Blackstone‑Millville committee reviews FY24 draft budget, eyes MSBA feasibility study for new high school
January 13, 2023 | Blackstone-Millville, School Boards, Massachusetts
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Superintendent Jason DeFalco on Jan. 12 walked the Blackstone‑Millville Regional School Committee through a draft FY24 budget and outlined next steps if the district pursues a Massachusetts School Building Authority feasibility study.
DeFalco told the committee the draft proposes district‑only expenditures of $28,562,838.99, an increase of $1,427,644.99 (5.26%). He said the district expects to apply roughly $400,000 in ESSER III and Title I offsets to salaries, which would reduce the net increase to about 3.8 percent. ‘‘When you apply that $400,000 from ESSER III and from Title I, that overall number actually drops to 3.8,’’ DeFalco said.
Why it matters: the committee must finalize a budget while several federal grants expire in June and before the state posts final school‑choice and charter tuition figures. DeFalco said those state numbers are not available yet and were excluded from the draft, which makes timing and community outreach critical in the weeks ahead.
Capital and project highlights: DeFalco presented a consolidated capital worksheet that lists outstanding debt by project and flagged two items that need more discussion: a proposed FY24 asbestos remediation line of $250,000 for the high school (to be confirmed with DLS) and continuing discussion about where to show OPEB (other post‑employment benefits) costs. ‘‘We have 1,500 students... we really need people to plug into this,’’ he said, urging community participation in planned tours and an MSBA finance session.
On a potential MSBA application, DeFalco described recent community outreach and said the opportunity to receive MSBA assistance would likely be a single decisive window. He estimated the project scale would ‘‘probably be somewhere between the 50 and 60,000,000’’ range and emphasized the district must move deliberately to preserve options.
Budget drivers and offsets: the superintendent explained several areas that increased the draft totals — contractual salary steps and benefits, additional STEM and intervention positions approved by the committee, and sharply higher utilities — and pointed to identified savings, including bus route consolidation from a recently purchased van (estimated six‑figure annual savings) and the ability to prepay certain collaborative tuitions to reduce FY24 costs.
Next steps: DeFalco said the committee will hold a sequence of budget workshops (starting Jan. 17 and through late January/early March) that will allow members to examine function‑code line items in detail and adjust the draft before certification, and he committed to additional community outreach with MSBA finance and local boards.
DeFalco closed by reiterating the budget timetable and constraints: the committee must work with state timelines for school‑choice and charter tuition figures and complete workshops and town meetings ahead of budget certification.
DeFalco told the committee the draft proposes district‑only expenditures of $28,562,838.99, an increase of $1,427,644.99 (5.26%). He said the district expects to apply roughly $400,000 in ESSER III and Title I offsets to salaries, which would reduce the net increase to about 3.8 percent. ‘‘When you apply that $400,000 from ESSER III and from Title I, that overall number actually drops to 3.8,’’ DeFalco said.
Why it matters: the committee must finalize a budget while several federal grants expire in June and before the state posts final school‑choice and charter tuition figures. DeFalco said those state numbers are not available yet and were excluded from the draft, which makes timing and community outreach critical in the weeks ahead.
Capital and project highlights: DeFalco presented a consolidated capital worksheet that lists outstanding debt by project and flagged two items that need more discussion: a proposed FY24 asbestos remediation line of $250,000 for the high school (to be confirmed with DLS) and continuing discussion about where to show OPEB (other post‑employment benefits) costs. ‘‘We have 1,500 students... we really need people to plug into this,’’ he said, urging community participation in planned tours and an MSBA finance session.
On a potential MSBA application, DeFalco described recent community outreach and said the opportunity to receive MSBA assistance would likely be a single decisive window. He estimated the project scale would ‘‘probably be somewhere between the 50 and 60,000,000’’ range and emphasized the district must move deliberately to preserve options.
Budget drivers and offsets: the superintendent explained several areas that increased the draft totals — contractual salary steps and benefits, additional STEM and intervention positions approved by the committee, and sharply higher utilities — and pointed to identified savings, including bus route consolidation from a recently purchased van (estimated six‑figure annual savings) and the ability to prepay certain collaborative tuitions to reduce FY24 costs.
Next steps: DeFalco said the committee will hold a sequence of budget workshops (starting Jan. 17 and through late January/early March) that will allow members to examine function‑code line items in detail and adjust the draft before certification, and he committed to additional community outreach with MSBA finance and local boards.
DeFalco closed by reiterating the budget timetable and constraints: the committee must work with state timelines for school‑choice and charter tuition figures and complete workshops and town meetings ahead of budget certification.
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