No one was happy about it, but a School budget representing a 5.96-percent assessment increase [$17,739,500] for Whitman and a 3.75-percent increase or [$13,907,233] for Hanson were approved by both Select Boards. Whitman’s budget shortfall is now $160,893.
Hanson’s assessment leaves the town with budget gap of $166,000.
All three boards stressed displeasure at what they saw as a lack of coordination of effort, as well as the reliance on one-time funds to balance the respective budgets.
“This is the textbook definition of insanity the way we do this,” Whitman Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina said. “This has to be done differently next year. I’m going to vote for the $160,000 [increase over the 5-percent increase Whitman was prepared to shoulder] because it’s the right thing to do.”
“We feel we can do this using one-time money, which is a recurring theme,” Hanson Select Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said of her board’s vote. “This board is rarely divided,”
The votes came after the School Committee opened a joint session at Whitman Town Hall on Tuesday, April 18, with the two select boards, by approving a $500,000 appropriation from the district’s excess and deficiency fund to reduce the assessments. Committee member Fred Small made the motions for the E&D appropriation as well as the two assessments and a vote to certify the fiscal 2024 School District budget at $59,985,158.
All four School Committee votes were 8-1, with members Dawn Byers voting no and David Forth absent. School Committee members Glen DiGravio and Michelle Bourgelas attended remotely by phone.
The select boards were likewise split, with Hanson voting 3-2, with Ed Heal and Ann Rein voting against accepting their assessment and Whitman voting 3-1, with member Shawn Kain voting no. Whitman Selectman Dr. Carl Kowalski was absent.
“The board doesn’t really feel comfortable taking a vote on whether we can make a modest increase to what we’ve got on the table right now,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said to open the meeting. “But, as a board we really wanted to know the School Committee was committed to that reduction.”
School Committee Chair Christopher Howard said the meeting had less than an hour before Whitman Select Board members had to enter into an executive session, so discussion was kept brief and to the subject of the motions.
“I do feel it’s important for us to take this action, otherwise, I would have not made that motion,” Small said. “I do want to caution everybody that it will be our job as a School Committee to go into next year, knowing that we’re putting ourselves behind the 8-ball.”
He stressed they will be responsible for making up those funds before they get to any increases for next year. School Committee member Hillary Kniffen said no action had been taken last week because they didn’t know where the towns stood.
Dawn Byers stressed that a large portion of the school budget increase was due to a state-approved increase in out-of-district residential tuition for special ed students, which starts the FY 2025 budget with a $100,000 deficit.
“Faced where we are today with the education of the students, coming out of COVID, providing level services that are still needed, we have no choice, unfortunately, right now other than to do this to be able to take a step forward,” Small said. “I believe it’s a necessary evil that we need to do.”
Committee member Beth Stafford reminded town officials that School Committee budget discussions are open to the public adding that some prior notice when town budgets were being discussed so School Committee members could attend would be helpful.
“We always talk about getting together and talking about things beforehand and we keep doing this every year,” she said.
Coordination of budget planning was a theme several officials touched on during the meeting.
“The School Committee doesn’t have any ability to raise revenue,” Howard said. “So, while I appreciate Mr. Small’s comments, I absolutely want to make it clear that there’s a larger conversation that involves all these groups locally in terms of what we do going forward, because I think that’s the only way to go.”
While the select boards eventually voted to approve the assessments, they also made clear their reservations and frustrations.
“It’s a recurring theme amongst all these boards,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “This is one-time money, which means the problem’s going to be worse next year.”
Selectman Jim Hickey made the motion to use that one-time money “to get it done, the way we need to do.”
But he said that, while his term of office is coming to an end, he would recommend to all three committees that they sit down and discuss the issue so they don’t go to two weeks before Town Meeting to make a decision.
“At least we get through this year, but we’ve never done this before,” Hickey said. “What we need to do is look at the future and get these three boards together to discuss this long before April.”
Selectman Ed Heal said he was against it, because they are still taking funds away from other town departments. Select Board member Ann Rein also voted against the assessment, saying other Hanson town departments were already cut to the bone.
Selectman Joe Weeks said supporting the budget was not an easy decision.
Whitman officials were equally dissatisfied with the decision before them, as LaMattina described it as a process of “narrowly spending our way to disaster,” and that the town faces a fiscal cliff next year. He also reminded the meeting Whitman had committed to a 5-percent increase and, through some good budget work, they were able to meet that commitment while avoiding layoffs – the town’s number-one commitment.
“If it doesn’t pass despite a good-faith adjustment by the School Committee, there is still some time, but how it could possibly play out is back to where we started,” LaMattina said. “I can’t argue with it, but to me, it’s a horrible decision to make tonight. This could be one of those times where the wrong decision is the right one.”
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci was more vehement in his anger over the situation, but also voted in favor of the assessment. He wondered if, when the School Department began the budget process and asked what the towns could afford, in going through the budget process, as they started adding up the dollars, and realized they were getting close to going over what the towns could afford, they need to make cuts and not add.
“I’m not ever going to put other departments in jeopardy of stripping money from their budgets,” he said. “We asked them to look at their budgets closely and they made some significant cuts … but now, it’s more than that and we have to use one-time money.”
He termed the school budgeting process unprofessional.
Select Board member Shawn Kain read a prepared statement about the need for fiscal responsibility and sustainability.
“How do we identify a sustainable path forward that provides an incremental growth for our school department?” he asked. “In my opinion, this is the essential point to consider.
In 2012 the district had 212 teachers in 2022 there were 249, he said. That poses a significant improvement while enrollment has decreased by more than 700 students – important as enrollment is directly connected to funding, he noted.
“It is reasonable to assume that our enrollment will drop again – and likely by about 50 students, and when that happens, as the last 10 years has demonstrated, the decrease in enrollment will have a positive impact on the student-teacher ratio,” he said. “That trend needs to be considered when making this decision today.”
He said the 5 percent increase agreed to, as recommended by the Madden Report, is a good balance.
“I think we should listen to it, the solution is not to look to one-time path,” he said.
Select Board member Justin Evans said he supported using the one-time funds this year.
“It gets us over the immediate concern that, in a couple of hours the Finance Committee will begin voting a budget that includes this school assessment,” he said. “We’re pulling from savings to make this work as Dan said, but it does work, it gets us through the year and it buys us time.”
He urged the boards to use that time to work so they don’t find themselves in the same situation next year.
While he agreed “100-percent” with everything Kain said, LaMattina warned, if the budget doesn’t pass through Whitman now, it creates a bigger problem,
“This is not, and we all know it, a fiscally responsible thing to be doing,” he said. “I stood at a School Committee meeting a year ago, knowing what was coming down the line, and was chastised that night. We knew this was going to happen – and it’s worse next year.”
He said the town is looking at $3.1 million for level service, and asked where it is coming from?
This is the textbook definition of insanity the way we do this,” he said. “This has to be done differently next year. … I’m going to vote for the $160,000 because it’s the right thing to do.”