Methuen faces $10M school budget crisis with deep cuts looming
The city of Methuen, Massachusetts is trying to figure out how to deal with a nearly $10 million school budget shortfall.
"Dire straits," and "completely devastating," are just some of the terms used to describe the current condition of the school budget.
"I've never seen budget cuts like this that we just don't have the money," said school committee member Laurie Keegan, a mother of four children who have attended Methuen Public Schools.
The city needs to close a $9.6 million budget gap in order to simply reach its level budget, or the price to maintain programs already accounted for from years' past with no additions or increases.
"Which school are we closing? Because that's where we are at. We need that kind of money," Keegan said at an emotional school committee hearing Monday night.
Drastic cuts to school system
Without actually recommending any, the interim superintendent presented the committee with theories of drastic cuts to the school system. For example, if the system cut 142 positions and expanded classroom size to 30 kids per classroom, there would still be a more than $3 million gap to be closed.
"We are not cutting from fat, we are cutting from bone at this point," Methuen Mayor D.J. Beauregard told WBZ. He's a Methuen schools graduate and father of a first-grade student. "I'm deeply concerned."
"We're at the bare bones," said second grade teacher Kate Capodagli, who is also a mother of school age children. "So, when they talk about making more cuts, I don't know what else there is to cut and all of these things are drastically affecting our children...it will demolish our school system."
The budget issues are hardly unique to Methuen. In Lexington recently, 65 full time positions were eliminated and 160 teachers received "pink slips" of nonrenewal.
The city of Chelsea recently announced it would use cash reserves to put a dent in its more than $8 million school budget deficit.
Why are school budgets imploding now?
There are a number of factors that affect all cities and towns, administrators explained to WBZ.
- Inflation
- Rising gas prices have led to rising school bus and transportation costs
- Increased cost of outsourced special education services
- Increased cost of healthcare
Municipalities are also constrained by Proposition 2 1⁄2, a 1980 state law that limits the cap on property tax raises to bring up revenue. Considering an override and voluntary tax increase is a non-starter for Methuen residents, the mayor said.
In addition, federal funding is decreasing. State funding for local schools increased about 2.3%, according to Methuen's mayor, which doesn't put a dent in the 11% increase of costs for the city. "The math simply doesn't work," Beauregard said. "I think we need to do everything we can at the local level, the state level and even the federal level to really push for some structural reforms because the system that we have simply is not working."
Teachers say there is nothing left to cut that won't affect student safety. "The safety issues are coming fast and furious, and it's affecting the safety of the kids, it's affecting the safety of the staff, and it's affecting the ability for us to teach and do what we love to do," explained Kara Platt, the president of the Methuen Education Association.
$20M rainy day fund
The teachers point out that the city boasts an annual $20 million rainy day fund in recent years, money they want to see reallocated into the budget.
"It's considered a one-time revenue stream," explained School Committee member Ken Willette. "If you do it one year, next year will not be replicated. It's a rainy-day one-time fund."
Willette thinks the money can be saved by replacing the city's insurance program and instead entering into the GIC, or Group Insurance Commission, a state program that "administers high-quality, affordable health insurance and other benefits to the Commonwealth's Employees and Retirees, and their dependents and survivors," according to its website. It's unclear if this proposal is on the table for this year.
Other school committee members like Laurie Keegan are just devastated by the current state of the budget. "My kid is in the school system, and I'm terrified, you know?" she said. "But we need to band together, and work together and not scream and yell at each other."
Methuen is hosting a school committee budget workshop on Thursday, April 30th. There will be time for public comment.
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