School district budget previewed for local officials
ATHOL – Athol Royalston Regional School District officials hosted an
all-boards meeting to discuss budget planning for the fiscal year which
gets underway July 1. In addition to members of the school committee,
representatives of the selectboards and finance committees of Athol and
Royalston were in attendance, as well as members of Athol’s Capital
Programs Committee.
Wednesday’s meeting was held in the hope it
would assist both the district and the towns in developing their final
budget proposals for FY21.
Presenting a first draft of the
district budget for FY21. Athol Royalston Regional School District
Superintendent Darcy Fernandes said the package was built to meet goals
that include securing all current positions in the district, meeting
district needs as identified by the principals of all four schools
through the use of Student Opportunity Act (SOA) funds – estimated at
just over $283,000, and continuing to make physical improvements to the
high school.
The top priority, she said, is to make improvements
at Athol Community Elementary School, which the state has characterized
as “in need of assistance or targeted intervention.”
To meet the needs of the school, the superintendent said it’s her intention to add staff at Athol Community Elementary School. Those additions include the addition of a second-grade teacher, a special education facilitator, a member of the guidance staff, and an adjustment counselor. All but the second-grade teacher would be funded with Student Opportunity Act (SOA) monies.
Additional proposed staff additions throughout the district would include a full-time substitute teacher at Royalston Community School and a special education facilitator at Athol Royalston Middle School. Fernandes also proposes funding two teacher leaders at Royalston Community School at minor expense.
In total, Fernandes is recommending an FY21 budget of $25,581,437, representing an increase of nearly $790,000 over the current budget. Of the total, $5,655,521 – including $50,000 in debt payments – would be paid for by Athol and Royalston taxpayers. Athol’s assessment has been pegged at $4,992,643, while Royalston would kick in $662,878.
Royalston Finance Committee member Al Gallant asked Business Manager Lynn Bassett if the district routinely has money left over at the end of the fiscal year. Bassett explained that unspent funds go into an excess and deficiency account, similar to the towns’ free cash accounts.
Asked how much that amounts to, Bassett replied, “We’ve been historically putting in about $500,000 a year to reduce assessments.”
“I’m not trying to hammer the school district,” Gallant said in an interview Thursday, “but Royalston had to dip into its stabilization fund this year just to make our budget, and it’s going to be hard to make our budget for next year. Our (state-mandated) minimum contribution (to the district) is $530,000. I don’t know how we come up with the difference.”
“If they can buy 530 Chromebooks and still have $500,000 left over, I think they should reconsider their budget. I think they need to tighten their belts.”
Bassett did say at the meeting that excess and deficiency funds are used to reduce increases in local assessments which, as proposed, are nearly $300,000 more for FY21 than for the current fiscal year. The towns have routinely been contributing more than the mandatory minimum.
Fernandes explained that, overall, the district is looking for $787,887 more next fiscal year. That figure includes $55,000 in indebtedness.
“As I said,” she continued, “about $280,000 of that is included in that $787,000, and that comes from the SOA. So, if you take that out you get what we would actually be looking for from the towns. That could change dramatically once we find out about the SOA funds. That number could go down once we find out about Student Opportunity Act funds.”
Athol Finanance Committee Chair Ken Duffy asked Fernandes how she came up with the $283,000 number for Student Opportunity Act funds. “It just seems like a random number,” he said.
“It is a random number,” she responded, “because we have no idea what we’re getting. What I did was ask the principals, ‘If we had extra money, what do you need?’ And that’s how that number came about.”
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