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Date: 5/4/2022
EAST LONGMEADOW – East Longmeadow Public Schools (ELPS) Superintendent Gordon Smith presented the School Committee with a draft of the fiscal year 2023 (FY23) budget at its meeting on April 25. The district is seeking a 3.9 percent increase, among the highest in a decade.
Smith said the district was, “looking at the whole child.” He continued, “We need to help move our students and really regain the year they lost,” Smith said, referring to the academic and social-emotional gap that resulted from the coronavirus pandemic.
Smith said much of the budget has been focused on making classrooms “safe” and conducive to learning in the era of COVID-19. Another large portion of funding has gone to “multi-tier support systems,” which include guidance and adjustment counselors at all levels and partnering with River Valley Counseling to provide mental health care to students in need. At last count, 59 students were availing themselves of the professional counseling service, paid for by district’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) grant funding.
“Children’s mental health has become a crisis,” Smith said. He said the federal grants should be used to build infrastructure now for when the grants run out.
Discussing enrollment, Smith said that the student body is rebounding after a drop during COVID-19. Assistant Superintendent for Business Pamela Blair said the new high school will draw even more students and their families into the system.
The per pupil expenditure in ELPS was $18,531 in FY21, the latest year for which there is data. The state average is $19,342. Smith showed a slide with a timeline of budget increases since 2013. “When we get increases of 1 percent, or really anything under 2 percent, you can see,” positions have had to be eliminated. This year, he said, the district was requesting a 3.9 percent increase and adding several positions because the town was financially in “great shape.”
School Committee member Gregory Thompson interjected and said the town departments are also asking for large increases. He made the argument that the only reason the town can afford substantial increases is because capital projects are being funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
When that funding is not available next year, Thompson said the town would need to cut the increases. He said the district was creating a fiscal cliff.
Blair responded that the capital budget and operational budget are separate. She said Chapter 70 state aid is “much higher” than in past years. Smith said Chapter 70 has increased because the percentage of economically disadvantaged students and those with special needs has gone up, and those categories add to the Chapter 70 formula. “It’s not going to go away next year,” he said, predicting a similar level in the next fiscal year.
Thompson insisted that the use of ARPA funding to cover capital expenditures created a “smoke and mirrors show,” regarding how much money was available. “I don’t think anyone fully understands the implications,” he opined.
School Committee member Elizabeth Marsian-Boucher talked about the district’s needs. “We’ve lost 11 positions in two years,” she said.
Thompson countered that positions have also been added. “I bet we’re pretty close to net-zero.”
Smith acknowledged, “We’re going to have challenges next year.”
Thompson responded, “We’re creating them ourselves, though.”
Blair detailed the $5 million in grants that the district acquired last year. Thompson asked about salaries paid with grants, but Blair told him that, while $1.2 million in ESSER III grants was eligible for use on salaries, the district chose not to fund reoccurring costs through grant money to avoid the cliff Thompson had mentioned.
Moving on, Smith detailed the positions the district was requesting: a pre-k teacher at Meadow Brook Elementary, an elementary math coach/interventionist for Grades 3 to 5, a student intervention coordinator at Birchland Park Middle School, a second assistant principal at East Longmeadow High School, and an elementary art teacher for Grades 3 to 5, which would allow each school to have one on staff.
“We do feel it’s fiscally responsible,” said Smith. “It allows people to grow academically, socially and emotionally.”
Before being finalized, the budget will need to go through the Finance Oversight Budget Committee, which will balance the finance requests of the school district with those of the other departments in town.