Marblehead High Freshmen Sports Restored Despite Tax Override Failure
MARBLEHEAD, MA — The Marblehead School Committee on Thursday voted to increase athletic user fees to cover the costs of the high school freshman sports programs that were cut as a result of the failed tax override on the June 20 ballot.
The vote came amid a larger discussion about which, if any, of the 33 positions that were set to be cut if the override did not pass could be restored. Superintendent John Buckey had argued that restoring any of the positions would undermine the extensive process that determined that cuts that would be made should the override fail —which it did by about 400 votes or a 51.5 percent to 45.4 percent margin.
The School Committee had asked Buckey to come back to it with a prioritized list of which positions should be restored, if possible, based on surplus cash from last year’s budget.
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“We still don’t recommend reinstating any of these,” Buckey said Thursday night, “because when people look at the list they are like: ‘Why are you prioritizing that over something else?’ And there are lots that go into those conversations. When we made these cuts we said it was a very emotional process.”
Buckey had been charged with determining the list of 33 equivalent positions being eliminated in the reduced-services budget should the override not pass. He had told the School Committee that some of those whose positions were on the list had chosen to leave the district early out of uncertainty — which led to the surplus at the end of the year — but that reinstating the positions would be unfair to those who made the tough decision to leave because their job was in jeopardy based on the overriding result.
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School Committee member Meagan Taylor expressed concern about using any one-time surplus funds to pay for what would become a recurring cost — such as a teacher’s salary.
“That’s not a best practice and puts us in a tricky situation for next budgeting season,” she said.
The School Committee voted to direct some of that surplus toward an external review of special education programs to determine what, if any, changes could be made to retain more students and lessen the burden of out-of-district placements.
“We need to look ahead,” School Committee Chair Sarah Fox said. “We need to say: ‘We may need to spend more money now to bring our programs up to where we stop the continual increase in out-of-district (placements). And, hopefully, we are able to recoup some of those kids that want to come back.’
“Because I stand 100 by the fact that these families don’t want to leave (the district). It’s heartbreaking for them. They want to be here. No family wants to go through this process.”
Fox said that while she had a problem with prioritizing sports over education in the budget, “at the end of the day I am not going to take away access (to freshman teams) for a couple of hundred kids for $12” — which is the amount of increase to the individual user fee, along with increases in the cap a family with multiple student-athletes pays.
Her vote in favor of retaining the freshman sports made it unanimous.
The co-presidents of the Marblehead Education Association union that represents teachers read a prepared statement during public comment decrying the override failure and that they also opposed reinstating the positions cut because it would imply that not fully funding the schools lacked damaging implications.
“It is crucial now more than ever that we rally together as a community to address these challenges head-on and ensure all students in Marblehead receive the very best education possible,” the statement said. “Although we do not want to see any positions cut, and would like to see the positions restored for the 2023-24 school year, we believe that it sends the wrong message to this community.
“Restoring these positions at this time is a temporary remedy to the current situation. It does not give our students and our educators what they deserve — a budget that supports the future of this community.”
The School Department had requested a $3 million supplemental budget general override last year that also won overwhelming support at the annual town meeting, but failed the townwide vote by a 2-to-1 margin.
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Marblehead voters last passed a Proposition 2 1/2 general override in 2005.
(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)
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