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Date: 12/27/2023
EAST LONGMEADOW — It is once again budget season for East Longmeadow Public Schools. Addressing the School Committee at its Dec. 18 meeting, Assistant Superintendent for Business Pamela Blair broke down the basic revenues and expenses facing the school department as it begins budget planning for fiscal year 2025.
There are several funding sources that the town relies on each year. Chapter 70 state aid represents a significant resource and is determined by enrollment numbers, demographics and the town’s financial ability to fund the schools. Chapter 70 cannot decrease from year to year but instead must increase by at least $60 per pupil annually, Blair said.
Looking back at previous years, Blair explained that in FY2014, the school department received $67,000 more than the previous year, a “very minimal” increase. In the current fiscal year, FY24, however, it received more than $2 million over FY23. She said one reason for the boost in aid was the Student Opportunity Act, which was designed to raise the amount of aid for school departments with higher populations of economically disadvantaged and special education students, and English language learners. The incremental increases under the program will run until FY27.
However, the town’s enrollment has been decreasing with 100 fewer students in ELPS than there were in FY16. If this trend continues, it will have a negative impact on state aid.
Another source of funding for the schools comes from the town’s minimum local contribution, which is calculated by the state. This year, the town’s minimum local contribution was $18.84 million, however the town regularly contributes above the minimum to provide for the educational well-being of students.
Grants are another source of funding for the school department. The federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief program has provided several rounds of grant funds throughout the coronavirus pandemic, but program is ending any unallocated funds from those grants will need to be returned to the government after Sept. 30, 2024. At the beginning of FY24, there was more than $2 million left in unallocated ESSER funds. The department has used $1.07 million and allocated another $385,562, leaving a balance of $772,491.
Without the past few years of ESSER grants, Blair said the school department would have had to pay an additional $38 million. The school department has been using ESSER funds to pay for three paraprofessionals. Smith said the School Committee will have to examine whether those positions are vital and if so, how to fund them. The remaining ESSER funds will be used in the FY25 budget, with $150,000 for the summer academic academies, $25,000 for custodial services and $400,000 in buildings and grounds projects.
Blair said Meadowbrook school is in “dire need” of a new playscape. The school department was planning to seek community preservation funding for the $150,000 the playscape was originally expected to cost. Since then, it has been realized the project will cost closer to the $400,000 figure.
Blair also talked about funding from the state circuit breaker, which she explained is a program that reimburses school departments for 75% of costs that exceed a per pupil threshold. This year, ELPS was reimbursed for $51,721 that was incurred in FY23. Superintendent Gordon Smith said the circuit breaker funding and grants from the Individuals with Disabilities Act helped offset the FY24 increase to out-of-district placement tuition, which was slated to increase by 14%. Thanks to these two funding sources the school department only had to absorb 9%.
Blair said circuit breaker reimbursements can be rolled over but must be expanded in the following year. She expects $1.5 million of the circuit breaker accounts $2.8 million balance to roll over into FY25.
The schools began accepting students from other districts through the School Choice program in 2020, after a 14-year hiatus. Blair said the purpose of the program is to fill out lulls in enrollment by receiving students from other districts without having to add teachers. ELPS is paid $5,000 per School Choice student. Since 2020, there have been more students coming into the district than leaving through School Choice, she said.
The school choice account has a “very healthy” balance of $628,00, Blair said. The plan is to use School Choice funding in future years for summer academic academies, which limit summer learning loss, and the East Longmeadow High School credit recovery program — both of which have been paid for with ESSER funding. Smith said the academies have been popular. The credit recovery program allows students to make up credits they need by attending night classes and allows them to graduate on time.
The final pot of revenue for the school department is the preschool tuition revolving account. While special education children attend preschool free of charge by law, preschool slots for their general education “peer partners” have a half-day tuition of $2,500 per year, while full day tuition is $6,300 per year. A revolving account balance of $284,000 rolled over from last year. The projected revenue for this year is $98,000, significantly lower than the $130,000 that was originally expected.
In FY24, the school department’s operating budget was $34.61 million. It is not yet known how much the budget will increase for FY25. Blair said costs associated with East Longmeadow Education Association Unit A, which covers teachers, comprise 62% of the operating budget. Contractual salary increases are a factor in the budget each year.
Smith said ELPS leadership will be working collaboratively with Town Manager Tom Christensen and Finance Director Kim Collins to craft a budget that addresses the school department’s needs.