Editor’s note: The budget is a 4.44% increase over the last budget year. A previous version of the story had the incorrect percentage.
The Concord School Board approved a $102 million school budget Wednesday that includes some last-minute additions of AmeriCorps members and a Life Skills teaching position.
The $102,018,330 school budget for 2022-23 has a general fund budget of $96,316,405. The district is putting money away for future use, including $1.7 million in the Facilities and Renovations Trust Fund for an eventual Rundlett Middle School building project, $196,000 in the Vocational Capital Reserve fund, $85,196 in the Renovations and Maintenance Trust Fund and $80,000 in the Food Service fund.
This year’s general fund represents a 4.44% increase from the 2021-2022 general fund budget of $92.2 million after the budget work process this month. The combined local and state tax rate increase is projected to increase by .52 cent or 3.68%
“I do not like a budget increase any more than anyone else does,” School Board President Jim Richards said Wednesday. “I appreciate the superintendent and her team working hard to keep our budget below inflation and below what I’ve seen some of the other school districts budget. I’d like to have flat budgets, but unfortunately inflation, healthcare, fuel and everything else continues to move up and it is the reality that we live in.”
The board and district officials decided Wednesday to bring in four AmeriCorps members next year who will be divided among the schools and support students amid increasing concerns about student mental health. The district originally applied for six AmeriCorps members and were approved for four Wednesday. They will be in the position for 12 months and the district will contribute a total of $32,000 toward their stipends, which will come from a Title IV grant. A fifth position will facilitate the work of the AmeriCorps members, with funding from an innovation grant.
“The greatest need right now is at the high school,” superintendent Kathleen Murphy said. And that’s why we also put an additional social worker into the high school in ESSER to support our youngsters.”
The decision to bring in the support positions came partly from discussions at a February meeting where the School Discipline and SRO Task Force made recommendations on ways to improve the current school discipline system. In interviews with the task force, students said they wanted mental health support from adults who were not authority figures from the administration.
“AmeriCorps, they’ve been trained in trauma, trained in mentorship,” Murphy said. “They get the training, they’ll come to us with that training so that they have those relationships.”
The Task Force had recommended bringing in “student safety coaches” who reflect the diverse backgrounds of the students. Task Force member Elizabeth Lahey said at the meeting that the goal was to reduce the school resource officer position to a crime-only focus, but that four AmeriCorps positions don’t provide enough support to allow the district to do that.
“I don’t think giving them a little extra training accomplishes the end that the Task Force was looking at in terms of safety coaches,” Lahey said. “If you don’t bring in the safety coaches then I agree, you’re creating, you’re manufacturing a need for the SRO.”
Board member Jonathan Weinberg, who had suggested amending the budget to reduce the SRO position to a part-time position in a previous budget work session, expressed dissatisfaction with the budget in its current form on Wednesday and ultimately voted against it along with board member Kate West.
The budget passed 7-2, with board members Gina Cannon, Bob Cotton, Brenda Hastings, Barb Higgins, David Parker, Jim Richards and Pamela Walsh voting in favor of the budget.
The board also added an additional part-time teaching position at $60,000 for a high school Planning for Life and Ca reer class in addition to the current full-time teacher, after the class proved so popular this year that over 100 students were on the waiting list. They also added $50,000 to go toward professional development training for teachers.