School budgets are seeing a rise on Martha’s Vineyard.
The latest iterations of the shared-services budget and the Up-Island Regional School District budget presented during recent school committee meetings show a proposed increase of 15.64 percent and a 9 percent increase, respectively.
The proposed shared-services budget increased by $1.27 million, adding up to $9.42 million, while the proposed Up-Island budget had an increase of $1.35 million, totaling $16.24 million for fiscal year 2025.
While All-Island School Committee members recognized the needs presented by Martha’s Vineyard Superintendent Richie Smith, they were concerned about the budget spike during a meeting on Thursday, Nov. 16.
According to Smith, the increases are due to staffing expenditures, such as cost-of-living adjustments, salary increases, and additional teaching positions. The special education slice contributed the largest increase, $657,963, an 8.07 percent jump — including the addition of eight new education specialist professionals.
Smith said he understood that there was pressure to be as frugal as possible with the shared-services budget, while also doing as much as possible.
“I am trying to bring that down,” he said. “This is so ballooned that I’m just trying to find this place that I feel like I can put my head on a pillow to sleep and sleep soundly. Because these are needs.”
Additionally, Smith showed an “aspirational” restructuring of the Island public school system’s central office, including the addition of an assistant superintendent. Smith also mentioned possibly hiring a human resources professional to attract additional talent that the Island needs for staffing shortfalls. The superintendent emphasized that this would be a multi-year process.
Some committee members underscored that outsourcing human resources would be beneficial, since each Island school district has specific needs.
Up-Island School Committee representative Skipper Manter requested Smith to return with a third version.
“It’s too high,” Manter said, later adding, “It’s all wonderful, but we can only afford so much.”
Edgartown School Committee representative Kelly Scott said the increases in the proposed budget directly impacted the educational well-being of the Island’s students, alongside meeting contractual obligations, so only a small part of the increase could be even considered for cutting.
“I don’t even know where you would cut,” Scott said, later pointing out that it is more expensive to operate a school system on the Island, and costs have risen overall.
The all-Island committee members came to an agreement that the shared-services budget needed to be discussed with the local school committees before it could be certified. The committee will meet again on Thursday, Nov. 30.
The Up-Island School Committee was also faced with a large budgetary increase during a meeting on Monday, Nov. 20.
The up-Island school district’s proposed budget was divided into three main categories, West Tisbury School, Chilmark School, and the district itself, all of which saw increases since fiscal year 2024. In the proposed fiscal year 2025 budget, West Tisbury School has a budget of $884,524.02, a 10.8 percent increase; the Chilmark School has a budget of $188,392.76, a 9.5 percent increase; and the district had a budget of $43,451.10, a 1.5 percent increase.
Collectively, the up-Island school budget was seeing a 9 percent increase from fiscal year 2024.
Increases in the up-Island school district budget largely came from contractual obligations and staffing expenditures.
Another consideration for the district was the salary for a new Chilmark principal. The current principal, Susan Stevens, announced last month that she would be retiring by the end of the school year. The up-Island committee members disagreed on the amount of pay a new principal should receive. Smith said the current lowest salary among the Island principals was $151,000. Committee members voted 3-2 to add an up-to-$150,000 placeholder for the new Chilmark School principal’s salary in the proposed budget.
Manter and committee member Roxanne Ackerman both disapproved, saying it was too high.
The committee will continue reviewing the budget at a later date.
We have a school committee member who does not even know what they would cut, and we have a superintendent who wants to add more jobs. Here is a news flash why not start cutting down the positions of anyone who is not an actual teacher. And if you could, please provide the full an accurate number it costs the island for having so many illegal parents with children in our school, who are requiring second language assistance. That is part of the elephant in the room with the school costs.
“start cutting down the positions of anyone who is not an actual teacher.”
Administrators, guidance councilors, coaches, janitors, food service workers, bus drivers, bus mechanics, armed guards?
Bob, you are a savvy, well connected guy, ask around, I an sure that you will find, within a few percent of how much it is costing you to educate illegal children.
Never ever forget that these children are criminals and must not be educated.
They could grow up to be both religious and Conservative
Real estate prices see spikes.