Superintendent Hashem explains his FY 2025 budget

“The budget that is being presented to the School Committee reflects our mission and vision, and our strategic plan for moving forward. We will also make certain that we focus on the needs of our students first, and provide our students and staff with the resources to be successful.”

  Editor’s Note: At last night’s (Jan. 18) meeting, Saugus School Superintendent Michael Hashem was scheduled to present his proposed budget for the 2025 fiscal year that begins July 1. In advance of that meeting, The Saugus Advocate asked the superintendent several questions about his school spending plan. What are the main features and top priorities of the budget you are requesting? What do you consider most significant? How does the budget contribute to academic improvement and the betterment of Saugus Public Schools? Superintendent Hashem submitted the following response to those questions.

The budget request that has been submitted to the School Committee for FY25 focuses on providing our students with a high-quality education. That comes with a newly aligned curriculum focus, as well as providing student services for the students that require support to access this curriculum. The focus of the budget is the student, our students. We are here to serve the students. Everything we do, day in and day out, is to serve the student. Funding contractual obligations is the cost of doing business but not the focus. The newly negotiated contractual salaries allow the district to hire and retain excellent teachers to teach our students, paraprofessionals to support them, and clerks who are the backbone of our buildings. They along with all district employees and administrators empower our students each and every day.

We have worked to keep moving forward and address our goals from our strategic plan, mission statement, vision statement, and district improvement plan. Our budgetary priorities are working to provide support for our students’ individual needs. The staff that we are working to add to our budget address services, accommodations, English language learning, and counseling needs for our high needs students. If we are able to bring these educators on board, our teachers will be provided with additional instructional support and our students will have improved access to our high-quality curriculum and resources.

While this budget is often seen in a vacuum, the school department is part of a team, and that team is the Town of Saugus. I have been working on a daily basis to collaborate with the Town Manager, Saugus Police Department, Saugus Fire Department, the DPW, the Town Hall personnel, the Youth and Recreation Department, the Saugus Business Education Collaborative, the Saugus Lions’ Club, other business groups, and all of the youth groups to foster a ‘One Town – One Team’ mentality. This collaboration is instrumental to the success of our students and our schools. I have worked to communicate with parents, guardians, caretakers, students, and staff to put forth a unified vision, mission, and plan to move our community forward.

The budget that is being presented to the School Committee reflects our mission and vision, and our strategic plan for moving forward. We will also make certain that we focus on the needs of our students first, and provide our students and staff with the resources to be successful. Being a student in 2024 is challenging and we are working to ensure that our students find success and learn the concepts and skills they need to succeed in the future.