Revere Schools Narrow $7.3M Gap to About $3M With Staffing and Non‑salary Cuts; $1.6M Transportation Shortfall Remains

Revere Public Schools officials told the Ways and Means subcommittee that a first draft of next year’s budget showed a $7.3 million structural deficit but that proposed salary and non‑salary reductions could lower the gap to “a little bit over $3,000,000,” Superintendent Dr. Diane Kelly said.

The school department’s shortfall began with a working estimate that assumed a $5 million carryforward from this year and no use of the district reserve; that starting point produced the roughly $7.3 million figure, Dr. Kelly said. She summarized several drivers behind the structural gap: flat net school spending relative to rising local costs, exhaustion of ESSER pandemic funds, higher health‑insurance rates (estimated at about 17–19 percent), higher substitute and tuition costs for charter/choice placements, and finalized collective bargaining costs.

Why it matters: the district has limited flexibility to plug the gap. Dr. Kelly said the draft reductions — a mix of unfilled positions, targeted non‑salary cuts and operational changes — are designed to preserve direct student services where possible while reducing recurring costs.

The administration outlined the main cost reductions under consideration:

- About $4.0 million of salary savings via position eliminations and not backfilling some…