HANSON — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Jan. 25 honored Library staff member Antonia Leverone for her 3 years with Hanson Public Library.

“She assisted with the automation process in 2000,” Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer read from an email about Leverone’s retirement from Library Director Karen Stolfer. “Toni was instrumental in obtaining a grant that provided materials and equipment for the blind and low-vision individuals.”

Leverone also took over leading the Library’s popular Book-To Movie Club after the passing of Nancy Cappellini and has managed the library’s magazine collection and helped ensure computers were up to date and maintained the collection of historical materials.

“I think Toni is an overall great example of a public servant who cared about the community in which she served and brought her passions to our community and shared them with us,” Dyer said.

Selectmen are sending her a citation honoring her service.

The board also held a brief public comment hearing on the town’s community aggregation plan with Patrick Roche of Good Energy, a hard copy of the responses gleaned during the public comment period is available for review at both the Town Hall and Library as well as on the town website. 

The Dept. of Energy Resource next does a review and a final plan will be brought back before Selectmen, which is then reviewed by the Department of Public Utilities for review before bids are sought.

Residents have asked about details such as other town aggregations’ performance, how the plan impacts people with solar panels on their homes and how opting out works.

Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer, who also serves on the town’s Energy Committee asked whether or how an aggregation plan might affect people on other low-income or other savings plans as well as how it could affect people with solar panels on their homes.

Roche said is would not affect people on other plans. Those with solar panels would see the credits they now receive would be valued and the way credits are allocated would not change. It would only change the cost of the electricity pulled from the grid.

Selectman Jim Hickey asked about the average savings for Gloucester’s four-year time period. Roche said that town have not yet seen the full impact of it.

“I know we had talked about this before and we had both agreed that it was not about the money, although citizens would save, it was the idea of using cleaner energy,” Hickey said. But saving $60 or $70 each year is kind of a win-win situation, he added.

Dyer also said the savings also hinge on how much energy people consume.

Selectman Joe Weeks asked if people want to stay with NatGrid, is there a participation threshold at which the contract could be nullified. Roche said it is not effected by that.

FitzGerald-Kemmett asked about the length of the contract and any decoupling process if the town decides the program isn’t what it wants. Roche said the most common contract is three years with some going a bit longer.

Usually after a full year the contract can be reviewed before a town decides to lock in for the next contract.

“I think it’s important that this vote we take tonight, what does that lock us into?” she said. “We’re not locking it down today, we’re going out for bids for brokers.”

 “I just want people to understand there are a lot of checks and balances out there,” FitzGerald-Kemmett. 

It process could take as long as two years to complete.

Business Manager John Stanbrook has pledged to continue providing a monthly budget report and will give a quarterly analysis of the school budget, including transfers of Circuit Breaker finances to the School Committee as the panel concluded a lengthy meeting, Wednesday, Jan. 5, on the questions and concerns that have cropped up over use of Circuit Breaker funds.

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak, who acknowledged Stanbrook’s important work in uncovering budget concerns, also pledged greater transparency in the budgeting process to the committee.

“I don’t think we did things right,” Szymaniak said. “I don’t think I did things right with these [School Committee] folks, I don’t think Dr. [Ruth Gilbert-]Whitner did things right … I don’t know if Dr. [John F.] McEwan did or not, I didn’t know Dr. McEwan. But I think we can do better, I think we need to do better. Communication with both communities has to be better.”

School Committee members Mike Jones, Fred Small and Michelle Bourgelas attended the meeting remotely by phone.

“Of late, there are a number of questions and concerns that have come up concerning Circuit Breaker as was first discussed in our November meeting and the administration has been working to gather information needed,” said Committee Chairman Christopher Howard. “That process has been delayed a couple of times due just from folks being out, which we’re continually dealing with.” He said the plan for the meeting was to lay out all the questions put forth up to this point and share the answers publicly. Follow-up questions were permitted as the presentation progressed.

The complete meeting may be viewed on the WHCA-TV YouTube channel online, or as rebroadcast on the education channel.

Howard said he and Vice Chairman Christopher Scriven met with school district administrators in an effort to obtain information on “questions that we thought needed to be addressed.”

“A lot of this material is a little dense – it’s a little thick – it can be complex at times, so really the objective of tonight’s meeting is to try and get to the same place of understanding,” Howard said.

Questions and answers [also available on the WHRSD website at the link: https://p10cdn4static.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_18535382/File/WHRSD%20Circuit%20Breaker%20Questions_final.pdf] included what is Circuit Breaker?

“Circuit Breaker is the state’s special education reimbursement program,” the response stated, in part among the nine pages of questions and answers. “Its intent is to provide relief to districts for high-cost special education students, and not all placements go where parents would necessarily prefer because of the process schools must follow.”

Szymaniak explained there are some students for whose educational costs are not reimbursed, because their tuition did not meet that standard.

Szymaniak said that Stanbrook had mentioned in a budget subcommittee meeting that there was a change in how the Circuit Breaker funds would be used in the fiscal 2023 budget. In addition to Stanbrook, retired interim Business Manager John Tuffy also attended the meeting.

“From that, more questions evolved about how we had done in the past, what we were going to do in the future, what past practices we’ve used that I’ve learned, now, probably aren’t best past practices, and how we figure out how we do this moving forward to make sure this committee here has a full understanding of this revenue source here, this reimbursement source of Circuit Breaker,” Szymaniak said, inviting more questions. “I’m just trying to be open and honest that I might not have a specific answer. I’m not trying to brush it off.”

Answers not available at the time would be answered at a subsequent meeting, or by a phone call or email, he said.

“I think [Stanbrook], in this role, is extremely efficient and is continually finding some things of how we can improve as a district, how his office can improve and how we can improve communications with the School Committee and the towns, so that we don’t have this problem in the future,” Szymaniak said.

Disagreements

He acknowledged there are disagreements out in the communities about best practices and how to use Circuit Breaker funds.

“What I found from my colleagues, from MASC, from DESE, there is no Golden Rule,” he said, pledging to more effectively communicate options. “People do it differently.”

Reviewing the basic reimbursement formula timing for some residential facility needs cases, was clarified by Whitman resident Shawn Kain, administrator of the Recovery High School in Brockton, whose wife is also a special education teacher, as he had been.

“We’re going to be reimbursed for the money we pay for that student next year,” Kain said. “So the Circuit Breaker we get for that student will increase next year … even though the special ed costs [for the year of the expense] will increase. … I think that’s an important clarification … sometime special education costs and Circuit Breaker reimbursement gets blurred.”

Tuffy agreed it is a reimbursement program.

Small asked how many times in the past five years the district had experienced an emergency expense – such as a special needs student moving into the district or requiring residential placement.

“I think that’s a flow,” Szymaniak said. “I can’t give you an exact number.”

Student Services Director Lauren Matthiesen described her budget process for some costs as a best-guess process based on expecting 3 percent increases from collaborative schools and 6 percent increases from private placements each year during budget calculations. Some figures are not finalized until June.

Tuffy said the district had actually received funds this year as a beginning reimbursement for special education transportation.

“Up until now, we’ve never gotten any money at all,” he said. “They’re phasing it in over a period of time. They actually missed the first year that they said they were going to phase it in because of financial issues at the state [level]. The assumption is we will continue to see that funded as we go into fiscal year 2023.”

Whitman Selectman Randy LaMattina said he could already see the meeting going off the rails before the discussion had reached the half-hour point.

“We’re now talking about special education costs, not Circuit Breaker reimbursement,” he said, asking why the two were being confused.

Like Howard, LaMattina questioned where the district’s best practices come from.

“I’m asking the same question,” Howard said. “What my opinion of that is, it’s an opinion and I would ask everyone to hold their ‘we’re going to accept those as what we should do’ until we actually go through all the information because its simply an opinion of best practices from someone.”

LaMattina also asked if the district places Circuit Breaker reimbursements in an account such as special education stabilization, rather than funneling money into the general fund. Stanbrook said that, yes, there is a Special Revenue Fund for Circuit Breaker in the budget.

“All the revenue from Circuit Breaker goes into that account, no question,” he said.

Stanbrook also reviewed special education expenses from fiscal 2014 to 2021. Overall special ed costs went from about $7.7 million in 2014 to $11.2 million in fiscal 2021 – a 44.95 percent increase, based on end-of-year reports required by DESE.

In the past, it’s been used for tuition to collaboratives, professional salaries, contractual services and transfers to the general fund, Stanbrook said.

School Committee member Hillary Kniffen asked if there was a best practices recommendation for how much Circuit Breaker funding the district should use in a year.

Szymaniak said that percentage amount has not been found, but the committee had recommended that a policy be determined. Howard confirmed that his inquiries to state officials show “it’s all over the place.”

What is not spent is carried over into excess and deficiency per state law, Szymaniak said.

Whitman resident John Galvin, who stressed he was not speaking in his capacity as a Finance Committee member, had several questions about a chart showing the “drastic overspending” of Circuit Breaker money in 2018 and ’19 as well as “drastic under-allocation” of it in 2021 and ’22. He questioned who authorized the overspending in 2018 and ’19 when the report he cited “clearly showed it was not transferred to the general fund” and how it was actually paid out. He also questioned a page on the late deposit of $246,943 on July 2, 2019 — after the budget had been certified. He said he was aware the figure was explained (the last deposit on fiscal 2018 had been delayed) on another chart, but a notation would have helped transparency.

“Telling the truth can’t possibly be misleading,” said Stanbrook, who said his report was based purely on what is in the accounting system. Galvin said it would simply be helpful to add notations on the chart if an additional amount was delayed. He also questioned how it was spent, if it was not transferred to the general fund.

Heated exchange

Howard cut off the back and forth discussion to focus on the original question of who authorized expenditures.

“It’s an honest answer – I don’t have an answer for you right now,” Szymaniak said of the 2019 budget compiled before he was superintendent.

“You should have been made aware that that money was being added to the overall budget after it was certified,” LaMattina said, noting that if more money is going to be added to the general fund in any given year after the budget has been certified, the School Committee needs to vote on it. 

“We’re not getting at spending,” he said. “You should have been made aware that money was being added to the overall budget after it was certified (for fiscal 2021). … I think we’re here to discuss a mistake that I think we’re dancing around. A mistake was obviously made in the way this was calculated — an accounting mistake and then spending.”

If used correctly, Circuit Breaker reimburses the school district to offset unexpected costs and then the bill comes to the town, which frees up more money for member towns.

“That’s not the way this has been done, and that’s the way it was supposed to be done,” LaMattina said.

Stanbrook said the state asks his office twice to certify that the required amount had been transferred out of the Circuit Breaker fund so the district would not carry more than one year’s worth as per state regulation.

Szymaniak said the fiscal 2021 budget, with all it’s unknown COVID-related expenses led to the district being conservative with Circuit Breaker, but still ended up with “an abundance at the end of the year.”

“It was a very difficult time to understand how we were going to budget, even to the point when we developed our remote plan for students, we didn’t know if we were going to be reimbursed for that at all,” he said. Fiscal 2022 carried it’s own COVID-related questions, including learning loss and social-emotional issues. More parents of special ed students were also looking for residential placement for their children, as well. 

Stanbrook recently proposed to the budget subcommittee that the district determine the total sped costs in the general fund for fiscal 2023, and then remove about $1.7 million from that budget and show it as being paid by the Circuit Breaker in the special revenue section of a budget

 “It covers the amount we need to spend next year by the state regulation, and I think it will show a substantial relief to the towns,” Galvin said in support of the proposal.

Kniffen said she is more concerned with the educational opportunities for students that Circuit Breaker savings could be used to finance. LaMattina argued that proper use of Circuit Breaker would enable the towns to possibly give more if voted because you’re allocating the reimbursement in a proper manner. Both he and Galvin fully supported Stanbrook’s proposal.

“You don’t get less money,” he said. “You’re now presenting a more accurate budget to the towns. By not doing it right, you’re hurting yourself.”

Kain also said he believes last year’s budget was miscalculated in an effort to hold back some money for a rainy day fund of sorts. Scriven was uncertain about Kain’s terminology, but said it was clear state Circuit Breaker regulations were not followed.

“That, to me, is the problem,” he said.

“I just think people agreed on the budget last year under false assumptions,” Kain said. “If you wanted to withhold some money for a special ed rainy day fund, it should have been in the budget and subtracted in that line. It wasn’t, and it was voted on, therefore to me, that doesn’t sit right.”

Howard said he did not disagree with anything Kain said.

“We could have been more transparent,” Howard said, but neither he nor Scriven knew where to go with that.

“What we can do best is learn from the experience,” Small said, suggesting a special ed stabilization fund be established and funded.

Whitman Finance Committee liaison to the School Department Kathleen Ottina thanked the School Committee for putting together the session.

“It’s a refreshing approach to informing the public how money is spent,” she said. “The school budget is not a simple budget. … I believe we have the right people committed to the School Committee and to the towns, going forward, who will do the right thing.”

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Jan. 4 voted to impose a mask mandate in all town-owned buildings, effective Wednesday, Jan. 5. All employees must wear masks when interacting with the public.

The board plans to revisit the issue at its Tuesday, Jan. 25 meeting.

“I don’t think it would hurt anything to say [access to Town Hall] is appointment only for the next two weeks,” Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “And then we can revisit it.”

Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer, noting that everyone, “healthy or sick” goes food shopping, asked if Selectmen could impose a mask mandate in all public spaces. He asked that the board put such a mandate in place in all town-owned buildings, Jan. 5. He also endorsed a hybrid meeting atmosphere, so people who wish to attend in person may do so at their own risk, but virtual attendance is encouraged.

Dyer also asked if it was possible to obtain test kits to have on hand for town employees, which Amado said he was looking into. A COVID booster clinic will be held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 13 at Hanson Middle School. Registration with the Board of Health is required for the Moderna booster shots.

FitzGerald-Kemmett noted that is a Board of Health decision, where the Selectmen are in charge of town employees and town buildings. She also sought to mandate mask wearing when town employees interact with the public.

“Ideally we would like to agree on these things and work together,” she said.

The board discussed the issue with Health Agent Gilbert Amado, who reported that there were about 300 cases in town as of that time, but did not advocate additional measures be taken. Selectman Joe Weeks called attention to the report two meetings ago when there were 20 cases in town.

“It’s ramping up unbelievable,” Amado said adding that the Omicron outbreak has led to more people getting tested. He said Hanson has a 12.32 percent positivity rate and Whitman has a 12.18 percent rate.

“It’s up to common sense right now,” he said, adding the town has been “kicked in the butt” by the CDC and governor. He did say the board might consider mandating masks in Town Hall and other town buildings.

“But people are rebellious,” he said. 

He said the town has done a “fabulous” job protecting town employees with plexiglass shields, and sanitizing wipes and lotion for cleaning surfaces and hands. Masks and gloves are worn and buildings are fogged against the virus.

FitzGerald-Kemmett asked Amado about surrounding towns like Whitman closing town halls for a short period in order to get control of the transmission rate and protect staff in the interests of the town. She asked if masks are still required in Town Hall.

“For a week or two, while this thing is getting crazy and the transmission numbers are so high … 300 is alarming,” she said. “We’re in it. We’re in the crosshairs right now.”

Amado confirmed that’s the highest number of cases the town has had at one time.

Weeks also asked about virtual or hybrid meetings. Town Administrator Lisa Green confirmed that town boards are allowed to meet virtually through April 2022.

“Employees within Town Hall have taken it upon themselves to wear masks,” Green said. 

Public safety personnel frequently pitch in to help community programs that benefit youth. This year, the efforts of the Whitman Police and Fire departments to assist the Whitman Area Toy Drive reached new levels of success — filling seven cruisers and two ambulances with toys, clothing, sporting goods and other items frequently found on kids’ wish lists for Santa Claus.

The Jolly Old Elf was also on hand, and provided assistance to the police officers, who managed to arrest and book the Grinch on charges he tried to steal Christmas. 

Both characters appeared through the generosity of the Amleida Family, said Whitman’s Deputy Chief of Police Joseph Bombardier.

The collection’s success brought kudos from Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman during the Tuesday, Dec. 21 meeting of the Board of Selectmen.

“I just want to trumpet a little bit the great work of our public safety officials — Police Department, police staff — as part of the Whitman Area Toy Drive,” he said. “It was the most successful year yet, according to the organizers.”

For adults’ holiday celebrations, the Board of Selectmen also voted to approve extending the hours under clubs and Common Victualers’ licenses to permit bars and restaurants included to stay open until 2 a.m. on New Year’s Eve.

In Hanson, that police department also filled seven cruisers on Dec. 4, in a toy drive benefitting the Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots program, according to officer Derek Harrington.

“We truly want to extend our thanks to the entire community for their generosity at this years toy drive,” Harrington said. Our community conference room was filled entirely by the toys donated.”

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Dec. 7 opted to accept most of a revised financial policy, which includes a procurement card that could be used by certain town employees to fund purchases. The procurement cards policy was tabled until language can be revised.

“I’m still not sure about having a procurement card —  on the value having it,” Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said to open the discussion. “I think the current system — of someone pays for the stuff and then gets reimbursed — makes sense, and I think it keeps us away from some … messy business.”

Selectman Brian Bezanson said, while he understood and agrees in some respects, with Kowalski, he questioned why town employees should have to expend their own money and then wait for Selectmen to reimburse them.

“I have a little trouble with that, too,” Bezanson said. “Why should you put your money down?”

He also asked whether the town should have one card for the board and town administrator and assistant to use, requiring all other town officials and employees to go through the Selectmen’s office for authorization.

Kowalski said his understanding of the proposal was that there would be a number of cards distributed, but Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said the policy proposal would only be for one card to be administered through the Selectmen and town administrator’s office.

“Then there’s less chance of any shenanigans,” Bezanson said.

Selectman Justin Evans recalled that the last time the board discussed the proposal, Heineman had just been reimbursed — via the board’s authorization — for a purchase of snacks and beverages he bought for a day-long strategic planning session in October.

“It’s the kind of process that we could streamline,” Evans said.

Selectman Dan Salvucci said people have, in the past, traveled on town business, expenses had been abused.

“When it came time for reimbursement, we had to have a talk about spending frivolously,” he said. “I think, with a credit card, if we put a max on it per purchase …”

Heineman said that, especially where travel on town business is concerned, he would never authorize an expense that was not the cheapest economy on meals and probably not at all on air travel.

He noted that Parks and Highway Superintendent Bruce Martin had recently told him that nearly every month he is faced with expenses for essential equipment or materials he has to purchase where a credit card is the only form of payment accepted.

Heineman recommended a card limit, rather than a purchase limit.

Kowalski said the wording of the proposal led him to believe that “a number of procurement cards were going to be given out to people to use when they need to buy stuff for the town.”

He saw the possibility of people going over the limit.

Heineman said the language could be changed to reflect that only one card would be used.

COVID uptick

In other business, Heineman said the town is “experiencing a pretty significant uptick in the positivity rate” for COVID19, during his regular update on the pandemic.

The positivity rate has been climbing for six straight weeks, and particularly over the previous two weeks.

“It’s risen dramatically as compared with the previous four,” Heineman said. “The Delta variant is the primary variant that’s being transmitted now.”

The town’s vaccination rate, meanwhile, has been slowly ticking up, with Whitman’s vaccinated population now at 61 percent.

Booster clinics have been conducted for residents of the Whitman Housing Authority as well as the home-bound in the community. Another booster clinic, open to the public was held Dec. 9.

While first and second shots are also readily available at local pharmacies, the town has plans in place for those clinics, if they are needed.

“This spike was not unexpected,” Fire Chief Timothy Clancy said.

Assistant TA

After receiving 93 applications for the post of assistant town administrator, Heineman said the subcommittee has set up eight semifinal interviews, with an eye toward three to four sending finalists to the full board for interviews on Dec. 21.

“We were going to try to avoid that night,” Kowalski said. “But someone might get a merry Christmas that night.”

Following reference and background checks the aim is to have a new assistant town administrator in place in January.

School
communication

Salvucci said a Monday night television news report on Dec. 6 was the first he heard of the alleged threat situation at WHRHS that day.

“I’m out and about doing Christmas shopping and, if somebody asks me about it, I have no idea,” he said. “I think that either the School Department or somebody should have put an email out to at least this board … so we know basically what happened. We don’t need the specifics, because it’s still under investigation.” 

He said Selectmen should at least know enough to reassure residents.

Selectman Randy LaMattina, who is the police liaison, said the police did reach out to him.

“Obviously, it was an issue with minors and is kind of a sensitive area,” he said. “But he did inform me there was an incident and there would be extra police presence by both towns at the high school.”

He said it was a developing situation at the time.

Kowalski agreed with Salvucci that communication has to be better.

He learned of the incident from another person who does not live in Whitman and, when he texted Police Chief Timothy Hanlon, he was told that the chief had called LaMattina and Heineman.

“I said ‘That’s great, but if I bumped into somebody at Stop & Shop, and they said, ‘Hey, what’s going on in Whitman-Hanson?’ I’d have said, ‘Duh, I don’t know,’ Kowalski said. “Communication’s got to be better.”

Kowalski said he had a good conversation with the chief, but it’s good to know some things.

“It’s not about the event, it has to do with communication to this board,” he said.

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen tabled a decision, on whether to proceed with the town’s contract with Team TMS on the pending audit of WHRSD finances, until their Tuesday, Dec. 14 meeting.

The delay would help the town figure out if it needs to go back to Town Meeting for additional funding and to get a better idea of Whitman’s position on what company does the work.

“I want to make it clear that we cannot have either firm that audits the towns as the firm we bring in to audit WHRSD,” Town Administrator Lisa Green said.
Agreeing that Green was making a good suggestion, Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said she would rather wait to see where the Whitman Board of Selectmen come in on the question. Green said she has had a long conversation about the audit with Whitman Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman, who has told her that he would rather go out to bid again.

“Why are we waiting for them to decide what they want to do?” said Selectman Jim Hickey. “Why don’t we vote the way we want to vote, and if they vote the other way, then we can talk about it.”

Former town administrators from both towns had agreed on the company selected for the audit based on the previous bid, before COVID stalled the process.

“It was laid a little bit to rest,” she said. “Now that it’s come back to life, I want to give you all the options of what we can do.”

Both towns agreed to go out to bid for an auditor a year ago, according to Green. A bid was advertised and one bid was received at that time.

Selectmen discussed the issue at their Tuesday, Dec. 7 meeting.

“There was a company that stated they declined to bid,” Green said. “And here we are, unfortunately, we are almost a year and a half or two years later.”

Green said the audit was put on hold when Hanson decided to begin a de-regionalization study.

“It has resurfaced and the company that put in a proposal — Team TMS — was also the company that was undergoing the de-regionalization study,” she said. “They have been gathering voluminous documents from W-H. They may already have many of the documents required to conduct the audit.”

That company will also honor the price for conducting the audit that they proposed in March 2020, according to Green. She cautioned that, if the town rebid for an auditor right now, they may not receive any more bids and the cost could be higher. The bid process could also take another three or four months and would have to burden the schools to produce the documents.

“Who knows how long the schools may take to comply with the requests for the documents,” Green said. “I just want to present all the options.”

Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer said his opinion was that Hanson budgeted $14,000 of the $28,000 for the project, divided by the two towns.

“In the light of everything in the last week or so, I say we should just move forward sooner rather than later, and let’s stick with the number that is known, rather than putting it out to  bid, but that’s just me,” he said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said that Hanson can’t unilaterally decide on TMS, if they are doing the audit in concert with Whitman.

“I don’t know if we can take a vote tonight in regard to using TMS,” she said, even if Hanson can appreciate that the firm has already begin gathering data.

“I have had a concern recently about, shall we say, some lapse in good judgment that they used in handling the de-regionalization study, enough so that I would not feel comfortable that they would be my pick,” she said. FitzGerald-Kemmett also wanted to know if TMS had any conflict such as projects for the school district.

She said the work done by “our dear, esteemed “former Town Administrator John Stanbrook on Circuit Breaker funds was “extremely alarming” as have some other issues that have cropped up recently.

“Plus, we’ve got all this ESSER money … COVID money, there’s certainly enough that would compel us to say, ‘This would be a good time to do a good, thorough kicking of the tires and an audit of the distict,’” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

An ongoing internal school district accounting review has determined that there are “a couple of accounts with excess funds” that should have been returned to the towns.

District Business Manager John Stanbrook reviewed the district’s use of Circuit Breaker funds in depth during his financial and budget report to the School Committee on Wednesday, Nov. 17.

Stanbrook said Circuit Breaker has been used as a revenue source in the general fund. This year there is $600,000 as a transfer from Circuit Breaker as a revenue source. He said he counted the uniform Massachusetts accounting system process through which the Department of Revenue said the district should be showing a Circuit Breaker.

“It shouldn’t be shown as a revenue source in the general fund and an expenditure in the general fund,” Stanbrook said. “It should be shown just as a reduction to the expenditures in the general fund.”

Stanbrook said as of the fiscal 2023 budget, the committee would see a line item reflecting some type of transfer from Circuit Breaker showing zero — which means expenditures would be reduced by the amount, instead of showing it as revenue.

Committee member Fred Small asked if the process could accurately be described as the district spending up to threshold and then spending Circuit Breaker money.

“Is that not what has been happening?” he asked.

Small outlined a hypothetical to illustrate his question on a $98,000 expenditure. He asked if the first $48,000 is the responsibility of the district, with the other $50,000 being a reimbursement formula known as a 75-25 split — for every dollar the district spends, it received 75 cents in Circuit Breaker funds.

“What I’m talking about here is only to show what we do when we get the actual money from the state,” Stanbrook said. “I think we’re talking about two different things. … After doing the reimbursement rate allocation [the question is] what do you do with that money?”

Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said the district has historically been using Circuit Breaker to offset the budget.

“That’s not the appropriate way to do it because you’re just taking money and putting it as a revenue source,” he said. “Circuit Breaker money should be allocated to a direct special education expense.”

The funds are to be used for expenses such as funding a mid-year out-of-district placement, for example.

Small asked if the district’s past approach has any impact on anything else in the budget over the years and whether money was carried over that shouldn’t have been.

Stanbrook said he didn’t know about past impact, but said it should have a net zero effect. Carry-over is only permitted for one year, he added.

Up to fiscal 2019, there was only a small amount carried over and there is a “small amount of reimbursement in there right now.”

Small also asked if funds were spent out of the general fund that qualified as Circuit Breaker money and, if so, did it end up in excess and deficiency.

“That’s what would happen if we didn’t spend it,” Stanbrook said. “Have we spent every dollar of Circuit Breaker? No we have not.”

Committee Chairman Christopher Howard said previous meeting recordings could be checked to verify it, but said he recalled that unused Circuit Breaker funds were applied to the budget, but it was not used as an all-purpose fund.

Last year’s Circuit Breaker reimbursement was about $1.3 million, according to Stanbrook.

“That’s a pretty healthy number,” Howard said, noting that some districts have a Special Education Stabilization Fund to help offset costs.

“If we’re holding general funds and we’re holding Circuit Breaker monies that could be spent instead of general funds — if we had spent the Circuit Breaker money, we would have had additional funds from the general fund — we could have had, perhaps, programs, etc.,” Small said.

“I don’t know if we’ve managed Circuit Breaker well over the years,” Szymaniak agreed, but he is uncertain the past numbers are readily available and that Stanbrook is looking at ways to do it better.

Committee member Dawn Byers said she was concerned about whether the way Circuit Breaker has been handled has inflated the budget.

Whitman resident John Galvin, speaking for himself and not as a Finance Committee member, commended Stanbrook and the budget subcommittee for diving right into their work.

He said “net zero” describes the effect of reimbursement when they are properly handled.

“The problem is that’s not the way we’ve been doing it over the last who knows how many years,” Galvin said. Over the last five years the district has received $5,958,138 in Circuit Breaker reimbursement. It budgeted $3,235,000, not using $2,723,138.

“That money came out of the towns,” he said, noting that the percent of reimbursed funds has slid from 97 percent of money received to 34.88 percent — $600,000 of $1,720,374 — in fiscal 2022.

“We have $1.4 million sitting in that account today,” Galvin said. “What are we going to do with it?” He said another $1.2 million is expected in the next nine months.

Whitman Selectman Randy LaMattina said he was speaking as a representative of the town and that research he and Galvin have done on the issue also led him to ask why the Circuit Breaker funds the district received were not used to pay the expenses for which the district’s special needs kids qualified.

“It is not a net zero game,” he said. “Those expenses should have come out before the town’s assessment. … Why wasn’t this money used … for the kids, for the services?”

LaMattina said fiscal year 2020, the year use of the funds fell to 38 percent, and the resulting layoffs of 15 teachers within the budget cuts made, was blamed on selectmen from the two towns.

“In fact, there was probably $700,000 left of available funds that year that could have been used to offset those layoffs,” he said, asking for an explanation of how it happened and whether it was due to a misunderstanding of how Circuit Breaker works or something else.

“It’s almost two separate issues here,” LaMattina said Tuesday, Nov. 30. “We have a major accounting issue that has impacts Whitman and Hanson, and we also have an issue why in last three budget cycles has so little Circuit Breaker money been used?”

Whitman resident Shawn Kain pointed out that the cost of special education plans can be quantified and therefore should not be a surprise during budget talks.

Whitman Selectmen also discussed the issue at their Tuesday, Nov. 23 meeting during an update on the independent school audit requested by both towns. Galvin told Selectmen that both towns had approved the funding and Hanson had begun to accept bids when the process was put on hold due to the pandemic.

“Whitman and Hanson should definitely put it out to bid again, in my strong opinion,” Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said, noting the bid information Hanson received is now two years old.

“It seems like it’s coming close to a time when it [might] yield some pretty interesting information, if I understand the School Committee meeting I witnessed last week,” Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said.

He said Howard had called him and indicated that he understands what Galvin and LaMattina were talking about when they addressed the committee.

“He understands better now about the way special education money was funded and [that] he just needs a little more time to sort it out — have the committee work on it,” Kowalski said. “And I told him I could support that.”

Galvin reiterated his support for the budget subcommittee’s work as well as Stanbook’s, acknowledging that Stanbrook has just begun his accounting review and that the audit would help him in that work.