The School Committee members expressed gratitude to the Mayor for the additional $1.5M in ARPA funds, but when it came to a straw vote to show support for the proposed FY23 budget with the restorations that had been discussed that evening, only 4 of the members – Olszewski, Davis, Prenner, and Shen voted in favor. SC members Parlikar, Levy, and Shields voted against and SC member Breski abstained at the School Committee meeting on April 6th.
On the motion for a straw vote made by Davis and seconded by Prenner, Levy expressed concerns about taking a vote that night. “I feel exceptionally uncomfortable taking a straw vote. We’ve collectively spent thousands of hours going through detailed budget preparations, budget review, questions, hearing public comments based on the budget that was presented – tonight we’ve heard a rather short presentation of what is portrayed as a rather significant change in that budget without the kind of detail that we’ve reviewed to date and therefore I think it is inappropriate to take a straw vote based on what we’ve heard tonight.”
The Chair responded that the straw vote is – “merely an indicator based on everything that we’ve heard not just in this meeting but in reviewing the budget book and in the budget presentations that have preceded this meeting which do give a good context as to what the restorations that tonight’s discussion allow, what they mean and what the impact of those restorations are. “
After several members provide their reasons for their votes, the Mayor asked the Chair to reserve an additional meeting on Tuesday in the event that the SC needed an additional night to feel comfortable votings on the budget – since the Administration would be “visiting with the City Council” next Wednesday and Thursday as the Finance Committee and the Programs and Services Committee to present and discuss the School Department budget. The Chair agreed.
In addition, the Chair raised the issue of the structural deficit and the financial health of NPS. She stated that they face some of the painful decisions that institutions have to make when they are unable to meet their financial obligations and while a number of the reductions that have been made make sense – such as those driven by enrollment, some that were discussed that night are too painful to approve as they relate to the academic and social-emotional needs of the students. Levy responded that yearly budget reviews without recognizing the structural deficits built into their operations currently and have for the past two years will result in similar painful budget discussions and difficult choices. He also stated that he will be requesting a long term financial projection from the superintendent be delivered to the School Committee twice per year – once as part of the annual proposed budget and once mid-year to help inform the School Committee with regard to spending and revenue trends, programmatic decisions, and collective bargaining negotiations.
The School Committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. on Monday and is scheduled to meet again on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. You can join the Zoom meetings here. The Finance Committee and the Programs and Services Committee will receive a presentation on the School Department budget and review and discuss it on Wednesday and possibly Thursday evenings at 7:00 p.m. You can join the Zoom meeting on Wednesday here and on Thursday here.
