Monomoy Schools Cut Budget At Request Of Select Board

 HARWICH – Under pressure from the select board, the Monomoy Regional School Committee last week voted to reduce its fiscal 2026 budget request by 0.86 percent.

 The select board members told the school district’s administration on March 24 that they would not support the 6.73 percent budget increase previously approved by the school committee. Annual school district increases were depriving the town of its ability to fund its annual operating budget, they said.

 Based on recommendations from its finance subcommittee, the school committee voted last Thursday to reduce its annual budget request by $400,418, a 0.86 percent decrease. The total budget is now $49,241,572, a 5.87 percent increase. 

 Select board members on Monday night voted 5-0 to support the budget.

 The adjusted budget puts Harwich’s share at $31,142,031, down $309,126 or 1.04 percent over the original assessment. That is a 4.23 percent increase over the current year. The Chatham assessment is $11,118,811, 0.88 percent less than originally voted and a 7.86 percent increase over current school spending. 

 Officials had warned the school committee that its initial budget was 4.76 percent higher than the entire town operating budget, and that if further cuts were not made the spending plan could be subject to a Proposition 2½ override.

MRSD Business Manager Michael MacMillian told the select board on Monday night that funds for professional development, furniture and some software items were removed, but the district will attempt to find funds and grants to cover some of those items. 

 There were more than 20 items listed as removed from the budget. Among the major financial cuts were $50,000 for co-teaching professional development; $45,000 for restorative justice professional development; $35,000 for belonging and equity development; $30,000 for the final year of math professional development; and $25,000 for differentiation professional development.

In the school committee session, Select Board Chair Jeffrey Handler was asked about the potential for the town facing a financial crisis. Handler responded that Harwich is not in a crisis financially, but the board and finance committee are hearing financial concerns from voters. He said there are major projects, such as sewering and the middle school reconstruction project that will be very expensive and have major impacts on town funding.

“It would be irresponsible of us to not look at every dollar that is spent by our town and who's asking for that money,” Handler said. “Every dollar that we spend on this school budget is money that we don’t have to run the operational aspects of our town.” 

Handler added: “Let me paint a quick picture: Since FY 2011 Harwich has spent roughly $69 million above and beyond the school budget of 2011. That’s over 14 years we’ve spent accumulatively $69 million. Conversely, Chatham has saved $15 or $16 million over the last 14 years. So I ask you to think about it, because that’s what our voters are thinking about…It’s unsustainable for us to keep going in that trajectory.”

Chatham representative Jackie Zibrat Long said the town select boards are not addressing the “elephant in the room,” the regional school assessment agreement. 

Handler cited the planned meeting on the agreement and discussions relating to the middle school reconstruction project scheduled for Tuesday, April 8 at 2 p.m at Harwich Town Hall. That session will include two members of the Harwich Select Board and two members of the Chatham Select Board, the town administrator and town manager and finance directors. The session is open to the public, Handler said, and he encouraged public attendance. 

Handler said a 3 to 5 percent school budget increase every year is unsustainable, and taxpayers will say stop and will want to look for another alternative. That would be the case, he said, if Chatham’s school population continues to drop and Harwich’s increases. If Harwich’s assessment, now 76 percent, increases to 80 to 84 percent, it becomes unsustainable.

In Thursday’s meeting with the school committee, Handler called for more communication, potentially a once-a-month meeting between the select board and school officials. He called Thursday’s session with the school committee was “extremely positive.” 

In Monday’ meeting with the select board, School Superintendent Scott Carpenter said a lot has changed in the district  since regionalization took place in 2011. While the district is experiencing a decrease in enrollment, there is an increase in the number of impoverished young families living in the district facing economic challenges. 

Since 2011, the percentage of households qualified as low income in both communities has increased from 18 percent to 40 percent, Carpenter said. Fifty percent of the students in both elementary schools are identified as having high needs based on either coming from impoverished families, having English learning problems, or having special education needs. Together with state mandated programs, these issues are impacting the school budget, according to Carpenter.    

“The message here is the cost of education is getting higher and putting pressure on these budgets,” McMillian said.

  “I appreciate you going through this exercise,” Select Board member Peter Piekarski said. “It allows us to submit a solid budget to town meeting, and it doesn’t appear it will impact your budget.