Council presses school budget team over $17M transportation projection and backs letter to state delegation

Fall River’s Committee on Finance spent the bulk of its June 1 meeting probing the School Department’s FY27 budget after school leaders presented an operating request they said totals roughly $213,000,000 for the coming year. Interim Superintendent Kathleen Smith, who marked her first month in the district, told the committee the district’s enrollment is about 11,000 with roughly 2,500 staff and said the district is not facing layoffs and expects to add positions next year.

Councilors focused on transportation costs, which the school presentation lists as a $17,000,000 projected expense. Council members noted the city’s operating document shows $16.1 million, and asked staff to reconcile the discrepancy. Chief Financial Officer Kevin Almeda and the city’s budget staff said the $17 million figure is the school-submitted projection; when a circuit-breaker special-education reimbursement (about $1.8 million) and estimated McKinney‑Vento homeless-transportation reimbursement (about $1.4 million) are backed out, the net eligible transportation cost aligns with the city’s $13.08 million figure.

Councilor Kadeem pressed why the administration’s submission differs from a recent school committee vote that briefly approved an additional $3 million to bring net school spending to 101 percent. He also challenged the administration’s inclusion of an assumed $900,000 savings from proposed redistricting without supporting route or contractor analyses. City staff responded that the $900,000 is an estimated reduction based on redistricting goals and current-year actuals; they acknowledged there is not yet documentation tying specific route changes to that exact dollar estimate and committed to return with supporting analysis if needed.

Because of those unresolved questions and the broader impact on gateway communities, the committee voted to instruct the finance subcommittee to draft a letter to the local legislative delegation asking them to examine state reimbursement for school transportation. The motion was made by Councilor Kadeem and seconded by Vice President Dion and carried unanimously.

The administration said the McKinney‑Vento special revenue fund currently shows just over $800,000 in balance. School leaders said McKinney‑Vento and circuit-breaker funds are special revenues used directly for transportation costs and that timing of state reimbursements is sometimes delayed; they pledged to report back with trial-balance detail and to revisit budget assumptions if projections prove optimistic.

What’s next: staff committed to provide the committee with the route/redistricting analysis, actual contract encumbrances and the trial‑balance detail for McKinney‑Vento and circuit-breaker funds. The committee asked the administration to return before full council with any updates and documentation used to justify proposed savings.