide school districts with more money, Szymaniak said he does not know and can only “low-ball guesstimate” the amount for this budget presentation.
“We don’t want to over-shoot,” he said. “Last year, we over-shot in transportation reimbursement, this year we earmarked at 70 percent. If it’s up, it’s up, if it’s down, we’re not overbudgeting for it.”
The budget also maintains the current curriculum cycle of “highly instructional materials” while keeping the same number of staff hired to do instructional interventionists to help support all students, which is not only important for post-COVID, but for students on the whole.
In explaining how the cuts to get closer to the towns’ 5 percent outlook would affect the schools, Szymaniak emphasized that he did not intend to take anything out on anyone.
A 2-percent budget increase would mean a $63.325 million or an increase of $2,839,000, leaving a shortfall of $1,630,293 to be cut from the district’s budget. Under that budget, Whitman’s assessment would be 5.51 percent and 5.41 percent in Hanson.
A 3-percent increase – at $63,325,354 – would mean Szymaniak would have to reduce the general fund by $1,025,441, which would increase Whitman’s assessment by 7.59-percent increase to Whitman’s assessment and 7.11-percent increase for Hanson.
A 4-percent budget increase – at $63,325,154 – would mean a $420,000 cut and would increase Whitman’s assessment by 9.67 percent and 8.8 percent in Hanson.
“I show you these numbers because they’re real,” Szymaniak said, noting he is still hoping for state funds, but is not holding his breath.
“I understand that the pie is going to be divided and that is why we’re going to have conversations,” he said. “We will also look at it to make sure it is as efficient as possible while making sure our students have what they need.”
He also said he would not knock the towns because they have already provided a lot of what the schools need, but added those needs continue to grow and it costs more every year.
Committee member Fred Small asked how the past use of excess and deficiency funds as well as one-time funds from the towns have made a difference in the budget bottom line.
Member Dawn Byers noted that some of the increase was due to contractual obligations, but increases in expenses have also been seen.
“When I think of what you’re going to present, there’s a way to reflect what the contractual percentage increase is as a piece, while consumables would vary line-by-line,” she said.
Szymaniak said teaching applicants are also becoming hard to find.
Member Hillary Kniffen also suggested a breakdown of the increase in English Learner population, which has grown over the last few years, and the staff required to service that population.
Stafford also noted there are only three retirements planned this year, all of which are at the high school.
In other business, Christopher Szkutak, coordinator of the WHRHS after-school program, and the new middle school after-school program at WMS, briefed the committee.
“The high school, for many years, has had a successful program for kids who want to engage in some things after school – extra help, culinary [classes], all kinds of fun stuff, but engaged here until 4 p.m.,” Szymaniak said. “Last year, Chris took it upon himself to apply for a grant from the state to engage our middle schools.”
The district began the program at Whitman Middle School.
“Hopefully, this that grant opportunity will be open that we can do this at Hanson Middle School,” he said.
Szkutak said the federal 21st Century Grant program, administered by the Mass. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), is focused on providing enrichment opportunities for students after school and ensuring there is equitable access to after-school programs for all students. There is no cost to students and transportation via late bus is available to students who need it.
“We want to make the after-school experience as equitable as possible for all students,” he said. “At the high school, we’ve had this program for at least 10 years and we have approximately 60 students that are enrolled.”
Culinary programs, a Community Connections Club which works on improving school climate, support classes for students re-taking MCAS exams and a World Cultures Club that brings newcomer students together with other students at school to blend and learn about each other.
W-H was only allowed to apply for a grant for one middle school at a time, and applied for WMS last year under an application for 65 students – they now have 160 students taking part. They are applying for Hanson this year.
The grants are for five years.
“We have a lot more interest and a lot more students involved than we expected, which is not a bad thing,” Szkutak said. “We had to expand to two late buses just leaving from Whitman Middle.”
There are nine different clubs open to students, with most students attending two days a week. The state’s guidelines aim for each student to take 90 hours a week of activities.
Ten WMS students spoke about the clubs they are involved in. A seventh-grader, Sophia, involved in Uplift described it as a safe space for girls to talk about issues they encounter at school, such as bullying, as well as lighter topics of skin care and makeup.
Other students spoke of their involvement in a musical theater program, as well as E-Sports Club, D&D Club and a Diversity in Tutoring program. Theater is the most popular club.
Szkutak said he is always looking for other funding sources and has a couple more grants in the pipeline to help expand the program’s reach.
Esports are a program that DESE “almost requires,” he said. There are scholarships available through it, and students are able to connect with one another.
“There’s teamwork, the social-emotional learning you get from working competitively, and the gaming club we offer at the high school is also during enrichment,” he said.
Unlike some other after-school programs, the grant-funded enrichment programs are not permitted to charge a fee for participation.

WHITMAN – The town received some good financial news regarding potential interest rates on borrowing for construction of the new Whitman Middle School.
Initial interest rate calculations of 5.5 percent for borrowing, discussed during the November Town Meeting, now stand at 4 percent, Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter announced on Tuesday, Jan. 9 Select Board meeting.
“That’s some good news there,” Board member Shawn Kain said.
“A little good news there,” she agreed.
Carter said that she has met recently with W-H Director of Business and Finance John Stanbrook and Lynn Welch from Unibank Fiscal Advisory Services, W-H Treasurer David Leary, Town Treasurer-Collector Ken Lytel and Assistant Town Administrator Kathleen Keefe to discuss the preliminary WMS borrowing plan.
“The initial plan is for the district to go out and borrow $6 million in approximately the month of March 2024 in the form of a bond anticipation note,” Carter said. “We’re short-term borrowing.”
In Fiscal 2025, the interest of about $240,000 will be due with the estimated impact to the median house with an assessed value of $448,800 in 2024 will be $42.91 per $1,000 of assessed value.
“That’s the impact because we’ll just be paying the interest on that [bond anticipation note],” she said.
In March 2025, the district intends to permanently finance the $6 million BAN that rolls out to a bond for 29 years – because they do not want to go any longer than 30 years total – and they will borrow an additional $60 million in the form of a bond for permanent financing, she explained.
“The BAN will be rolled over for one year, we’ll have a 29-year term as a bond and then the new bond will be straight for 30 years for the $60 million,” Carter said.
In fiscal 2026, the full principal and interest will be due on the bond issuance amount of $66 million, with estimated impact to the median house would be $867.14. In fiscal 2027, the balance of the remaining district share and 5 percent of the MSBA hold-back amount [until the project’s completion] will be borrowed with a BAN of an additional $10 million, or $76 million total.
“That [$867.14 for the median house] is lower than we anticipated, because … Stanbrook, when he had to put an interest rate out there, said 5.5 percent,” Carter said. “They’re calculating these numbers right now at 4 percent. But I can’t say or stress enough that these numbers are fluid. It’s ever-changing … but right now, that’s the plan.”
The “big hit” for taxpayers would be in 2026.
The first full bond amount in 2026 is now $867.14 (based on current valuation of $448,800 for a median home). It later goes up to the highest amount of $931.36 after the final $10 million BAN is taken, and then it does decrease, dropping to $436.26 in the last year, she said stressing the numbers that far ahead are just estimates.
What’s in a name?
In other business, the board voted 4-0, with Vice Chair Dan Salvucci abstaining to forward a proposed amendment to the Bylaw Committee, replacing the words “Board of Selectmen” with “Select Board” wherever they appear.
“It seems we’re just getting rid of the old ways of doing things and all of a sudden just changing things,” he said. “I’m just curious as to why that’s happening.”
Board member Laura Howe, while agreed Salvucci’s opinion, but as the female member of the board, she also understands the change.
“I never had any problem [with ‘Board of Selectmen’], but I think they call it progress,” she said. “We’re supposed to move forward, and the next person sitting in this seat might prefer that, so why not get it out of the way now?”
“I don’t understand why things are changing in today’s world,” Salvucci said.
“Yeah, but they are,” Kowalski replied.
Board member Justin Evans explained that the change stemmed from the Mass. Selectmen’s Association renaming itself the Mass. Select Board Association in 2020.
“Other towns have really picked this up,” he said. “Hanson did it a couple of years ago. It was on our Town Meeting warrant last year, but we didn’t have the Planning Board hearing, which are required to amend the Zoning Bylaws, because we’re the licensing authority on some of the Zoning Bylaws. We had to pass over that at Town Meeting.”
The vote begins that process to get it back before Town Meeting.
Evans also pointed out that there have been nine female Select Board members – Howe being the ninth – in Whitman since 1975.
“I will abstain,” Salvucci said. “I’m old-fashioned.”

HANOVER – An early forecast for the South Shore Tech fiscal 2025 budget proposal, which increases by 5.62 percent – or $16,139,669 – was presented to the School Committee on Thursday, Dec. 20.
Breaking down the increase, said Superintendent/Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey explained that the operating budget itself is up 3.88 percent (or $320,000), with capital expenses up 0.92 percent ($180,000) and district election costs for the MSBA project will raise the budget another 0.81 percent. Of the MSBA costs, $125,000 will come from excess and deficiency to avoid impacting local assessments.
“If this wasn’t the year to budget for this election, the overall budget increase would be about 4.8 percent of which about 3.88 percent is to operate the school house,” he said.
The ballot question for the MSBA building project is being planned for late January 2025. If it is passed, borrowing would begin in 2026. A preferred schematic plan – based on a preferred planned enrollment goal – will be presented to the MSBA later this month. The MSBA vote would come in August.
“I want to be able to lift up the hood on this,” he said. “We bring our communities one assessment number … Whatever we need, whether it’s a piece of capital or just running the schoolhouse, it all funnels down into one number.”
Hickey said he also thinks the district will be able to procure new buses using a combination of stabilization and existing funds, putting money toward a second year’s payment. The district had leased a dozen propane buses in 2017 and paid the lease off early, saving money and enabling the district, through equity in the buses to enter a successor lease. Last summer the district had some surplus revenue allowing the purchase of three buses for about $435,000.
“We have said goodbye to the last of the diesel buses that were 10-plus years old,” he said. Even with Marshfield joining the district, Hickey said they should be able to delay the need for more buses by a year.
The specifics of how that assessment breaks down by town will be available at a planned Jan. 25 School Committee meeting after the governor’s budget comes out.
The December budget presentation is traditional for the district.
“We are a little bit earlier than some communities because our regional agreement calls for us to have a certified budget 45 days before our earliest district Town Meeting, Hickey. “Historically, we have at least one town that schedules Town Meeting for early April, so that triggers a budget certification in February, preceded by a budget hearing in January.
SST uses a “zero-based” budget formula.
“While there are fixed costs, every department head and cost-center supervisor is asked to look at their budget with fresh eyes and focus on the year ahead and also on long-range capital planning, but do not simply add a few percent onto last year’s number,” Hickey said. “If we all did that, there would never be enough money for the things that pop up.”
Hickey said the district is monitoring Chapter 70 aid and the effect of changes in state regulations regarding non-resident students, while in-district student enrollment increases with the addition of Marshfield, raises the question of how a drop-off based on non-resident kids graduating in June will impact revue.
The inflation rate being used to calculate state aid is under 2 percent, raising the question does a lower rate mean the member communities may have to absorb more of the costs.
“Does the state aid match the drop in [non-resident] revenue?” he said. If it does not, there is a revenue gap that must be addressed either by adjusting the budget down or pass more costs to the communities.
“We will know what the right answer is as soon as we see the governor’s budget, the estimated state aid – and I’m prepared with a Plan B if there’s a gap,” Hickey said, indicating budget cuts would be the most likely approach.
The budget also aims to move $137,407 in personnel salaries funded by grants into the budget. New personnel eyed in the budget include $75,000 for a physical education/health teacher and $40,000 for a medical assisting teacher budgeted as an aide position. The $40,000 would be paid by a Perkins grant, should it come through.
Among the accomplishments which are always included in the budget presentation: SST now has the highest enrollment in its history with a strong program placement and student application pool, outside funding has been secured via Rethinking Grading, Skills Capital and a recent $2.1 million CTI grant. There has also been progress with the MSBA project and the district has expanded to include Marshfield as of July 1, and programming for student supports have been expanded, Hickey said.
“We are killing it on state grants,” Hickey said. “We’re doing a fantastic job of showing the world that we thrive after hours and we’re serving our day kids and our nighttime adults with great distinction.”
Enrollment trends show Whitman going up by 14 students and Hanson going down by eight from last year’s enrollment. Debt service is based on a town’s average Oct. 1 enrollment in the three years preceding a debt authorization and debt amounts are fixed.
Right now, the debt service number is zero.
Goals ahead include the NEASC accreditation in 2026, expansion of community and culture goals of expanded workforce development, creation of a Student Equity Club and strong student participation in athletics. The MSBA process is the main facilities goal and implementation of a grading initiative is another instructional goal.

WHITMAN – Select Board voted on Tuesday, Dec. 19 to send two sample bylaws to the Bylaw Study Committee – to potentially allow solar farms or battery developers to locate in town.
Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski was unable to attend the meeting.
The town does not have anything at all in the general and Zoning bylaws to set any limits or have any rules or have any means of doing much to regulate solar, argued Select Board member Justin Evans.
He noting that, during the auction of the Peaceful Meadows property, the auctioneers mentioned some solar developers were interested and bidding on the property, according to state law, solar farms up to a certain size are allowed by right and because Whitman is a green community, anything above that is also allowed.
But there are no protections on the books for the town to use in controlling or reviewing potential developers.
“We don’t have anything at all in the general and zoning bylaws to set any limits, have any reviews – there’s nothing to protect the town from a developer and coming in and doing whatever related to solar,” Select Board member Justin Evans said. “But we do have the ability to put in place … bylaws. On batteries, that’s less of an already existing issue and more of an opportunity.
He said Carver, like Witman, has a large electric distribution substation, he said, noting the property off Sportsman’s Trail near the Brockton line.
“[That] would be a very desirable place for a potential battery developer to put something,” Evans said. “The project in Carver is estimated to cost about $175 million on six acres. In Whitman, in our personal property taxes, that would be a little over $2 million to the town if someone like that were to come in and do a project [like Carver’s].”
He said it is an opportunity the town could look at.
The board also discussed the extension of sidewalks from Hogg Memorial Drive to the Brockton Line.
Board Chair Dan Salvucci said he has spoken to the DPW Commissioners, as the board’s liaison to them, and reported that, while the commissioners feel it is important to have a sidewalk there, it is not their main priority. That priority is Plymouth Street from the Rotary to the Hanson line, where there are a great many houses never served by a sidewalk. It is also an area closer to the MBTA station, to which a lot of commuters walk and for which parking is scarce.
Salvucci also noted there are no sidewalks in Brockton on Route 14.
“So, [the proposed section] would stop there, and anybody wanted to walk further, Brockton doesn’t have it either,” he said. “They need to make the decision [about] what they want to do, try and get a grant and then bring it to Town Meeting. I don’t think it’s our decision to do that.”
Board member Shawn Kain noted the DPW has a formal plan with about 15 specific priorities, so the Hogg Memorial area is on the complete streets plan, it’s just not at the top of the list right now.
“I think, if the timeline worked out well, and they were to get the money, they’re looking at closer to 2026,” Kain said.
“The town can’t afford to put all the sidewalks in,” Salvucci agreed. “They’d have to go with a grant – complete streets and things like that. … As far as the Joint Transportation Committee – I will push for anything that the town is looking for.”
Kain said it is on his list of priorities as well.
An Auburnville Way resident said meetings about the issue with the offices of state Rep. Alyson Sullivan-Almeida, R-Abington, and Congressman Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., has resulted in guidance that the Select Board’s prioritizing the Route 14 sidewalks could result in the faster release of state and federal grant money.
Both Salvucci and Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter said it would be better to discuss that with the DPW Commissioners first, as they are also an elected board and it would avoid over-stepping the commissioners’ authority.
SST concern
Resident Robert Kimball also spoke during the public forum on the informational meeting held by South Shore Tech on Dec. 14 regarding its upcoming building project.
“One of the big concerns was the percentage of paying moving forward, and I hope the Board of Selectmen can take a real good look at it,” he said, noting that Whitman’s share should be based on current enrollment.
Salvucci, who is also the Whitman representative to the SST School Committee, said Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey thought the opinion is credible and is looking into it.
“I asked him, since I’m on the committee there, to look at the enrollment for the past 10-15 years and see how the enrollment was, because there was one year, we went down a few students,” he said. “There was one year we went up 10 students.”
But, he added, interest in the school in Whitman remains high. There were more than 100 families touring the school during the registration process for next year’s freshman class recently.
“All I’m asking is that you take a good look at it and analyze it and do what’s best for the community,” Kimball said. “I want you to analyze it, not have your mind made up right now.”
Carter said Hickey had sent her an email about meeting to discuss the issue.

WHITMAN – While 2023 ended with the question of whether a new Whitman Middle School would be built, in the coming year the same question faces voters – as one of nine member communities being asked to support a new South Shore Tech.
“Our goal is not to build the absolute biggest thing we can build,” said SST Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey, as some voters brought their questions to an informational meeting held in Whitman Town Hall on Thursday, Dec. 14. “We have to build something that is as affordable as possible.”
He was joined by Project Manager Jen Carlson from the firm LeftField, Educational Consultant Adele Sands, and Carl Franshesci from architectural firm DRA. Whitman’s representative to the SST School Committee, Select Board Vice Chair Dan Salvucci also attended, as did Select Board member Justin Evans, who also serves on the Whitman Middle School Building Committee.
Whitman Finance Committee members Kathleen Ottina and Rosemary Connolly also attended and asked several questions.
“We’ve accomplished a lot as a building committee in the last few months,” Hickey said, as he began with an overview of the project and its status before taking those questions. “I promise you there are slides that say ‘Show me the money.’”
Opened in 1962, SST is the second-oldest regional-vocational school in Massachusetts with the original member communities of Abington, Cohasset, Hanover, Norwell, Rockland and Scituate, with Whitman and Hanson joining the region in the 1982-83 school year. Marshfield is now in the process of joining the district and Pembroke is considering that move.
“If we decide to bring in more communities that are not part of a regional voke later on, we’ll bring them in knowing they’ll help with cost-sharing, but those conversations are entirely separate from this,” Hickey said.
Marshfield will be paying a portion a share of the project in fiscal 2026, the first anticipated year of bond anticipation notes.
“Marshfield’s annual debt share will adjust with their enrollment, as they add students for fiscal ’26, ’27, ’28 and ’29,” Hickey said. “Then, on Oct. 1, 2028, as we’re preparing the fiscal ’30 budget, Mansfield’s share will be fixed.”
For example, if Marshfield sends 20 kids per year, it would put them at 11.9 percent of total school enrollment, translating to an 11.9 percent cut for each of the towns. It would be the district’s largest sending community with an eighth-grade class of more than 250 kids.
Whitman’s eighth-grade class is currently 174.
“Second-oldest doesn’t mean [it’s a] decrepit building,” he said. “We’re a well-maintained building, but we just happened to be the second one in Massachusetts to experiment with this model.
With a larger school building, Hickey said plumbing and veterinary technician can be added to the 12 shop specialties taught to the 670 students already attending SST.
Hickey said people have been asking him for decades why the school hasn’t offered a plumbing program, but the space limitations have not permitted it.
“Over the last 10 years, the number of kids who would like to come, but there is no space, has averaged out at about 68 students,” he said. “That’s an important number for me to factor in when making recommendations about what we could potentially build for – what is the demand?”
The average freshman class now numbers between 175 and 180 students. Each town is apportioned a number of seats each year, based on the number of eighth graders in each town and there is an application process. While some towns use all their seats and have excess demand, of which Whitman is one, with the highest population in the school for a few years. Other towns, like Cohasset and Norwell, have seats left unfilled and are reapportioned to communities with excess demand.
SST has been filing statements of interest with the Massachusetts School Building Authority for a school project since 2015, and were invited into the process in March 2022.
“We’ll have something that’s safer, that will allow us not to have modular units,” he said. “The bread and butter of our school is our shop space … to teach kids the trade skills they need.”
As an example, he said that, if all the school’s carpentry students stopped or were unable to go out on cooperative learning work in the upper grades, Hickey doubts there would be room for all of them to safely work in the Carpentry Shop.
The useful life of the building and its systems is also a concern.
SST’s education plan and preliminary design program are now under review by the MSBA. The building committee looked at several design options and five different enrollments, narrowing it to three plans. All information about the SST school design options and cost projections are available on a website: southshoretechproject.com.
“By the end of January [2024] we, as a building committee, will make two decisions – which design do we want to push forward and what will the enrollment number be?” Hickey said. “Then we go into 2024, working with the MSBA … and, ultimately and hopefully, they will then approve a project, with a project funding agreement and reimbursement rates in August.”
The process would culminate with a ballot question going before voters in late January 2025.
SST is also on a small site with environmental limitations, including wetlands, which is why at least one design is for an addition/renovation – which would bring no MSBA reimbursement – but Marshfield will be helping with cost-sharing.
“That amount is not something voters would know when making an educated decision on the project, but it is likely to assist,” he said. “We’re looking at an add/reno and two projects for new construction that we’re calling ‘2.0’ and ‘2.1.’”
The main differences between them is the layout of athletic fields where the current school is as well as the location of a multi-purpose auditorium – with retractable stadium seats so the space can be used for sports and other programs as well as performances – dining commons, gym and locker rooms.
“Every square foot that we’re asking for has got to have more than one purpose,” he said. “Having [all that] in one area is an important theme. Of the three floors this one probably has the most unique elements.”
Design 2.0 places them to one side of the school building center. Design 2.1 puts them in the center of the building.
Hickey said the decision on locating the common areas are still under discussion, but fundamentally, the general layout of both designs are the same.
Two enrollment figures have been prioritized for the new building – 805 and 900. The building space, now at 130,000 square feet on one level, will expand to between 240,000 and 260,000 square feet on multiple levels.
“The first floor is focused on our shops,” Hickey said.
Any new construction will have to be to the rear of the property, where baseball and football fields are now.
If the MSBA gives its approval in the summer of 2024, a district-wide ballot question will go before voters in January 2025 and the project will enter the design phase in 2025 to early 2026, entering the construction phase in 2026 to mid-2028 to be opened for the 2028-29 school year.