'Extremely Challenging': Salem Schools Face Future Budget Shortfall
SALEM, MA — As the Salem Teachers Union celebrated the ratification of a new collective-bargaining agreement that it proclaimed includes “competitive salaries that educators deserve” as well as paid parental leave, increased prep time and new sick bank provisions, the School Committee on Monday night began to examine the projected deficits expected based on the additional personnel costs and increases in non-personnel expenses such as utilities, transportation and special education costs.
The tentative agreement on a new teacher contract agreed to on Aug. 30 calls for a 4.25 percent pay increase in the first year and a 19 percent increase over three years for most teachers. The STU said in a statement that most paraprofessionals will see wage increases of close to 50 percent over the three years.
The STU’s membership approved ratifying the contract with a 95 percent margin on Thursday.
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On Monday, some of the ramifications of those increases — as well as escalating costs in the non-personnel expenses — were considered with several potential scenarios presented to the School Committee.
Under a scenario with a 3.5 percent increase in the city-approved school budget (the average of recent years) and a 4 percent increase in the non-personnel expenses, that could lead to a deficit of $4.4 million in Fiscal Year 2026 and $8.3 million in Fiscal Year 2027.
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“Our new growth last year was about $1.1 million,” Salem Mayor and School Committee Chair Dominick Pangallo said. “So if you are looking at a $12 million increase in personnel costs just for the School Department alone over the next three years, new growth alone won’t carry that.
“The larger financial picture is extremely challenging. We are prepared to meet it. That’s our commitment. But we want to do so in a way that is not going to make Salem an unaffordable place for people to live who have to pay their taxes. That’s going to be the work of the next several months.”
School Committee member and State Rep. Manny Cruz noted that, while he appreciates that Salem residents have traditionally been very supportive of the schools, school budget increases cannot all come at the expense of other city personnel and services in a finite budget pie.
Superintendent Steve Zrike recommended starting next year’s budgeting process earlier than is traditionally done with opportunities for the public to watch and weigh in on the process and the potential cuts.
“Everything is important but there are things that are less mission-critical that we should begin examining now to get ahead of it,” Zrike said. “Begin having those conversations transparently for the public to hear them.”
Zrike said there is “still right-sizing that has to happen” with some classes and programs coming out of the COVID-era needs that came out of the restrictions and return-to-school disruptions.
“We have to have some hard conversations,” Zrike said. “I appreciate the city doing their part and we would love to get more (funding) from the state. But we also have some internal right-sizing that we’ve started to do — we’ve done some of it already.”
(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)
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