Rockport committee pins $1M budget gap to salaries, proposes seven-teacher equivalent reduction

Superintendent Mark Branko said the district's preliminary operating budget includes a placeholder town contribution of 2.9 percent and leaves “just over 1000000 dollar gap in the budget between last year and this year.” The committee heard a 0-based budgeting presentation that separates operating and capital asks and requires a committee vote by Feb. 5 to meet the town meeting schedule.

Branko walked committee members through drivers of the gap — salary adjustments, tuition increases for out-of-district placements, transportation and contractual obligations — and outlined proposed reductions to close it. He said the first significant reduction would be “the equivalent of 7 full time, equivalent teachers,” followed by cuts to stipended curriculum coordinator roles, paraprofessionals and one administrator; he emphasized individual conversations with affected staff and that “no student services are gonna be negatively impacted.”

Committee members asked about how offsets such as circuit breaker and school choice are calculated and the risk that state reimbursements can vary. Business manager June Sanfilippo said school choice and circuit breaker offsets have declined with statewide enrollment decreases and cautioned the committee against assuming volatile state payments. Branko and staff said competitive grants would be used conservatively and that a remaining $187,000 shortfall may require drawing on reserves if other eliminations cannot be identified.

Next steps: the leadership team will refine staffing models with licensure and seniority audits over the winter break and return to the committee with draft models and additional budget detail in January; the committee must adopt a school-level vote by Feb. 5 to meet the town meeting timeline.