Page 8 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 2022 The FY 2023 Budget “This is the year to invest,” School Supt. McMahon tells Finance Committee as she advocates for $1.5M increase in the current School Dept. spending By Mark E. Vogler I n her fi rst appearance before the Finance Committee Wednesday (March 23) night, Saugus School Superintendent Erin K. McMahon was emphatic that the $1.5 million increase she’s requesting in the current budget for Saugus Public Schools is crucial to the district’s fi ve-year mission to advance from the bottom 10 percent to the top 10 percent of school districts in Massachusetts. “This is the year to invest,” McMahon declared in trying to justify the need for increase. But Finance Committee Chair Kenneth DePatto and others on the committee told McMahon that her ambitious spending plan in the face of the current fi scal situation – given the town’s overall budget was based on a $1.2 million structural deficit – isn’t sustainable. Veteran Finance Committee Member Ronald “Rocky” Jessup said he is troubled by fi - nancial sustainability throughout local government. “Between the management side and the school side, I don’t see sustainability on either side,” Jessup said. “I hope that light at the end of the tunnel is not a train … you need sustainability,” he said. The superintendent, joined by four School Committee members in the fi rst fl oor conference room at Town Hall, didn’t back down from those • • • BRIEFING THE FINANCE COMMITTEE: Saugus School Superintendent Erin K. McMahon summarizes her proposed budget for the 2023 Fiscal Year that begins July 1, 2022. (Saugus Advocate photo by Mark E. Vogler) who questioned the need for the budget increase. “Saugus will be unsustainable as a community if we don’t invest,” McMahon responded to challenges that her budget is unrealistic McMahon’s appearance before the Finance Committee was historic Wednesday night. She is the fi rst woman educator to preside over Saugus Public Schools. “I think the superintendent did a masterful job,” School Committee Member Ryan Fisher said of the superintendent’s fi rst budget presentation. “She’s been tasked with leading a dramatic increase in student achievement after two years of pandemic in diffi cult fi scal times. That’s a tall order. Fortunately for Saugus, Superintendent McMahon specializes in raising rigor, teaching teachers and has a degree in fi nance from Cornell,” Fisher said in an interview after the meeting. “This is why we asked her to come to Saugus. She underscored for the Finance Committee the specifi c drivers of increased costs, how we’re planning to contain them, what we need to raise Saugus to the top of the charts and how reaching that goal will benefi t the entire community,” Fisher said. “We have top-notch services in Saugus, but everyone I know who buys a home uses the quality of the school system as a barometer. It drives value every single time. If we can’t compete with the Voke, or with charter schools, and if we have to pay sky-high costs for out of district services we can’t provide ourselves, that pulls money out of the district right along with Saugus kids,” he said. “I noticed recently that when a new grocery store prepared to open in town, the fi rst thing a competitor did was invest to stay competitive. Investments, when made well, pay for themselves.” School Committee Member John Hatch told the Finance Committee that the budget prepared by the superintendent “is the fi rst budget we’ve seen put together with a private sector mind.” “Ms. McMahon is not only an educator. She comes from a fi - nancial background as well,” Hatch said. The Dean program is one of three key requests and a cost containment factor that McMahon highlighted in her budget message. She also cited: * A signifi cant increase in out of district placements for Special Education. “The return to in person learning after a period of remote learning has resulted in behavioral dysregulation in our most vulnerable special education population,” the superintendent said. “Outof-district placements for special needs students rose to just over $4 million this year. While this is also true across the Commonwealth, the impact for Saugus is an increase of $805,874 associated with providing out of district placements.” * Costs associated with contractual agreements related to salaries are rising by $548,065. In addition, the Saugus School Committee enters into negotiations with all three unions – Saugus Educators’ Association, Saugus Educational Assistants Association and Saugus School Clerical Association – along with three vendor Requests for Proposals. “In order to enter into these negotiations in good faith, we are planning for an additional $575,000 increase,” the superintendent said. * Cost Containments. School district enrollment has declined by almost 200 students over the past four years, with more families choosing private, charter or home school options.
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