Preliminary budget proposes use of school choice funds, staffing reductions

The school budget is going to be OK — at least for now, James Kiely, assistant superintendent of Finance and Operations, said to the School Committee at its meeting Monday, March 11. 

Amid rising costs, such as transportation, in addition to the expiration of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, Dartmouth Public Schools has been struggling to find a solution to its budget deficit.

ESSER funds were implemented during the Covid pandemic to combat the loss of revenues and need for additional services. 

Now, those funds are set to expire in September.

Kiely presented the district’s third budget proposal, which included suggestions such as the use of school choice funding, reduction of staff positions as well as the move of Cushman Elementary kindergarten classrooms to DeMello Elementary School.

The proposed changes require a 3% funding increase from Fiscal Year 2024 — which is the highest the town is able to allocate, according to Kiely.

“We are pushing this problem off for a year, maybe two at best, but it’s still going to be a problem and there’s a lot of work that we’re going to have to do to solve it between now and when the time comes to do that,” he said.

The revenue from school choices comes out to approximately $680,000 every year. While the school was receiving ESSER funds, it opted to put school choice funds into savings, knowing the ESSER funds would eventually run out, Kiely explained.

Current savings of approximately $1.8 million from the program will help fund positions such as those previously covered by ESSER funds as well as instruction materials and technology replacements in the upcoming fiscal year. 

However, these funds are temporary.

Kiely said he predicts the funds will partially cover additional expenses next year, but after that, the savings will be gone.

ESSER funds expire Sept. 30, so the district allocated that money to items that would need to be taken care of prior to that date such as summer school.

Staffing reductions will be necessary as a part of these cuts. Kiely said the district is proposing the cut of 11 positions. So far, they have been notified that five will be removed through attrition. 

“The biggest impact on the elementary level will be the shift of the Cushman kindergarten classrooms to the DeMello School, making the DeMello School a K-5,” he said. “As part of that shift, we are proposing reducing three classrooms at the elementary level for next year.”

It is unclear whether those cuts will be made through attrition, Kiely said.

The class sizes would average at 21 students at each of the schools and would leave Cushman as a pre-school only.

Kiely said the School Committee will make a decision on this proposal in late March or early April.