APPRO-2023-15 : An Appropriation from Free Cash in the Amount of Two Million, Seven Hundred Sixty-Two Thousand, Six Hundred Seventy-Four Dollars and Ninety-Three cents ($2,762,674.93) to various accounts as set forth herein.

Transcript (~1 h 9 min @ 37:40)

Speakers identified by voice; unnamed voices are numbered within this recording. Auto-caption text — verify against the video.

▶ 37:40 Leila Migliorelli: next up we have appropriation 2023-15 inappropriation from free cash in the amount of 2 million 762,674.93 to various accounts as set forth here in Joining us today joining. The mayor is Ken Kelly the Director of Finance for the Melrose Public Schools. Welcome. Thank you.

▶ 38:02 Paul Brodeur: Again Madam chair, Mr. Kelly. I will start with a brief introduction is I want to thank the members of the public that have spoken and support of the order both here and at the school committee and I want to thank you the members for doing your due diligence by reviewing the school committee activities and documents that will presented over the course of the last several months and also coming to both the district the school side in the city side with the town of questions so we could make sure to the best of our ability that your major concerns are addressed that your concerns heard recognizing that you reflect the voice of of your constituents. I'm not going to say a lot because the questions are the most important thing. This Del Rousseau. Unfortunately couldn't be here tonight. You know, he is very serious about free cash the sources of free cash the reasons for what he he targets including the DLS recommendation that Community stay between five and seven percent of their operating budget for free cash. I understand that's really not we're talking about tonight. We're talking about from the city's perspective. Do we have the financial wherewithal? To cover this I made that statement in several months ago. It turned out to be true, which is awesome. I wasn't a thousand percent necessarily confident, but I knew we would have to hit that number and and we are going to be able to as you can see from the documents that are free cash came in at a little over seven million dollars so we can comfortably address this shortfall Within fy23. And still make other Investments that we need to make and things like infrastructure. Some are other non-negotiable free cash obligations that will be coming for the council yet later in the fiscal year. And with that I will turn it over to Mr. Kelly.

▶ 40:14 Speaker 4: Thanks very much for having me here today, Ken Kelly the business manager at the schools very much. Appreciate your support and spend a lot of the past several months collaborating with Mr. Darusso school committee. The mayor it's been very supportive always answering our calls. You have the memo in front of you with the background on the request for the additional funding for fy23, and I'm here tonight to be able to answer any questions that you may have about that with the school system. Thanks again for having me tonight.

▶ 40:47 Leila Migliorelli: Thank you. I wanted to clarify for the council too that this is this 2.7 combined order includes 2.5 which is a transfer into special education tuition and transportation and then a Medicaid reimbursement transfer 262,000 674. So we understand what that that number is made of so, please Get going. So questions Vice chairman. Jamaladian.

▶ 41:16 Maya Jamaleddine: You chair. Thank you both for being here. Thank you for all the parents and the school committee members for being with us. I know you already put a lot of time from your Family and yeah, you still coming to our meetings for the others. I'm I feel like that more family members are visiting us at my home. So I'm very thrilled to have you over.

▶ 41:40 Maya Jamaleddine: As Miss Dixon mentioned and ask for whoever has you know kids in the school. They would know the impact of this order I do and it would be a long time before my kids would be out of the school system in marrows. So I'm sure as many on this city council. I care about this order and I feel strongly about funding our school system and investing in our kids my question is What have we done in the past years that failed our school system?

▶ 42:20 Speaker 4: So a little bit historically the the and I can't speak to the budget, but I'm new myself. So I can't speak to what the philosophy was, you know, five six years ago, but historically if you go back the special education tuition for example has been under budgeted. This year we knew it would come in around 4.6 million and originally a budgeted it was about three million. So I'm not sure you know why that practice was put into place to sort of under underfund or under budget the tuitions and I know that we did we do have a grant that does help with tuitions, but that would not cover the the total shortfall. We spend a lot of the Fall talking about that duplication of Grants. So we had to remove that which actually further brought down from three million down to about 2.2 which kind of widened the gap for that. So there's been a historical practice to do that for both tuition and transportation as well. And there's two examples that are in the memo I think on page seven that site examples of under budgeting one of the transportation examples is that One year the transportation increased and then the following year the budget was was actually decreased. So I'm not sure why those practices were in place, but that's led to now a gap that we're looking to to cover with this request.

▶ 43:35 Maya Jamaleddine: So for of course for this year, we're trying to resolve the issue moving forward for next year and the year after you know the future. What do you think? That appropriate budget should be so I

▶ 43:48 Speaker 4: think you know, we we would work with the special education department to know what the tuition is our forecasted and one right now in Massachusetts the the OSD has, you know proposed up to a 14% increase in tuitions. That's that's a large number for a school system to cover in one year. It's not really clear to us why that number was arrived at and so we've sent correspondence to the state to ask for support and Clarity on why that that was allowed or could be allowed. So those types of things are are huge impact on on our budget and other districts as well and the colleagues I speak with our also unclear as to why the 14% is something that's in play right now.

▶ 44:35 Speaker 4: We've asked for more clarification.

▶ 44:37 Maya Jamaleddine: Hopefully we'll get those answers soon as soon and for the mayor. I know you will be the best person to answer that quickly. We've myself I've received a lot of questions and one of them most common question. Are we holding money? Are we hoarding money?

▶ 44:59 Paul Brodeur: So so, you know, it's Frank is a I've heard that in other contexts, and I've heard that. you know kind of throughout my my public time here in Melrose and I guess what I find a little bit puzzling about that question is What is the benefit even if the most cynical person we are all well not me anymore, but 10 of the 11 of you. have kids in elementary or High School

▶ 45:30 Speaker 3: So tenia not even the public schools.

▶ 45:34 Paul Brodeur: I had kids including nieces and nephews that are still in the schools. What is the benefit? to Hoarding money, I don't say it for an entrance rhetorical. There's there's No value either educationally programmatically are quite frankly politically for hoarding money that does it doesn't make any sense to me that.

▶ 45:59 Maya Jamaleddine: There is no explanation for a hoarder why they

▶ 46:05 Speaker 4: hard but I mean

▶ 46:07 Speaker 3: clinical definition of hoarding. That's a very different.

▶ 46:15 Speaker 4: Yes. so I guess

▶ 46:20 Maya Jamaleddine: my ask would be how can we be most supportive of our school committee and school school system District to provide like make them the priority in our budget. Well

▶ 46:35 Paul Brodeur: at the at the risk of repeating a little bit of the message of in my state of the city. It comes down to Revenant. There is no. There are no more easy answers in the city. I will as I often do gesture out to the to the fire station building that hasn't had significant. I would like to say for a hundred years, but more than a hundred years that can only go on for so long, right we get if we want to be competitive as a school just got weird several folks during our conversation about the teachers budget contract saying we're ranked at X in terms of per pupil spending. Well if you want to be X plus 20 and we all can come to a consensus that that is a way to invest then we have to go find that rhythm.

▶ 47:32 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. I'll save the time for us.

▶ 47:35 Leila Migliorelli: Thank you next in Q. I have counselors garapace. Cinella and obremski. cancer Williams

▶ 47:44 Mark Garipay: Thank you. Thank you madam chair. Thank you, Mr. Kelly for being here. Thank you for your time last Friday. Thank you for getting me all the information. Well that I've requested. I got a number of questions as everyone's probably shocked right? Well with that being said the questions I'm going to ask I don't want people to think that I'm not for approving this but I think we're on the title to figure out how we came up with the 2.5 million and I think the residents also. Should be able to should be able to know that also. So with that being said I'm going to I'm just going to jump right in on your on the memo on February 9th. On the revised budget. I just trying to understand. We moved a lot of positions from elementary. I'm sorry from the system-wide budget and we built the budget for each individual school and moving them into the schools. We have a reduction of about a million eight. I think in the system-wide budget, but it increase in the elementary and secondary of 1.2 million if those were Salaries of teachers that would have been approved. There are fixed costs. They would have been approved in the original budget. How come those don't match up?

▶ 49:04 Speaker 4: That dollar amount. Yes, it's not that they would match up. It's more that a couple things going on. So we did take out like the specialist teachers that teach at multiple buildings throughout the district from a system wide line. It's spread them out to the different schools. They work at and we also took some of the special education services that were grouped in our special education budget for things like therapists and also put them into the schools that they service the students with. So those costs were then dispersed more to the schools rather than those district-wide lines.

▶ 49:37 Mark Garipay: So the revised budget does not have any additional teachers than what was approved in the original fy23 budget. And is there any positions that were funded through Esser that might have been moved into the revised fy23 budget? No, so the

▶ 49:51 Speaker 4: there were no positions added to the district with the with the rebuild that was more number one looking at the accounting that had gone on and trying to build in some best practice there and then Shifting the positions out of those District wide lines in the Esser funds. We had planned for some academic interventionists at the elementary level rather than having one per building. The the plan was to have two funded through some Esser and when we used Esther to close fy22 those extra additional interventionists were not hired.

▶ 50:26 Mark Garipay: And we all know Transportation has been a major. anchor on our budget

▶ 50:35 Mark Garipay: are there any transportation Consultants out there that we can hire that help can help us work through this, you know our expertise your expertise is educating kids and that's what we need to focus on. Is there any way or is we looked into that and we looked at see if there's anyone any consultant that can help us and what have we done around Transportation so far since we found out that we have a 2.5 million dollar deficit back in October. What have we done to try to create any efficiencies sure and save money we discussed that Friday and I

▶ 51:06 Speaker 4: have not had you know, I haven't found any. Consultants yet, but I am looking and we have a list serves that I can I can talk with colleagues to find anyone out there that can that can help with that. But to answer your question about Transportation our you know, we've been having discussions with the school committee about ways to recruit about five years ago. We had 18 drivers in Melrose just a little bit of history and That's the most efficient way to transport students. There are our own employees. We know them they know us they know our kids and that's the most cost-effective as well. When you start having to contract with vendors their businesses. And and so right now we contract multiple vendors to cover Our Roots and the we so we're looking at ways we could recruit more drivers back to the the driver team we're looking at ways. Is it possible to look at efficiencies of going with one or two vendors to see if they can get us better pricing. So we are exploring options with regard to Transportation because you're right Transportation right now is it's out of control.

▶ 52:10 Mark Garipay: okay in the also in in your revised after 20, FY 2023 budget, it was mentioned that we Can explain what we did with the ECC budget. We we kept we moved the special ed requirements and move that back onto the city and we have an individual more or less p&l budget for the ECC. strictly Based on tuition correct? That is correct.

▶ 52:34 Speaker 4: So historically the ECC has been funded through the tuition program and through a number of different events where the The Educators at the ECC were brought into the Moto's teacher's Union years back and as these are highly qualified teachers, they do great. You know, they are teaching with the kids. It's not this is not just the daycare supervision. This is more instruction so that this is they should be brought into the teachers union that happened but that increases salaries and costs associated with that. And then when the special education services are delivered at the school, those are mandated costs. So these are things that should be part of the operating budget. So those costs were transferred but no new positions were added to the district or to the ECC because so the

▶ 53:19 Mark Garipay: new ECC budget do the tuitions cover the expense the ECC budget or it's something or is it do we use money from the from the school school budget to cover that

▶ 53:33 Speaker 4: so last year the ECC did run deficit as far as tuitions go and this year now we're looking at costs and expenses so that we are trying to build for fy24 self-sustating tuition system that pays for that portion of the program. That is the goal.

▶ 53:46 Mark Garipay: I think that program needs to be self-sustaining.

▶ 53:50 Speaker 4: That's the goal for sure in fact, so that's also in additional, you know that some of that is to build in some revenue for it to offset the budget. So yes, that's the plan.

▶ 54:02 Speaker 2: when

▶ 54:04 Mark Garipay: He sent me the copy of units the other day which gives us. It's really the budget the revised budget for people at home that gives you where you are year-to-date on spending by categories. There's quite a few categories in here that are running under where nine months in we should be about 66% use we get looks like we're going to have some extra extra money. Maybe it's somebody's accounts one in particular is the teachers' salaries. I know we had a lot of open positions. We're running at about 53.4% We should be up around 67% It's our largest expense our largest dollar amount. We have three months left one would assume right now that we're not going to meet Max that out at a hundred percent. Why wouldn't we use some of that money to offset? Transfer that into offset the deficit respectfully, I

▶ 54:56 Speaker 4: would say I don't assume that that would be coming in at that level the way our payroll system works at the end of the year teachers a majority of our teachers on our 26 pay by weekly pay system at the end of the year. They receive two three check sequences in June. So that's a that's a that's a big sum of that money that will paid out at the end of the year per that 26 pay cycle.

▶ 55:23 Mark Garipay: But we've had quite a few open positions all year through those

▶ 55:26 Speaker 4: open positions mostly in the paraprofessional. Okay Staffing level. So there are openings and we did consider that when we were looking at that the request of the two and a half million that is factored in and you can see in the in the memo too that that the Gap is actually around 2.8 and so some of the scaling back to two and a half includes using some of that breakage.

▶ 55:49 Mark Garipay: In in the superintendent's line item. I know there's probably a few positions in there. It's almost 80% year-to-date used with. 10% I mean 10,600 in encumbents. What what's that 10,000 that's you

▶ 56:06 Speaker 4: know, I'd have to get back and look in the system and find out what those encumbrances are. I don't have that information with me. Okay?

▶ 56:10 Mark Garipay: And is that is that running over do we know why that's running over. 20% over

▶ 56:19 Speaker 4: I don't have that information I can get that for you.

▶ 56:27 Mark Garipay: Back on January 8th at the school committee meeting. We you had mentioned that you Had Froze all the spending.

▶ 56:39 Mark Garipay: Why did we wait until January 8th to free suspending if we knew we had an issue back in October you can just explain.

▶ 56:46 Speaker 4: Sure. So I look at all the you know spending requests that come through we have to get approve through the business office. So I've been monitoring that since August and July even looking at that closely and conversations with you know, our consultant at CLA handy York has been a great resource for us. We've been ongoing and sort of in December. We just looked at that and said this is probably a good time to think about freezing the budget.

▶ 57:14 Mark Garipay: In your opinion right now. Do you think if this gets approved tonight? You're going to have to come back to the city council? again by the end of the year to close out close out your budget and do we will you be coming back for any money to? To pay for the teachers contract. No, that

▶ 57:35 Speaker 4: was a pro that was funny that was into built into the fy23 budget. Negotiations were ongoing that we knew that the contract was going to be, you know, cost some kind of cost of living adjustment. So that was fine that was actually built into the budget. So that's lost. Yep. So To come back to the city to request funding for the teacher contract that we wouldn't be doing. I don't know, you know, I can't answer whether I would be coming back. My goal is to not that's what we're all working towards and we work daily to do that. But you know we We really appreciate the collaboration with the auditor's office the CFO the mayor's office the city council. So our goal is to not have to come back and do that. But can I promise that we wouldn't know I can't promise that let a

▶ 58:21 Paul Brodeur: little bit of a finer point on that because I think I think it'll be helpful. There is always the potential for an unpredictable expense meaning different apart from what we're talking about with failure to fund what we knew what we anticipated the expenses would be if a student pretty unlikely at this point in the calendar year. If we have a student that presents with extraordinary extraordinarily complex needs that obligation starts immediately. We have to cover it by law. We want to cover it morally and that could be You know a significant cost right out of the gate. We don't answer. It's in a case like that. We might come back and say Us the special education Reserve fund. It's really what that was created for is a thing that we would tap in terms of though the normal, you know operating budget to get through June 30th to wrap fiscal 23. We do not at this bed coming back.

▶ 59:22 Mark Garipay: I appreciate that. But once we draw out of special at stabilization, we got to make sure we have enough free cash to actually replenish that

▶ 59:29 Speaker 3: yep for sure. So that's also other.

▶ 59:35 Mark Garipay: What is the plan for fy24 I mean, we this two and a half million is not not going to go away next year. So as you build the budget, what can you give us a little insight on? What what the school Department's thinking on?

▶ 59:49 Speaker 4: Yeah, so we we build off level services that gets more expensive the teacher, you know teacher contract there. There's obligated raises and that's a that's the most significant part of our our budget. You know, we want highly qualified teachers that are you know, working with our students. So with regard to building the fy24 budget, we start level services and then we look at what you know, what what is required that we might need to add on and then we build from there. We're very much aware of the financial situation. So we're constantly balancing that with providing the services that are required for the students.

▶ 1:00:29 Mark Garipay: You know, we've been very lucky with free cash. Especially this year seven seven million dollars. We've averaged five. The may have probably remembers in the 90s when they were negative free cash. We got to be cognitive of that going forward because we're not going to be able to continue the city's not going to be able to continue to to fund be a free cash. We all know this is a revenue issue. That's a that's a separate issue then then tonight, but every time we use free cash. For situations like this. I was part of an override three years ago where we took care of the deficit. and it's it's really a little depressing with all the hard work over an 18 month campaign to really do the impossible and then find ourselves two and a half million in the whole. Would that be instead this money spent I know that we have to balance the budget we have to balance the budget by the end of June and we're not going to be able to close out the books. So I'm going to I'm going to support this tonight. But I cannot commit to supporting any more money. At the end of the year for the schools at this moment, but I will support the two and a half million tonight, but I would encourage you to do everything possible not to come back into to the chambers in just manage within the budget before before June. But thank you. Thank you for all your help in getting me the information. I appreciate it. Thank you.

▶ 1:01:58 Christopher Cinella: Counselor snella, thank you. Madam. Chair. Thank you. Both for being here constantly Gary pay touched on a few questions that I have one. in particular That keeps coming up with you know constituents when they ask about the shortfall the money. It's easy for us for me to explain the inflation and you know Revenue shortfalls, but what what I have trouble with is the in your February 9th memo the Legacy Grant practice of duplication Can you add any Clarity around that is it? Because I don't recall and I wasn't on the board for prior administration's most of us actually weren't but we don't I don't recall this coming up.

▶ 1:02:44 Speaker 4: in the past Is it a software issue? I mean I know in my like my day job financial planning perspective client comes in says this is how much I have we start the process once assets transfer in if I don't back that out. Now, they've got double the money that's not going to work out. Well, you know if they're spend double the money so Have you identified specifically like what? Why was it being double counted? Is it a software thing? I mean, how do we I'm not looking to relitigate, you know the patent and I'm in support of this. I just trying to wrap my arms around that yeah. So we've been working with Henny orchestrically, you know Hannah's got a good history with the district as well as the city side. And so she she worked I think it was FY 19 or 18 and worked and it had happened at that point and she removed it there as well. And for some reason it got put back in and it was just a matter of looking at it in two different places as different revenues that are the same same source of Revenue, so I can't speak to why it was put back in but it has been removed. Okay, but could happen again.

▶ 1:03:48 Christopher Cinella: Not well, I'm but it was let's think Beyond you and Beyond this Administration beyond all like down the road if this is a legacy. Just become happening in the past. We don't know how to identify it necessarily. Sure, what's in the handbook to pass on so it doesn't happen again. You know, I mean, it's a

▶ 1:04:08 Paul Brodeur: good question. And yeah, I mean the answer is I think the fairest the entities it's not a software thing it was Human error I suspect by Kent's predecessor. I don't want to say that I say that as a hypothetical so I don't get sued quite frankly. The way things get fixed is is due diligence identify the problem you restructure things so that it doesn't happen again. I'm confident in the work of Ken. I'm confident in the work of Haney York who can solve this the first time to make sure? It doesn't happen again.

▶ 1:04:48 Speaker 4: Thank you. Counselor bremski. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here tonight. So my questions are along the same line as Council sonella, so You know you and your department caught this era back in July, correct? It was a team effort. Yes, right. Yeah. So including collaboration with hand New York. Yes. Everybody was sort of on that same page. Yeah, so that's that's very good. Nice job. Nah, we thank you for that kind of take all credit total teamwork. Yeah, and I think I think as has been said like I think the concern is to ensure that it doesn't happen again and it like I don't think we're really getting to the to the Crux of that like so like, how do we I guess how do we ensure that? It doesn't happen again. It's just we have to continue. Just keep checking right continually. Yeah, I think it's using the systems we have like we have immune system. It's it's extremely powerful and so like we were talking about with the ECC tuition program. We want to use that software to build in budgets for these these offset amounts and I think the more we can build in routines and best practices so that the system is telling us things updating us and giving us indicators that lets us make decisions and tells us if things are not going well, so we want to build up those those systems of That we have like the immune system is very powerful. It can do a lot for us to use that so that it can tell us if something looks like it's going off of course because right now a lot of the revolving accounts are not set with budgeted amounts right bounce up against the zero and then you start seeing negative balances. It's hard to get an accurate balance in some instances. So using those things to tell us can you know Even some of the reporting that we share with school committee involves, like looking at the offset right balances going forward looking at the grant balances. So just so that things can indicators are there to tell us if things look like they're not going the right way. So, do you know why it would? You may not be able to answer this but why it would take. To get to this number and it wouldn't be been caught at like say 20,200,400,000. Like why would it take to over generally? I don't I wasn't there for that piece of it. So I wasn't I didn't set that. I don't know if you could track back or if

▶ 1:07:09 Paul Brodeur: it's someone I'm gonna feel my yeah. Okay, so there's a little bit of this that you know, the the committee. Gets routine reports and I don't want to say something that's wrong. So, please don't, you know take this as chapter and verse but we got a report. I want to say in March right an internal report that said we were I want to say 600,000.

▶ 1:07:34 Speaker 3: To the good right? Yes, so, you know, so everything look good. No, no

▶ 1:07:40 Paul Brodeur: cause for alarm not great news, but but on track right and then you know that that report. Was was not accurate, right? It's really at the end of the day. If you know, we don't have we need good systems and good people paying attention to the systems, right?

▶ 1:08:02 Speaker 4: So, when did you come on board on July and you caught it in July those a team effort? I don't just saying. All right. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thanks councilor Williams.

▶ 1:08:16 Ryan Williams: Hello everybody. Thank you for joining us. And I want to thank the school committee because people who are at home with the cameras focused on the council can't tell that the we actually have almost everyone from the school committee here with us tonight, which is great. It's a really it's a really good show of support. You know, all of my questions were asked so I'm just going to talk for a few minutes about my thoughts on the funding issue. And then I'm going to and then I'm gonna leave it up to the to the rest of the counselors to ask their questions. I want to say for the benefit of the people in the room that a lot of us on this Council are strong consistent supporters of public school funding in Melrose This is a council that's very supportive of public school funding. It's a school. It's a school committee that supports too and for me, that's a core value and I wear it. On my sleeve or on my chest which people don't always love but I do and it's because they come from a public school family, right? My mom was a special ed teacher then she was an administrator. My dad was a high school guidance counselor. I've got teachers in my family. My whole existence growing up was all about public schools the first political thing I did. was dropping like flyers and people's mailboxes in rural, Illinois on the Indiana border to try and convince them to pay more tax dollars for their schools, which The Village president hated and called my parents about

▶ 1:09:38 Speaker 3: You know to Legal put things yes, that's what that came up that came

▶ 1:09:41 Speaker 4: up.

▶ 1:09:45 Ryan Williams: That was one of the biggest shoes. Yep, and I'm I belaboring this and I'm up here on my soapbox because what I want to say next, I want it to be crystal clear that I support this order I support wholeheartedly and I believe that we can accomplish anything in this city that we put our hearts to and I look around the room and I hear people talk about this and I feel like there's a group of people everybody in this room wants to fix this and some of us have worked very hard at it and some of us have, you know done our due diligence on it and some of us are coming at it with hard questions. But ultimately we all want to fix it. And and what I what we can't do when I hope we we don't do is give into the language and the the emotions of fear and when these emergency free cash requests come before the council with doomsday attachments to them like we're gonna fire a hundred and fifty teachers if this doesn't happen in a week that's terrifying. It's terrifying for me. It's terrifying for parents terrifying schools. And it grounds this discussion in fear instead of Hope. And I reflect on when we all sat in here a couple of days ago a week ago and we talked about the building across the street the public safety buildings. We're talking about 90,000 square feet. That was a feeling of Triumph of perseverance and I want to feel that way about the public schools. And I know right now where you know, maybe the lowest paid District or one of them. We're also one of the lowest districts for our overall contribution to the schools. In fact, if I may when you look at the Middlesex League, here's how the other cities and towns in the area compare. I'm just going to go alphabetically here. So Arlington goes 47% over their contribution Belmont goes 42% over Burlington's 97% over Chelsea goes three percent over every goes four percent Lyn goes nothing Malden is flat. Medford's 41% Melrose is 11 percent or threading is 47% Peabody is 10% writing is 30% reverse 3% under so they're going to get penalized for that. Stoneham's 40% wakefield's 50% watertown's 80% Wilmington's 58% Winchester's 41 percent and I get it. I know that. The money isn't free and that we have a lot of a lot of costs and a lot of big things ahead of us. But when we think of what school district Melrose is do we think we are reading Stoneham Woburn Wakefield or do we think we are Chelsea Everett Lynn Malden because that's the company that we're in we're in the company of districts that aren't paying for their schools, and we need to change that and I think That we can do it. So to that end I want to thank and I mean it I really want to thank the mayor for the hardware to get us here. I want to thank you Mr. Kelly. You've worked super hard, please. Don't quit. I want to thank the school committee members school committee meeting. You know, I know please please school committee meetings are really hard and we don't we don't experience anything like that. To be honest with you what you guys have to go through. So thank you for find something for you. Hey, bring it. But like, you know, I just I I understand that this is something that a lot of folks are working on and for the Public's knowledge the way that the budget is going to work. Is that the mayor and the school department propose a budget to the school committee. The school committee is the body that votes and accepts that budget when it's fully almost fully settled really completely settled they send it to us and we vote on it with all the other budgets. So anyway, we can help any way we can collaborate you all know. I'm not afraid of a phone call. So things should counselor Williams. Appreciate it counseling.

▶ 1:13:20 Speaker 4: Counselor Stewart. Thank you madam chair.

▶ 1:13:24 Robb Stewart: Thank you, Mr. Mayor and thank you Mr. Kelly for being here tonight. And Mr. Kelly in particular. I want to thank you for the February 9th. Remember that you provided it was clear. It was detailed. It was accurate it tied out. It's everything that makes our jobs a lot easier in terms of understanding. What the situation is and what you're trying to do to solve it. So appreciate that. With that being said this I think a great foundation for thinking for it. I don't want to talk about the past. I want to talk about. Where we are right now and what we're going to do because we think we're good this year. I think we you have General support of what you're trying to accomplish tonight myself included. I think based on the Chapter 70 good news. I received from the state. We look in good shape for next year. I'm mostly concerned about the year after that and the year after that and I think that Prudence Is a necessity given? some of the I'll say shortcomings that we've had over the last couple years, and I'm not trying to There's no blame. That I'm trying to associate but what I'm suggesting is that there were shortcomings and we can do better. And I think this as a foundation as a start. for being fiscally prudent for having a better plan for planning for the unexpected because you know with the special education and the transportation. Yeah, they're unexpected, but we could have planned for those we didn't. and Shame on all of us. Right so but let's not put the city in the same situation two years from now and so my question to you is What are your thoughts about doing what what are you doing to plan two years out three years on four years old.

▶ 1:15:24 Paul Brodeur: Really all the kind of of the above. This is short-term and the long term gonna go Riff on my on my state of the city remarks again we have

▶ 1:15:37 Speaker 3: a desire

▶ 1:15:40 Paul Brodeur: As far as I can tell to make significant if we investments in our education system, we need investments in other parts of the system for you know, employee retention. Is it what Recruitment and Retention it's not unique to the schools. It is it is a big huge thing in the schools right now and it's a national problem. It's true. It's a it's also fire department issue. It's a police department issue. It's a DPW issue. It's just it's just the way it is and we are at a point in my opinion where there are not a lot of options for. Fundamental Solutions if we think we have fundamental changes, we need to make well we need to do two things. We need to figure out what those are in a very thoughtful way so that we are not jumping from crisis to crisis essentially a an education master plan. That can be led by a new superintendent. And we need right along with that effort figure out what we want to pay for and through that process. Priorities and priorities will will become apparent and that's when people start thinking about. What education means to them and what are the true priorities just like, you know, where do we want to be in terms of our physical plan, which we have not invested in particularly effectively. Either think to council Williams Point that's not it's not a message of Bloom and doom or fear. At least. I don't mean it to be that it is it is a statement of reality. Y'all know. He's on staying on the infrastructure point, you know, if if you do your roof every 25 years, you know, you know regular Shingle House. That's probably gonna be okay Circle I get 30 I can get 35 even that's okay if you doing something else, but if you do it with everything the whole thing is gonna you know, it's gonna go sideways that at some point, you know, our it is great to have dreams the reality of how to pay for them and and to make our choices to pick the most important. That is what we need to do. Do I think that is an overnight process? No, I don't. I don't think we have that that Vision yet that idea of right in five years or in 10 years. Here's where I want the Melrose Public Schools today to me anything. All right state aid. Is going awesome right now we get SOA and that's looking good. But we also have you know, some potential problems on the horizon if there's a recession if there's certainly no more Federal money. Coming down the pike and not really for some of the stuff we need to do. Well, I'm not by any stretches like we're on our own but we do kind of own our own destiny that way. and that is that

▶ 1:18:45 Speaker 3: that is what we have to do.

▶ 1:18:48 Robb Stewart: The other point that I wanted to bring up is it's a point that Ms. Martorano had had made and I think it's a good one. It's about the seven million dollars being celebrated and her claim was it shouldn't be celebrated and I agree with that. I don't think that. We should minimize free cash. I know the importance of it. I believe in Mr. Della Rose's process. I've had many conversations with them and I think he's accurate but when you see such an increase in free cash Year over year that percentage should be growing in accordance with our budget not in accordance in the junk that it made and that tells me that some budgeting may have been missed so that I think is an opportunity to potentially look a little bit more closely how we can type budgeting. In a line to free cash so that way it's not such a slingshot. That we're experiencing this year a couple

▶ 1:19:45 Paul Brodeur: things on that and certainly will will be doing that a lot a lot more we've put out a lot of information about where the free cash dollars have actually gone over the over the last five years. I mean, it's important to look at those things because those are choices too right where we we are trying to build a much more sophisticated. Capital plan just free cash is basically and many respect free cash and borrowing are the pillars of our Capital plan. That's not that's not terrific. Right? It's not it's worked a bit, but it's also led to kind of catches catch can but what that means is really taking money away from free cash and putting it into capital. Which is not you know, which is means we're not going to get as much into operating. We'll have a lower free cash number maybe at the end of the day, but we'll also have lower needs because the capital needs are significant as well. It goes back to the what what are we going to pay for and how we're going to pay for it?

▶ 1:20:53 Robb Stewart: Understood. Thank you, Mr. And thank you Mr. Kelly. Thank you.

▶ 1:20:58 Speaker 4: I'm counselor chromechatie.

▶ 1:21:01 Manjula Karamcheti: Thank you everyone for being here both community members school committee. I I like seeing Pat people passionate about education and caring about it. Just want to lay a little groundwork. First more to just know so the public knows where I'm coming from in regards to my position on the free cash request my parents immigrated from India for educational purposes. They lived on a rice field and came to the US for opportunity to learn and to pursue higher education. I'm a school counselor. I've been a district administrator and I'm currently a professor in a teacher preparation graduate school program and my focus in education has always been equity and education and access for all students as a mom. I think I'm pretty vocal in person and then social media in terms of the wonderful experience and truly wonderful experience. My kids have had in the Melrose Public Schools both at the middle school and at the high school. And all of that is really important to me and I 100% And in support of this free cash request, but I I do think it's important to look a little bit in the past because I think the past informs the future and how we move forward together. So some of my questions are just Going to be a restate but I will do it quickly to make sure I understand and I think for the benefit of the public at least I hope so so historically and it comes directly from Mr. Della Russo's memo to us historically the city has used free cash to supplement the school budget. So this is not new. It's actually past practice and we've been doing it a long time prior to Dr. Cucumberger prior to Mayor Broder. We did this under the Dolan and taymore administration we've done this. This is part of our history, and I I also want to name and support sort of what councilor Williams said when we do a free cash request, it feels like a crisis. But it's also our past practice. So I think that's something important for all of us to reflect on. we are in crisis mode every year when it comes to this free correct cash request and I think What underlies that is something that Mr. Kelly I think you said we have historically under budgeted for special education. And that is also one of our past practices that is helping with the foundation to where we are right now and why we're here again. And so I would argue that in thinking about the now and the future that practice of under budgeting special education needs to stop. Because of where it brings us right now. And I want to just again restate to make sure I understand correctly the three factors that went in and it might be for three or four factors that went into the needing of this rebuild for 2023 are the double counting which again if I understand correctly, and please keep clarify if I'm wrong. We've been double counting for a while too. That isn't something that just started under doctor hoogenberger. And it's something that is I get that again happened in a previous administration. I think our superintendent took a lot of hits for that, but it's actually something we had been doing before so I just Am I correct in sort of understanding that this

▶ 1:25:06 Speaker 4: has yeah, it was interrupted at some point. But yeah, and then it okay did come back just figured it

▶ 1:25:10 Speaker 1: out and then we forgot about it. or something along those lines it would seem

▶ 1:25:15 Speaker 4: Just to clarify the under budgeting is for the tuition, especially tuition. I just don't want people thinking it's it's that you know, correct. So

▶ 1:25:21 Speaker 1: we're out of District placement, correct? The tuition rates.

▶ 1:25:23 Speaker 4: Yes, and that's also been compounded by increases in those rates and and the skyrocketing Transportation costs, but that is the under budgeting category. Yeah and without of

▶ 1:25:32 Manjula Karamcheti: District placements and I think mayor Broder you said this if someone moves into Melrose and they require a certain amount of services we have to pay for them. And also if we identify student with needs that we can't support in our general public school system. We have to pay for that out of District placement. That's our responsibility to educate children. Correct? Like it just has to be done and the programs cost what they cost.

▶ 1:25:58 Paul Brodeur: Okay, it's not that there's any I mean, sometimes they're disputes about what the appropriate level of service is for sure. But in their in their, you know smaller scale than the dramatic example, I make and cannons Berman could speak to this better. There are some times. Evolution to changes to IEPs that will make a non-out play student still have more costs associated with his IP even if she stays in house.

▶ 1:26:30 Manjula Karamcheti: Yeah, absolutely. So double counting past practice. The EC tuition and that certainly seems like something that covid and Staffing and also I think some special education pieces were part of that, right? Okay, and then again just reiterating special education increases regarding tuition and transportation, and I, you know, definitely I have read in numerous reports that the transportation piece in particular is something many districts across the Commonwealth. They're dealing with Okay, so I am understanding correctly like the three significant things that got us here. So What I wanted to sort of ask about. is Thinking about I think special education in particular. and some of the data around our sped directors report in December and sort of some of the things that were identified. One of the pieces was the categories of disabilities in regards to our other District placements and what those primary disabilities are because when I I think about how to District placements it is sort of students that need to go out of District, but it also makes me think about tier one tier two, tier three programs and services within our districts and what are we providing? And in that report that was presented to the school committee. It was very much outlined that we really need to evaluate the programs and services available and look at and potentially redesign what we're offering and

▶ 1:28:37 Manjula Karamcheti: is it true that if we and potentially and so I know that you can't answer it specifically but if we start to look at what the categories are primary disabilities and start thinking about what we are able to offer at the different levels there is potential to keep more students in the Melrose Public Schools because we're providing appropriate Services in-house So through the chair. I just as a point of order. I feel like we're going a little more into the territory of the school committee. And without the superintendent here. I feel like we're starting to head it gets into finances. So and I appreciate your comment, but I will get to my point. I just can't make my point if I don't know the answer to this. Should I just might be heading into conversation that are more really good question. I'm not the person

▶ 1:29:31 Speaker 4: probably to answer that question like mayor Broder said that you know special education is you know, it's it's a wonderful feel but it's not my expertise so you don't want me answering that question because I'm not informed enough to answer that in terms

▶ 1:29:44 Paul Brodeur: of the subject of conversation tonight is the squaring up the 23 order, which is really excuse square up the 23 budget, which is really filling a hole to deliver service center of already committed to That I don't expect this money is not going to lead to. by any stretch dramatic changes in programming or Finances therefore this is to make sure we fund kind of what we promise to we would fund when we released.

▶ 1:30:22 Speaker 1: and passed the 23 actually and so

▶ 1:30:25 Manjula Karamcheti: in thinking about the 2.5 million and what it is for and a lot of it being regarding special education out of District placements. I think what I would love to see given we've been under budgeting is as we move forward looking at our history and thinking about future practices that we see a Melrose Public Schools budget that actually Includes everything that we need to support our students all of our students not just our students like mine who are pretty well resourced and doing well, but our students who need more resources need more staff need more support and so that we're able to do that. And so I that is my hope that we're not in a crisis situation that we actually build in to our budget what we need and I I know some of the other counselors are worried about being asked for more money. I want to be asked for more money. I want to give our schools more money. Thank you really ever gotten Applause for for what we really need so we can truly like be proud of what we're providing our students and making sure that it's Equitable for all. And I'm gonna suggest that we're not Equitable for all right now and so I would like us to move forward in that

▶ 1:31:52 Paul Brodeur: direction and that's all I have I 100% agree and I would respectfully suggest that that is something that every city budget every city Department should do right we want to make sure that we are Equitable and up our biggest cohort of residence here Melrose or people over 60. We certainly don't say we're again we certainly don't spend You know on the dollar for dollar level what we spend on other folks if we look at it by age range and that's and that's okay. There's there's reasons for that. There's programming reasons and they need less but the challenge that goes back to the revenue piece is you kind of have choices. We keep those small pie and carve it up. And those are what hard choices are or another different kind of hard Choice are providing the resources so that we are equitable. For everyone in our community. Absolutely. I

▶ 1:32:45 Manjula Karamcheti: appreciate that you saying that so much I am unapologetically in support of education. And so this is my opportunity to share that it

▶ 1:32:56 Speaker 4: is it absolutely is. Thank you counselor. Karmchatie

▶ 1:32:58 Speaker 2: councilor McMaster. Thank you madam chair good evening.

▶ 1:33:01 Shawn M. MacMaster: We've heard Legacy practice mentioned this evening. It was referenced by a consulistanella's reference by consulate carmichetti. I've heard it multiple times in the past Mr. Kelly on April 7th. 2022 there was an email from the auditor's office to the business manager that stated that it looked like the Metro the Metro Grant had been counted twice. That was a legacy practice. Why did that seem like a surprise to the auditor's office?

▶ 1:33:29 Speaker 4: I can't speak I wasn't there in April. I'm not sure what what your referencing.

▶ 1:33:34 Speaker 2: The Memo from April 7th

▶ 1:33:36 Speaker 4: April 7th

▶ 1:33:39 Speaker 2: You know familiar with that memo was before it's time.

▶ 1:33:43 Shawn M. MacMaster: I don't think see okay yesterday you want to

▶ 1:33:46 Paul Brodeur: Think you can answer that. I'm sure I can't I know they historically there have been not to this District, but there was very often conversations about how Districts across the across the Commonwealth use metco funds to bounce to bounce the operating. I have no I've never seen a concrete example of that that's more things that I heard around my participation in metco. Advocacy work when I was in the legislature, you mentioned Mr.

▶ 1:34:14 Shawn M. MacMaster: Mayor that at one point it was a practice and then it stopped and then it's resumed again. Do we have some sense of when it when it stopped?

▶ 1:34:24 Speaker 4: around FY 18 or 19

▶ 1:34:29 Speaker 2: Thank you.

▶ 1:34:31 Shawn M. MacMaster: one question that members of the public who aren't here tonight might have is is there a reason we can't Find money within our current operating budget to address the structural deficit and and with that question out there based on past budgeting practices based on departmental spending to date. With three months left in the fiscal year the current fiscal year. With forecasting we may be able to have a sense of what we will likely have left over which will then become free cash. Next year. Is there is there some way we can't look at that again. Look at when I first joined the council five years ago. We were I think it was maybe around 3 million dollars in free cash up to seven million dollars based on that history based on Trends to date and spending across City departments. Is there some way to find that money within the operating budget as opposed to taking it out of free cash.

▶ 1:35:34 Speaker 3: Not that I'm aware of. No.

▶ 1:35:38 Shawn M. MacMaster: And Mr. May you may have referenced this tonight, but for for the public who are aware that we do have a special education stabilization fund. Is there a reason we wouldn't be able to draw in part from that to offset the special education costs?

▶ 1:35:55 Paul Brodeur: Legal reason no sound fiscal practice. Yes, that money is intended to cover the unusual costs like the one I described earlier this evening in the event that that happens that tends to be a very significant cost that we have to meet right away. that cost in year two presumab goes away a little bit because we get circuit breaker funds but as you all know circuit breaker funds are reimbursement funds so we have to have money up front. To make that investment and meet our commitment to that particular student. So we try to preserve those funds as much as possible because that is that is a truly unpredictable. potentially very high expense

▶ 1:36:47 Shawn M. MacMaster: and my final question is I believe it was a February 9th memo that referenced. it being catastrophic to the district if the council did not support this order. In fairness to the council, isn't it fair to say that there really is no choice tonight but to prove the order because the money essentially has been It's been spent it's it's spoken for so it's

▶ 1:37:12 Speaker 2: spoken for it. There's no place. We can't take it out

▶ 1:37:15 Paul Brodeur: of the operating budget that it's spoken for it's not it's not. No they it's it's an it's a choice that I hope you make to to spend the money. An analogy of when this land and it's really bad. We essentially have no choice was back in way back in the day and one of the state fiscal mid year disruptions might be the only time where they did what's called Nine sea cuts that reached into Municipal Aid. so You know, everyone planned budgets based on we'll say, you know, if you say a million dollars of some kind of financial aid from the state that got caught mid-year in half. So that means you you have to Cut that money because it's literally not coming in right it's something you counted on that's not coming in. This was this is more closer to that. This is a resource. The cuts I think it would be extremely extremely unpalatable to be sure. They will have real impacts on on real lives. Just as you know a significant fight if we found a similar problem in police funding. You know a service that serves the whole city and serves it well and importantly. We could theoretic. I think Greenfield maybe just ended there. Their midnight shift and they literally don't cover please because the ultimately the council chose not to fund that completely legal state police come when they can.

▶ 1:38:55 Speaker 3: But it's not it's not good practice.

▶ 1:38:58 Shawn M. MacMaster: I think every every counselor agrees. We have we have to fund this there's no choice but to fund it it's the right thing to do. It's a responsible thing to do. They're just appears to be a false perception with the public that you know you that there's the ability to vote to vote this down. Nobody wants to vote it down. But there's there's I mean, you said yourself mayor this there's nowhere in the operating budget. And so the only the only option is to fund this they're not the

▶ 1:39:24 Paul Brodeur: only I I have if I was sitting in your shoes, I would be saying the same thing that the only real responsible option is to provide this money so we can deliver the education we promised when we built

▶ 1:39:36 Speaker 4: the budget I would Echo that as well through that that I think it was more just to make people aware. This isn't like something we could defer to next year or this isn't something we wouldn't want to think about and doing it's more that if this doesn't happen there there is an immediate alternative that

▶ 1:39:49 Paul Brodeur: has to happen and I think there was there was significant virtue to Going through the prophets the process. This is a significant shortfall. with some practices that led to a bad outcome. I think it's very important to have the conversation to make sure to council Stewart's Point many others how we sure this is never going to happen again. You know, if you know as we are all fiscal stewards of the of the city, we want the best Assurance we can get. Who for spending the money or before allocating the money that that same thing isn't going to happen again. I feel like we're at that place. I hope you do too.

▶ 1:40:29 Shawn M. MacMaster: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Kelly. I think if you work on this, thank you

▶ 1:40:33 Speaker 4: manager. Thank you president Grigoraitis. Thank

▶ 1:40:35 Jen Grigoraitis: you madam chair. Very brief. I just wanted to thank everyone who's here, like everyone else our school committee colleagues into the members of the public. It's lovely to see you. We don't get as many visitors as the school committee. It's nice to see this room filled. Please come back. We're usually pretty pretty palatable. I think and I do want to thank my colleagues. I know this there has been an enormous amount of Engagement both with the administration with members of the school committee who've made themselves available for all of us to question learn. It's clear. I think that we all come at this from different angles with different areas of expertise, but there's a shared passion and a shared commitment to public education and that as a parent warms my heart. I just want to touch on. The I feel like one of the themes in our questions is we don't want to do it this way again, which I feel like is probably shared by everyone in this room and Mr. Kelly. What a first year. Thank you for all of the work that you've done and for over. I I do want to highlight that I do feel like we continue to talk about our fiscal controls in a very person-based way. It's Mr. Kelly Mr. Della Russo and people move on and we know that and so I will just Again, kind of echo my comments from back in October. I would really like to see the city and I think the schools have begun to do some of this work in the school committee meetings. We need internal controls. We need training. We need documented segregation of Duties. We need testing of our policies. So I feel like that's as we move into fy24. I would like to see us building the internal infrastructure to make sure that we are able to move forward and do great things and again, and I know we've talked about the free cash into X Echo counselor Stewart. It's a Continuum of risk about where we want to fall as a community. I really do think we need to reflect on where that needs to be for this period in time. I do not want to be here again. I don't think any of us want to be here. So while I'm very happy to support this I also feel like we've got to do it better going forward. Thank you for all of you who've done this work. So with that I would make a motion to recommend for passage second.

▶ 1:42:48 Speaker 4: motion recommend for passage seconded by counselor sonella on discussion

▶ 1:42:56 Leila Migliorelli: I just I have one question as you lost Jack. I lost Jack, okay. Well, well Mr. Gorbil gets Jack back just my question. So if just point of one part in the memo about how special education. Was underfunded in fy19 and fy20. Could that have just led to a false sense of? Of where we were with the budget and so kind of thinking about the time in which we're building for an override. Maybe we did not have a sense of the Gap the true size of the Gap potentially if I'm interpreting this correctly.

▶ 1:43:35 Speaker 4: I think it was more of just two things under budgeting the tuition itself knowing what the number was and then not you know it if you look back at the example from the memo. It's I think one year tuition came in about a million dollars over what was expected and then the following year was only increased by about 200,000. I think I don't have in front of me, but it was something incremental was the increase but then the tuitions continued so that that widens that Gap year over year about you know, how are we going to fill that for the tuition so And then it was compounded by the double counting of the grant so that that exacerbated the problem 19% So

▶ 1:44:11 Paul Brodeur: that literally just about none of us were here. You know at the controls basically in 19. Yeah right

▶ 1:44:19 Speaker 4: under building anyway.

▶ 1:44:23 Leila Migliorelli: Okay, we have cancer Echols is back, but just want to Echo and thank my colleagues for this great conversation. All the questions. You've all asked. I think we're a very inquisitive body and I feel like we've done our due diligence in terms of making sure that that our constituents questions have been answered and that we're just ready to get started on the fy24 budget process. Hopefully taking into account some of the comments that my colleagues have made about looking at a you know, needs-based budget looking at our free cash and trying to weigh that risk between what we have what we can spend annually versus you know, what we want to wait in leave and left over leave left over for a free cash where we're at now which is some place it's not it's a little bit too risky and makes really hard to plan. I imagine for the schools to wait to these last-minute moments to add additional money to backfill operating costs. So with that if no one else on discuss in I'll have Mr. Clerk call the roll.

▶ 1:45:26 Speaker 4: Vice chair Jamal Dean Yes counselor McMaster. Yes counselor. Sonella. Yes counselor Eccles

▶ 1:45:35 Speaker 6: Yes.

▶ 1:45:36 Speaker 4: Counselor garpy. Yes. Kelser Stewart. Yes councilor. Karmchetti. Yes. Counselor bremski. Yes counselor Williams. Yes, president Urias. Yes. And chair Migliorelli. Yes, that's 11. Yes. Thank you. This order will be brought to the full council at our meeting next week with a recommendation for Passage.

▶ 1:45:59 Paul Brodeur: Thank you again for your time. And you do diligence the folks. Just well. This was well almost the closure because you had to go to the full board meetings understand that they Council on the school committee members again. We're very very engaged. At every level of price of trying to understand this and figure out the best way it is to resolve a very grateful for that.

▶ 1:46:20 Speaker 4: Yes. Thank you very much for your time consideration tonight. Appreciate it. Thank you.

▶ 1:46:26 Leila Migliorelli: Is there any appetite for a recess two minute recess before we move on to the next Source? Okay, I'm sure I'll make a motion to recess for five minutes so I can Recess by Mr. Counselor Stewart secondary by counselor McMaster, Colorado Vice chair. Jamality. Yes.