Franklin School Board finds funding for music, sports despite shortfall

The picture for the Franklin School Board looked bleak after Monday’s city council meeting.

On the table was a vote to spend $600,000 above the tax cap and increase the school board’s budget by the same amount. The proposal was made during a budget workshop last Wednesday to stave off the worst of the cuts facing the school district.

In order to comply with Franklin’s tax cap, the school board presented a $19.4 million budget that would have eliminated several positions and extracurriculars. The extra funding would have increased the budget to $20 million.

The move was considered legally sound under Franklin’s charter, and would have a 53-cent per $1,000 impact on tax bills, or about $200 a year for a home worth $400,000. Some councilors said they believed helping the schools justified the cost to taxpayers. Others disagreed.

“If anyone on this council believes we should spend beyond the tax cap, state law and our city charter provide a clear mechanism for that,” city councilor Timothy Johnston said during the Monday meeting. “Attempting to maneuver around the cap by relabeling debt funds undermines the clear intent of our voters.”

The vote failed in a 5-4 decision, since a supermajority was required to pass. School board chair Liz Cote said in an interview the board was “disappointed but not surprised.” The city council has until the end of the month to finalize its budget.

A silver lining appeared during the school board’s meeting on Wednesday. Superintendent Dan LeGallo presented the board with an updated revenue figure totaling $345,572, which included grants, city-allocated funds and payroll savings from a resigned behavior specialist.

That money will be used for extracurriculars, a seventh-grade teacher, a music teacher and athletics director.

“I had sat through … most of the budget meetings throughout July, and it was very clear from listening to the public’s input that athletics and music, for sure, were huge wants from the community,” LeGallo said. “So we started to look at where we could pull from and how creative we could get.”

It still leaves an approximate $30,000 gap for athletics. Fall sports are expected to be fully funded, LeGallo said, but spring sports are left in the lurch. Booster club representatives across the three schools joined the meeting to discuss ways of funding the remaining balance.

The only fundraising activity held by the high school is running concessions during football and basketball games, which brought in $2,500 last year, said Johanna Carleton, treasurer of the high school booster club.

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Since its formation last year, the middle school booster club has held two major fundraising events and has helped raise thousands for athletics and clubs. Bridget Desjardins, the club’s treasurer, said that increasing participation is the key to fundraising success.

“Being able to bring in as many parents, community members, kids, however to help support that, because we can do the fundraisers, but we need the boots on the ground to help support those fundraisers,” she said.

Even with the additional funding, several positions have been cut to stay under the tax cap. An art teacher, a nurse, a social worker and a custodian across the three schools had to be eliminated.

Some of these positions — including a library media specialist, a reading specialist, a computer teacher and a case manager — will result in noncompliance with the Minimum Standards for Public Schools Approval, also know as ED 306.

Special education funding will be fully compliant with state regulations, Cote said, but the loss of positions will be felt by staff and students.

“It would have been really beneficial to be able to fund [the budget] outside of the tax cap to make sure that it was funded,” Cote said. “And now we really run the risk of not being able to provide our students with what they need.”

The school board approved the revenues and expenditures LeGallo presented, but it doesn’t mean their budget is finalized. That’s still up to the city council, which will need to approve the city’s entire budget by Aug. 27.

LeGallo made an announcement Thursday updating the community about the reinstatement of some programs and encouraged families to volunteer when the time comes to help fund the remainder of the athletics budget.

“I hope we’re going to be exploring all options to try to proactively figure this out and just try to get students and teachers what they need going forward as best we can,” Cote said.

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