February 14, 2023 By Carol Britton Meyer
Monday night marked the well-attended public hearing on the proposed Hingham Public Schools Fiscal 2024 balanced budget, following hours of earlier discussions about what cuts would be necessary if an operational override supporting a level-services budget doesn’t pass at the April Town Meeting and subsequent Town Election through a ballot question.
The proposed cuts include the possible elimination of 60.6 Full Time Equivalent positions across the school district as well as student services, arts, athletics, and other academic programming — in order to close a multi-million-dollar budget shortfall.
School Committee Chair Michelle Ayer explained that the school administration/committee is required to submit a balanced — or reduced services — budget that complies with current funding levels, as is also the case on the municipal side.
“The real goal here is to get this override passed,” she said, calling the proposed cuts “dire” and noting that the override would be for the purpose of maintaining the current level of services across the town, not just those related to the schools.
“If the override doesn’t pass, that will impact every service we have as townspeople, and no one wants to see that happen,” Ayer continued.
The balanced/reduced-services budget presentation, which includes a full list of the impacts of the potential reductions on each of the town’s six schools, is posted on the Hingham Public Schools website.
At one point during last night’s (Feb. 13) public hearing, 130 citizens were participating on Zoom while others were attending the in-person meeting at Town Hall.
Supt. of Schools Margaret Adams presented an overview of the latest FY2024 budget proposal, which included the following information:
- A previously-anticipated $7.5 overall town budget shortfall is is now $6.2 million.
- The schools portion of the budget deficit is 65 percent, or approximately $4 million. (This is a change from the previous $4.8 million.)
“We have received further guidance from town government that an alternate proposition is being considered that will have the unemployment costs for staff [whose positions would be eliminated if the proposed operating override does not pass] absorbed by the town as part of the Unassigned Fund Balance,” Adams reported. “This would be a one-time payment of approximately $900,000. This [decrease in the school budget shortfall] will allow the school department to release some of the previous reductions.”
The proposed FY2024 $65 million level services budget, contingent on the passage of an operational override, provides for continuation of most investments made in the past two years — including the addition of more than 30 positions using one-time funding available at the time and also supports increased costs due to fuel, personnel, and special education tuition.
It does not, however, include “unmet needs” totaling $1.5 million — including a nursing coordinator, reduction of technology costs in capital outlay, increased professional development to reflect needs and to support the Hingham Public Schools Strategic Plan, and elimination of the full-day kindergarten fee ($932,000). These are additional requests not reflected in either the balanced or level services budgets.
During the public hearing, a parent proposed adding this $1.5 million into the Fiscal 2024 budget. Ayer said others have made the same suggestion and that it was a possibility.
Mary Power, a former member of the Advisory Committee and Select Board, shared her thoughts during the meeting — asking that no budget vote be taken by the School Committee, Select Board, and Advisory Committee until the tax impacts are known and that the three boards agree on a budget proposal before it goes before Town Meeting. She also advised against putting the town in a position where level service overrides are proposed every few years.
Power said she could see the level services override issue “getting messy and creating divisiveness at a time we should be coming together. This has been a super-painful process for you, the dedicated people who work for the town, and for citizens.”
Power also explained that she wasn’t opposed to some overrides to fund new services, “but not level services, where we would have to go through this exercise every couple of years. I think that would affect whether people volunteer or want to work for this town,” she continued, referring to the uncertainty related to positions being potentially eliminated and the impact on Select Board, Advisory Committee, and School Committee members if they had to go through this difficult process on a regular basis.
In addition, Power stated to the School Committee that between the proposed override and the debt exclusion that passed last Fall to pay for a new Foster School and a new public safety facility, she believes that “it will be challenging for many households to absorb both increases.”
In response to one of Power’s comments, resident Leslie Wittmann said, “Things will get messy if we don’t have [an override]. We have to fight for it. Our kids deserve this after COVID. . . . It would have been easier if we had had more overrides earlier.”
Tien Do-Suarez urged the School Committee not to eliminate any counselor positions. “They are stretched very thin now. They’re expected to be advisor, advocate, and mentor and are on the frontline in handling the mental health needs of our students and their families.”
A paraeducator said that “every generation needs to pay forward to keep our schools topknotch. I cannot fathom an elementary classroom with less paraeducator support.”
Former School Committee member Liza O’Reilly advocated for the override. “There are still questions in the community about removing tutors and other positions that were added into the budget two years ago [during COVID, using one-time funds] as additional resources to support students,” she said. “These positions have always been, and always will be, needed. Why would we want to take [them] away when it’s finally working?”
O’Reilly urged citizens to support the override. “Tell your friends and neighbors. Voters make the ultimate decision, so please participate,” she said. “It could be a tough fight, but a worthwhile one. This year we can make it happen.”
Ayer called the process a “painful” one. “I feel terrible that people are having to live with this every day — staff, students, and their families,” she said. “We’ll do our best to make excellent proposals to the Select Board and Advisory Committee and at Town Meeting for folks to vote on what they value in this town and want for services.”
The School Committee will meet jointly with the Advisory Committee and Select Board this Thursday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. to discuss the FY2024 school budget. Check the Town of Hingham website calendar for details.
The next School Committee meeting is Feb. 27. “At that time we’re hoping to take a vote on some portion of the budget,” Ayer said, urging those attending the meeting to “stay involved and engaged and pay attention to when we hold meetings” and encouraging input about the budget from the public.
As background to this developing school budget story, see https://www.hinghamanchor.com/hps-budget-discussions-continue-we-need-to-get-an-override-passed/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWe%20need%20to%20get%20this%20override%20passed%2C%20and,fund%20our%20schools%20and%20town%20services%2C%E2%80%9D%20Ayer%20said.