WESTFORD — The School Committee voted to move forward with its needs-based budget on Tuesday. Now – the recommendation will appear before the Finance Committee on Thursday for further scrutiny.
The non-override was not endorsed but will be discussed during a joint meeting with the Finance Committee on Thursday.
The committee voted 6-1 the support the needs-based budget during a Jan. 16 meeting, which would require a Proposition 2 ½ override. Member Mingquan Zheng cast the dissenting vote.
Previously reported
Westford CAT previously reported that the two budget proposals were created by the School Committee and town, one with a Proposition 2 ½ override and one with cuts that would remain within the Proposition 2 ½ limit, with further reductions of approximately $3.3 million within the budget without an override.
The School Committee has met with the Select Board and Finance Committee since January 2023 to highlight challenges within the budget and try to balance it.
“The challenges don’t end in FY25, they actually go into FY26 and FY27,” Superintendent Dr. Christopher Chew said.
He added, “it is important for people to understand all of the different pieces of information we’ve been sharing because it is incredibly complicated. If it’s oversimplified, we’re actually doing everybody a disservice. I would encourage people to look back at the information we‘ve shared.”
School Committee member Chris Sanders described the factors leading up to the budgets as a “perfect storm.”
“Year after year [we have had] really tight budgets [and] difficult decisions. I think the district has done a really good job in consecutive, tight budget environments of making responsible and difficult cuts when we had to be creative about structure,” he said.
On Thursday, the School Committee will present with the Finance Committee during their Jan. 18 budget hearing at the Millennium School at 7 p.m. These hearings will be held through Feb 1.
Reconsideration for non-override
Committee members addressed their concerns regarding the additional reductions in the non-override, wanting to be consistent and not eliminate student opportunities. A discussion about the non-override budget would cover:
- Fees, specifically for bussing
- Breakdown of athletics requirements
- Curriculum coordinator reorganizations
Vice Chair Kathryn Clear wants to add changes to the budget that give more support to interventionists and literary specialists. She says she “struggled with the suggestion that we would look at removing interventionists and literacy specialists from the middle and elementary schools.”
She added that she “didn’t want [the School Committee] to take a vote right now and park up that budget discussion without looking at those other options.”
Zheng later referenced a survey he had created for first-generation families in Westford, stating that with inflation and increasing tax bills these families “have a lot of concern about how much more [the budget] is going to increase every year.”
“I have always been advocating to say what else can we optimize without direct impact to the classroom teachers,” Zheng said. “The reality is, people only have so much money to spend.”
Zheng told WestfordCAT in an email that he asked respondents on WeChat, an instant messaging app, if they would support a Proposition 2 ½ override.
“The survey was done in a Chinese program called WeChat written in Chinese; it is not the best survey tool with very limited functionality,” he told WestfordCAT in an email.
With 72 responses, Zheng says 66 votes were against an override, with 6 in favor of an override.
“People shared the stories regarding how much [of a] property tax increase they have experienced over the years. Tax increases have been overpacing income, and inflation is eating family budget already,” he told WestfordCAT in an email.
Young concluded the meeting with words of acknowledgment to her fellow committee members and the greater Westford community.
“I know it’s sensitive, delicate, hard conversations. But we’re all here for good reasons, and we’re going to keep figuring it out together,” she said.
Mingquan Zheng serves as the School Committee liaison to WestfordCAT and a member of WestfordCAT’s board of directors.
