Beverly superintendent lays out FY26 budget pressures, seeks offsets from revolving funds and grants

Superintendent Suzanne Cherochek told the Beverly School Committee on Feb. 26 that salaries and benefits account for roughly 85% of the district's appropriated budget and that several known cost increases will put pressure on the FY26 plan.

Cherochek said the district's FY25 appropriated budget was $78,267,064, and noted that settled contract steps, cost-of-living adjustments and other compensation changes for Unit A, B, C and other employees amount to an estimated $4,961,407 in wage-and-benefit increases for FY26.

Why it matters: salary and special-education costs form the bulk of school spending, so changes to contracts, out-of-district placements, transportation reimbursements and one-time federal grant availability can require the district to draw on revolving accounts or seek additional city support.

Key figures and pressures

- Appropriated FY25 budget cited: $78,267,064; salary & benefits ~85% of that total. - Contractual wage-and-benefit increases (FY25'—to'FY26): about $4,961,407 (settled unit contracts, step/cola/lanes, health insurance and other compensation changes). - Out-of-district special-education tuition: district anticipates a $600,000 increase; the district reported an out-of-district tuition line of about $2,000,000, of which transportation for those placements and other contracted transportation account for a large share. - Transportation: the appropriated transportation/contracted transportation line includes roughly $1,500,000 of the $2,000,000 figure; an additional portion is covered by revolving funds and user fees. - Circuit breaker (special-education reimbursement) projected carryover at the end of FY25: approximately 69.8% after planned spending; superintendent said that earlier projections of about 60% were borne out but the final carryover is slightly better. - Federal grant carryforward: a federal IDEA/Title II-like grant (referred to in the meeting as the "240" grant) had been used to fund paraprofessionals and co-teaching positions; Cherochek said the district expects to lose about $547,000 of one-time carryforward support that will need to be absorbed in the appropriated budget. - Technology: a teacher-laptop replacement cycle is estimated at roughly $200,000 next year; the district also noted a $300,000 Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) award used in FY25 that is not expected to recur. - Facilities and safety licensing: new annual security-system licensing will be about $100,000 per year, and HVAC contractual services are projected to need about $142,000 in additional funds. - Utilities: the superintendent said an approximate $90,000 increase was projected this cycle, roughly a 10% rise against an estimated $1 million utilities baseline.

Enrollment and program context

- Districtwide enrollments are steady overall. Kindergarten was estimated at about 360 pupils for planning purposes; the district expects roughly 2,000 elementary students next year. - Middle school cohorts will be larger next year due to two consecutive large elementary cohorts moving up; conversely the high school is expecting a smaller freshman class, in part because 50'—to'60 students annually attend Essex Tech. - Multilingual learners (MLL/EL): the district began the year with 211 identified learners, peaked at 284, and has seen recent declines as some families return abroad; staff are monitoring required services and resourcing. - School-choice and nonresident tuition revenue: the district raised its nonresident tuition rate for SEVIS/nonresident students to a number tied to per-pupil expenditure (an expectation of roughly $21,150 in the district's estimate), and estimated there are about 10 ongoing SEVIS students.

Offsets and revolving accounts

Cherochek walked the committee through revolving-account balances and said some offsets cannot be relied on indefinitely. She identified circuit breaker, school choice and transportation revolving funds as material offsets that have been drawn down in recent years and that the district is planning to reduce usage of over time rather than depend on one-year solutions.

Follow-ups and committee questions

Committee members asked for additional breakdowns and timelines: - A school committee member asked for a more detailed transportation breakout at a future Finance & Facilities meeting that would show how much is covered by user fees and how Beverly's fees compare to nearby districts. - Members asked for expanded slides on device-replacement cycles, trade-in assumptions, and how much of technology costs are one-time versus recurring. - The committee discussed class-size targets already in district policy: K'——2 target 22; grades 3'——4 target 25; grades 5'——8 target 25; high school target 30.

What the superintendent asked the committee to expect

Cherochek said the next steps include continued enrollment and staffing reviews over the coming weeks, additional follow-ups on transportation and technology costs, and collaboration with the city for final appropriations. She underscored that the governor's budget process (Chapter 70 state aid) would continue through the spring and the district would finalize its FY26 numbers after the state's allocations were known.

Ending note

The committee did not take a formal vote on the FY26 appropriated numbers at the Feb. 26 meeting; the presentation was an overview and a request for ongoing review as staff finalize budget materials and preparatory meetings with the city continue.