Silver Lake Towns Struggle to Fund 'Level Service' School Budgets
Kingston, Halifax, and Plympton officials warn of significant cuts or overrides needed to meet 17-23% increases in school spending requests
KINGSTON - January 16 - Kingston, Halifax, and Plympton are facing significant school budget increases for the upcoming fiscal year, prompting discussions about potential Proposition 2 1/2 overrides to address funding gaps.
The Silver Lake Regional School District, which serves Kingston, Halifax, and Plympton, along with the individual elementary schools in each town, presented preliminary budgets showing increases ranging from 13% to over 20%.
Kingston Town Administrator Keith Hickey emphasized the urgency of the situation, stating, "The longer we have to wait to get the less of a chance that we have an override pass and the less of a chance we're able to save some of the jobs we would be able to save if the override were to pass."
Silver Lake Regional School Committee Chair Gordon Laws reported that a level services budget for the district would constitute a 13% increase, from $39 million to about $45 million. To reach the committee's initial 2% increase target, significant cuts would be necessary, including the elimination of most extracurriculars, sports, and potentially nine to ten teaching positions.
Halifax Elementary School Committee Chair Lauren Laws presented a level service budget with a 23% increase, amounting to a $1.5 million increase over last year. Similar cuts were proposed to meet lower budget targets.
Plympton School Committee Chair Jason Fraser reported a preliminary 20% increase for a level service budget, noting that the town is currently addressing a budget deficit in the current fiscal year.
Town officials expressed concern about the feasibility of passing overrides to cover these increases. Kingston Selectman Chair Eric Crone said, "If we're looking at a 1.7 million override in Kingston and a one million override at Silver Lake, it's not going to pass."
Halifax Town Administrator Cody Haddad echoed this sentiment, stating, "We have $800,000 in new revenue. The elementary school in itself is asking for a million and a half. It just doesn't pan out, unfortunately."
School officials emphasized the factors contributing to the budget increases, including special education costs, inflationary pressures, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gordon Laws highlighted the impact of special education expenses: "A huge chunk of it, roughly close to half of the gap is in special ed, related to both the double-digit increases in the per-unit costs associated with special ed, but also with some anomalous placements."
The districts are also grappling with the loss of one-time revenue sources used to offset budgets in previous years. Sarah Hickey, business administrator for the schools, explained, "We used one-time revenue last year to offset the Silver Lake budget, so a portion of the increase from FY25 to FY26 in all four of the budgets is due to no longer having that one-time revenue."
Town officials urged the school committees to provide more detailed budget information as soon as possible to facilitate discussions about potential overrides. However, school officials noted the challenges in providing accurate estimates without key information such as state aid figures.
Jason Fraser explained, "We expect the cherry sheets to come out from the DOR next Thursday and that's when we'll be able to sit down and Sarah can actually use her time wisely to run the numbers for you."
As discussions continue, officials from all three towns emphasized the need for collaboration and transparency in addressing the budget challenges. Haddad suggested forming subcommittees to work on budget solutions, stating, "We got to lobby the state, I agree, but we also need to come up with a plan at the local level."
The school committees and town officials plan to continue discussions in the coming weeks as they work to finalize budgets and determine the need for potential override votes.