The Gloucester School Committee voted to move forward with a proposed $56.8 million budget for the 2026-2027 school year but the district may be forced to eliminate 24 positions to fit into the overall city budget.
Committee members voted 6-1 with Mayor Paul Lundberg being the lone vote in opposition at their Wednesday meeting to hold a public hearing on the $56.8 million budget at their May 13 meeting. Members of the public are invited to share their thoughts and opinions on how Gloucester schools will be funded before any final decisions are been made.
While the date for the hearing was set, a time was not. The School Committee typically meets at 6 p.m. in the Gloucester High School library, 32 Leslie O. Johnson Road, when anyone interested in attending can do so virtually using the link on the School Committee’s agenda.
The proposed $56,828,897 budget is what committee members described as a purely “level service budget,” meaning they are only looking to maintain services now offered in the district’s six schools.
The most recent iteration of the proposal prior to Wednesday’s meeting was just under $58 million. It included several new positions, mostly catered to continuing the school district’s positive momentum, but those have since been cut. However, Lundberg, who is a voting School Committee member, has reported the city can only increase the school’s budget by $1.25 million, for a total around $55.4 million.
$1.5M shortfall
What this means is even at a reduced $56.8 million budget, the schools still face an approximately $1.5 million discrepancy, Superintendent Ben Lummis said.
Lummis said in a prepared statement sent to Gloucester Public Schools families Thursday morning that the implications of this discrepancy are very significant. He said around 24 positions may have to be cut, which could lead to increased class sizes at all six schools, reduction of electives at the high school, reduced support for multi-lingual learners and their support staff, cuts to support services for students with disabilities, and the elimination of kindergarten classes at multiple schools.
“We have a schedule that shows an increase in our budget going back to fiscal year 2021 of $1.250 million, we never only got $1 million. We just settled contracts with teachers and paraprofessionals to increase their pay to what we thought was what we could do and what was deserved, and that’s not covered in (the mayor’s proposed budget),” School Committee chair Kathy Clancy said. “Level service is (a $2.6 million increase) to continue what we’re doing today, tomorrow, plus another $150,000 for a one-time bonus (to the paraprofessionals) which was promised to us by the city.”
The budget is being driven largely by three main components: contractually obligated costs such as wages and benefits make up just over $51 million; out-of-district special education tuition and transportation costs are projected to be around $9.1 million; and, health insurance for current and retired employees is projected to be around $9.2 million.
The mayor is asking the School Committee and administration staff to find a way to reduce the school budget by Tuesday, May 5, when he plans to present a balanced city budget to the City Council.
“The question is when I propose that budget on May 5 and the School Committee is telling the public that we have a larger number, how do we reconcile that,” Lundberg said. “If the School Committee’s saying the amount that is presented to the City Council is not the amount and we want more money, then that more money has to come from the other departments, there’s no more revenue.”
Questioning the process
However, committee members argued the proper budgetary process is not being followed if they must start cutting the budget now. In years past, the committee has presented the proposal it thinks best meets the school district’s goals before making cuts.
“We publish what we think is right, we are the experts on schools. and then we get feedback from our constituents and our staff and our school families and that’s what’s going to happen May 13,” longtime committee member Melissa Joy Teixeira Prince said. “In the meantime (city Chief Financial Officer Conor MacCorkle) is presenting a budget to the City Council on May 5 so we have dueling conversations going on.”
“Then the City Council holds public hearings to hear what they think should be spent because the City Council can increase our budget, like you said they have to find other departments to cut from but the City Council has the ability to increase our budget to what we’re asking for,” Prince said to Lundberg. “Just because you’re giving us a number doesn’t mean that’s the end of the conversation.”
Committee member Bill Melvin agreed with Prince, saying the process still needs to take place and all stakeholders need to be heard from.
“Not all the facts are on the table yet, we can’t just say ‘here’s the number, get to it,’ that’s just not the process,” Melvin said.
Health insurance costs
The school district has until Thursday, May 7, to notify staff with professional status, licensed teachers, psychologists, nurses or other employees who have worked in Gloucester schools for three or more consecutive years that their positions may be terminated.
Throughout the budget discussions, health insurance and the nearly unprecedented projected increase of $1.377 million cost for school employees’ coverage has come up several times. The most recent projection includes both active employees and retirees, and the several staff members hired during the past school year.
Both the School Committee and the mayor have agreed, health insurance costs should be taken out of the school’s operating budget and placed into the city’s operating budget, as is the case with all other municipal departments, but that likely won’t happen until after next school year.
The topic came up again Wednesday due to the $1,377,360 increase. Lummis said health insurance increases have been between $454,951 and $327,134 dating back to fiscal year 2021.
Lummis said the significant increase is being driven by insurance rate increases, which he said are between 9% and 14%.
Staff Writer Bobby Grady may be contacted at 978-675-2714 or bgrady@gloucestertimes.com.