Will Bridgewater-Raynham be able to avoid layoffs? Here's what superintendent says
RAYNHAM — Bridgewater-Raynham officials are telling staff, faculty and parents to expect budget shortfalls in the upcoming school year, partially due to state aid not keeping up with inflation.
“As it stands as of today, there will be positions left unfilled, and there may be reductions. We are continuing to explore all options to avoid layoffs or staff cuts, but we may not be able to avoid it,” said B-R Superintendent Ryan Powers in a March 25 email to the Gazette.
The budget for next year approved by the School Committee on March 27 — which still needs to be approved by Bridgewater and Raynham at their annual town meetings in May — is $97 million, a 2% increase over this year's budget number which was about $95 million.
Don’t be fooled by the word "increase" as, much like other school districts, B-R dealt with a massive shortfall in state aid, known as Chapter 70 money.
B-R is only receiving $31.5 million in Chapter 70 aid for the upcoming school year, which is only a $550,000 increase, or 1.35% over this year's $30.9 million.
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The same thing happened with transportation funding, which is mostly reimbursed by the state to the school district. The amount received for next school year is $2.6 million. That's up from $2.37 million this year. But that increase is not enough to keep up with rising costs.
With state aid not matching the rate of inflation, Powers said B-R must deal with a $5.6 million deficit — brought on by cost drivers like increased health insurance costs, contractual salary increases and increased costs all around for things like transportation, special education and utilities.
To offset this deficit, $2 million was approved by the School Committee to come from one of the district’s reserve accounts, Excess & Deficiency.
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As a result of the deficit and reduced state aid, Powers said a hiring freeze will be instated for the 2024-2025 school year. The threat of cuts to staffing remains possible.
Powers told the School Committee at the March 13 meeting that the district needs every teacher it currently has to handle rising classroom sizes.
“I don’t want to say that layoffs or reductions aren’t a possibility. It may come to that,” he said, adding that right now they are just not filling open positions.
This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Bridgewater-Raynham schools budget shortfall may prompt layoffs
