Plympton School Committee Grapples with Growing Budget Deficit
Unprecedented number of staff leaves pushes FY25 shortfall to $111,377, forcing reconsideration of rural aid allocation
PLYMPTON - April 28 - The Plympton School Committee faces a growing budget deficit for fiscal year 2025, with the shortfall now reaching $111,377 according to figures presented at Monday's meeting. The deficit has increased by approximately $62,000 since the committee's March meeting, primarily due to costs associated with an unusually high number of staff on long-term leave.
Sarah Hickey, the district's director of finance and operations, presented updated budget figures showing the deficit has grown to $317,783 before accounting for budget freeze savings and other offsets.
"The number of long-term leaves had increased, and so now that adds $50,000 approximately to the budget deficit for the year," Hickey explained during her presentation.
Committee Chair Jason Fraser expressed concern about the rapid increase in the deficit since their previous meeting.
"A jump from our March 21st meeting to our April 28th meeting of $62,000 or so leads me a little weary," Fraser said. "We could end up hitting a couple more bumps in the road along the way."
The committee had previously planned to allocate $144,000 in rural aid across three priorities: $50,000 for an HVAC project, $54,000 to address the FY25 deficit, and $40,000 for the special education stabilization account. The increased deficit now forces a reconsideration of those plans.
"I don't feel comfortable allocating any of these dollars towards anything except for the debt," Fraser stated.
Dennett Principal Peter Veneto confirmed the school is experiencing an unprecedented number of staff absences, primarily due to maternity leaves.
"We've had a lot of people that have been out on maternity leave, and we've been very fortunate to get very qualified people to fill those roles," Veneto said.
He added context to the unusual situation: "Five people in one year is definitely newsworthy and very unlikely."
The financial impact is significant because long-term substitutes in the district receive Bachelor's Step 1 pay, which amounts to approximately $52,000 annually. Committee members expressed frustration not only with the deficit but also with how the information was presented.
"We've been under-reporting it in prior months," noted Vice Chair Jon Wilhelmsen. "We can't function this way."
Wilhelmsen emphasized the importance of accurate financial reporting: "We thought we had it under control as of late March and until early this afternoon, we didn't. We're lucky to have this relief valve. But if this happens after town meeting, money's not there."
The committee voted unanimously to allow the chair to amend their special town meeting article regarding the amount of money they want to put into the special education stabilization fund, based on the most updated financial information available at the time of the meeting.
There is some potential relief on the horizon. The district may receive additional special education funding that could offset approximately $28,000 of the deficit.
"For special education, the budget sheet that I have shows a deficit of $28,000. That's without any of the extraordinary relief that we were approved of by the state," one administrator reported. "There's a good hope that they will be more than the 30% that they told us, and that will offset that."
Fraser also reported on state budget developments that could impact the district. The House Ways and Means Committee has increased the per-pupil minimum increment to $150 per student, the highest it has ever been. However, they reduced the governor's proposal for rural aid from $16.5 million to $7.5 million.
"The good news is the increase of the per-pupil almost equally matches the decrease we see in rural aid, so the town will still be able to afford the budgets that we passed at last meeting, even with the House version of the budget," Fraser explained.
Other significant items discussed at the meeting included:
* The district has selected HMH into math as the new math curriculum for K-8 for next year
* Kingston voted to support the Silver Lake budget for FY26 "with no discussion and no debate". Regional Schools need approval of at least 2/3rds of Towns.
* Current kindergarten registration stands at 33 students, with more expected over the summer
* The committee recognized Kaitlin Johnson, who is not seeking re-election, for her service
* Town meeting is scheduled for May 14 at 7 p.m., with town elections on May 17
The next school committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 27, due to the Memorial Day holiday.