The District begins crafting the budget for the coming year in late fall. Administrators and building principals develop lists of their needs and wishes. These lists are reviewed and refined by the District’s Finance Team with the goal of fulfilling our vision and obtaining the best educational outcomes for our students.
At the same time, District leaders work collaboratively with officials in our sending communities of Groveland, Merrimac, and West Newbury to understand more about their challenges within the confines of Proposition 2 ½.
The School Committee reviews these proposals, and votes on a final budget number.
Proposition 2 ½ is a state law that caps the amount of money each community can increase taxes each year. Voters must be asked permission to increase that cap, in both Town Meeting votes and on a referendum ballot. For example, voters needed to approve spending for the new Junior-Senior High School in this way.
Simply, the costs of the basics of providing an education are rising by more than the 2.5 percent cap under the law. These are the same challenges we all are facing: Increasing gasoline and heating costs, rising insurance premiums, the cost of food, etc.
Further, our sending communities provide about two-thirds of our funding. The remaining one-third comes from state aid. However, the state does not always recognize its legal commitment to full funding of mandated programs, such as special education and transportation, and has provided districts such as Pentucket minimal aid increases each year. For the 2022-2023 school year, the District received an additional $69,000.
These increases do not begin to cover inflationary increases that are baked into each year’s budget. And each year, more of the cost of a Pentucket education is shouldered by the communities.
The District budget comes into sharper focus as we receive new information. A critical piece, the amount of state aid we will receive for next year, will not be available until early March. As always we will be ready to present our budgets at spring Town Meetings in the sending communities.
Based on preliminary numbers and estimates, the District is facing a projected shortfall of $2.77 million. Even if this amount was available, the District would have fewer staff members than it did before cuts were made due to the failed override.
The debt exclusion that was approved only allows spending on construction of the new Junior Senior High School.
The Finance Team does a terrific job finding innovative ways to provide educational excellence within the constraints of our budget. As a result, Pentucket has fallen well behind the state, peer schools and neighboring districts in Per Pupil Expenditure and Net School Spending.
Years of cutting corners left us few places to find cost savings for this school year without significantly affecting students and services. We therefore asked voters to approve an override of Proposition 2 ½ in the spring of 2022. This additional funding would have raised per-pupil to the state and regional averages. This request was denied. This left us in the difficult position of cutting budgeted positions, eliminating elective and honors courses, and increasing or implementing user fees.
There are several reasons. First, the District does not have many seats available. Second, the District would receive only $5,000 per student. If a significant number of students come to Pentucket we might have to hire new teachers, wiping out the savings.
No decision has been made to ask voters for an override this year. Pentucket is the only school district in the region that has not seen an approved override in more than a decade.
Be informed. By watching meetings and reviewing budget documents, residents receive a fuller picture of the District and its challenges, and will be more informed when voting at Town Meeting or the ballot box.