Supt., School Committee discuss budget deficit; transportation budget shortfall

Advocate Staff Report

The School Committee’s Ways and Means Subcommittee is grappling with a $7.3 million structural budget deficit.

According to the school district’s Chief Financial Officer, Mathew Kruse, several factors combined to put city schools in the hole. Health insurance costs are up between 17 and 19 percent. The district’s payment for tuition for charter schools and school choice placements is up significantly, and the cost of non-salaried tutors has spiked. School Superintendent Dianne Kelly said those tuition cost increases were $8 million this year. Kruse also said the substitution program needed an overhaul.

Kelly said the administration is looking for places where it can economize. And she had a list. At Beachmont Elementary School, two classes of fourth graders, each with 20 students, is moving up to the school’s three fifth grade classes. Kelly said three fifth grade classes weren’t necessary and one could be cut. But Kelly stressed it was the position being cut, not the teacher. The district would find another place for that teacher; if not at Beachmont, then maybe at Garfield.

Kelly also said proposed cuts included ending clerical and technical overtime, not filling positions that were approved but not yet filled and cuts to instructional coaching and other non-teaching staff, such as health aides hired to help school nurses during the pandemic.

One of the biggest problems is transportation. The district needs $11.6 million to get students to schools and programs each day. Student transportation and the cost are actually the responsibility of the City of Revere, as is the upkeep of all school buildings. Kelly said possible solutions to the transportation problem include cutting buses for students who live within two miles of their school. There is the possibility of ending the middle school lottery and returning to a neighborhood school model. Also, parents who have a child in an out-of-district special needs program and who arrange their own transportation are eligible for financial compensation from the district.

Still, the total is a difficult gap to bridge.

“We’re telling the city what we want, but it’s their money and we have to be fair,” said committee member and treasurer Anthony Caggiano. “For us to make a decision using their money is not the fair way.” Caggiano suggested it be left to the city to decide what cuts to make to transportation in order to make it work financially.

“It’s the city’s money but it’s up to us to find the best use for it for our students,” said committee member Stacey Rizzo.

The committee agreed to ask for a meeting with the mayor, the city’s chief financial officer and the transportation subcommittee to discuss options for school transportation next year.