· State
of the Budget
Over the past two months, the School Committee and district leadership team
have worked collaboratively with the towns of Essex and Manchester to refine
the numbers and reach a final budget request. The district is working toward meeting a goal
of a 3.5% assessment increase. We
have had to manage our resources creatively and tightly in preparation for the
coming fiscal years. This year we had to close a $355,000 budget gap.
o Measures to Close the Gap (Budget Cuts)
§ Reduction in force
through attrition (2 classroom
teacher retirements)
§ Reorganization/outsourcing of evening custodial Support
§ Across the board 10%
reduction to the supplies budget
§
Reduction of summer work (guidance, curriculum planning,
and maintenance)
§ Elimination of funding
for out-of-state student travel (e.g., athletics and co-curricular
competitions)
o Measures to Close the Gap (Revenue)
§ Open 10 School Choice seats
§ Institute
Student Transportation Fee for riders residing less than 1.5 miles from school
§ Increase Athletics fee
to maintain current operational budget/user ratio
Budget Drivers & Fiscal Challenges
Enrollment growth and the
diversification of the student body are the key factors that drive our
budget. Over the past six years, the Manchester
Essex resident student population has grown 24% or 281 students. This is greater than the current student
population of the Essex Elementary school.
At the same time that we have been growing, our student body has also
become more diversified in its needs.
According to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 22.8% or 336 students (the size of the ME
Middle School) are identified as “high need.”
A student is designated high need if he/she is identified as low
income, ELL (English Language Learner), former ELL, or a student with
disabilities.
In addition, we are working
to address three funding issues that have an impact on this and future
budgets: (1) declining school choice
revenue, (2) a dependency on reserves (i.e., “rainy day” funds), (3) and funding
long-term retiree health care liabilities (aka “OPEB” or Other Post-Employment
Benefits). All three will continue to
limit the amount of revenue available to support the instructional program in
the years ahead.
MERSD has begun to implement
a multi-year budgeting strategy to inform and improve the collaborative funding
process between MERSD and the towns.
This process is designed to begin the gradual migration away from funding
the MERSD budget with reserves, and includes development of a multi-year
roadmap for addressing multi-million dollar OPEB obligations.
What You Can Do to Help
Learn more about the process and stay involved!
We encourage you to visit the following sites
to read our budget articles, to review our presentations and to learn more
about our goals and the challenges we are facing.
Tuesday, March 4th
MERMHS Library - 7:00pm
|
Full Business Meeting
|
Tuesday, March 18th
MERMHS Library - 7:00pm
|
Full Business Meeting
|
Come to a School Committee Meeting!
A great way to join the conversation and learn about what's going on
is to attend a School Committee meeting. We welcome your
participation and input as we work together to make MERSD a world-class
district. Here's a list of our upcoming meetings and topics to be discussed:
Attend a town board meeting!
It is an opportunity for you to
learn more about the broader budget process and share your thoughts on school
funding and program.
Your vote counts! Support
the School Budget at the Annual Town Meeting!
- Manchester: April 7, 2014 @ 7 pm – Memorial School
- Essex: May 5, 2014 @ 7 pm – Essex Elementary School
