Blackstone-Millville school committee wrestles with FY23 budget, OPEB and a long capital list

The Blackstone-Millville Regional School Committee spent its Feb. 3 workshop parsing a FY23 budget shaped by rising state and local demands, a multi-year backlog of facility repairs and pressure from town finance committees to show movement on other post-employment benefits (OPEB).

Committee members and administrators opened the meeting by framing the choices: pursue an MSBA statement of interest and a facility feasibility study, or prioritize targeted maintenance and safety projects now. Administrators said facility needs run in the ‘‘millions’’ and must be placed on their priority lists alongside recurring operating demands.

Administrators Jason and Matt led a revenue briefing that stressed the uncertainty of the governor’s initial numbers and the sensitivity of the budget to chapter-70/cherry-sheet updates. They reported the district’s operating budget baseline (before charter and school-choice sends) at roughly $28,060,453 and a district-wide total that approaches $29.5 million after charter and school-choice tuition are added.

The presenters highlighted three budget pressures: more than $1.5 million in gross payments for students leaving the district under school choice and charter tuition; more than $1 million in out-of-district special-education costs; and a growing actuarial OPEB liability. They also noted available offsets including circuit-breaker funds (estimated at about $630,000), SR2/SR3 grant funds (SR2 partially at $320,000) and competitive grants the district has pursued.

A recurring theme was the state’s rising Minimum Local Contribution (MLC). The committee said Blackstone and Millville face collective MLC increases (noted in the meeting as a jump of about six percent), a shift that will increase the towns’ assessments and tighten local budgets. Members warned that town finance committees are signaling they will not support school budgets unless they see clearer town-level commitments on OPEB and capital spending.

On OPEB, the committee described the actuary’s advice that the liability functions on the district balance sheet like long-term debt and is best handled through a town-funded trust or an explicit town budget line item. Several members argued that modest annual deposits (the committee referenced current tentative deposits of about $50,000) are insufficient given the actuarial scale mentioned in the meeting; committee members said the community has suggested a materially larger annual contribution (figures discussed in the meeting included suggested target levels in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to make meaningful progress).

Administrators proposed several internal budget adjustments and savings: a five-year line-by-line review that yielded about $190,000 in reductions, exploration of shared special-education transportation with Bellingham (preliminary savings estimate roughly $75,000), and reallocating grant-funded positions where appropriate.

On staffing priorities, the committee agreed to bring a limited set of additions forward for the Feb. 10 meeting. The items the committee left on the priority list included two shared building substitutes (one shared elementary floater and one shared middle/high floater), a 0.6 FTE history teacher at the middle school (estimated $40,000), and a leader for academic affairs (half-time). The group extensively debated an athletic director position: several members supported a full-time athletic director to rebuild feeder programs and retain teams, while others argued a part-time role or club-based starts with community sponsorships would be more affordable.

Committee members discussed moving two elementary STEM positions from SR2/ESSER grant funding into the general fund (using breakage and replacement savings) so the positions would continue after grant funding ends. Administrators indicated the committee could act on that transition at its Feb. 10 meeting.

Smaller capital and operational items were reviewed individually: security camera upgrades, replacement helmets and athletic equipment, an industrial snowblower, an auto-scrubber, library circulation software replacement and consumable STEM/project-based supplies. Members repeatedly asked whether some items could be covered by existing rollovers, grants, or reallocation rather than additional town assessments.

Given the district’s long-range capital list and a near-term ‘‘must-do’’ package that administrators estimated at roughly $1.8 million (exclusive of asbestos abatement), the committee agreed to step up outreach to town officials. Members set a target for a joint meeting with town select boards, finance committees and capital outlay committees in early March (tentatively March 2) to present the five-year plan, explain the mandatory items (for example asbestos abatement) and seek town-level engagement and commitments.

Next steps: the committee will refine FY23 numbers and a pared-down priorities list for the Feb. 10 meeting; continue OPEB conversations with Millville; finalize decisions on the STEM position funding shift; and convene the joint town-capital meeting in early March. No formal votes on budget adoption or capital project authorizations were recorded at the workshop.

The committee closed by scheduling follow-up work and agreed to present town-facing materials (a concise five-year priority deck and the draft capital list) at the joint session so the towns could assess feasibility and timing.