Seekonk School Committee Lobbies Select Board

Members of the Seekonk School Committee appeared at the April 15 Select Board meeting in an attempt to earn support for a higher budget.

In a 4-0 vote, the Select Board approved making cuts on the town side which would allow for a 3 percent increase in the school budget. Member Robert Archambault recused himself from the discussion.

Board member Michael Healy believed taking money out of the line for professional development and certifications for town employees would be a mistake.

“You’ll see good people we have working here decide to go elsewhere,” he noted.

Another consideration is to cut funds for National Night Out, which is a community engagement event for the Police Department.

“I would hate to see that get lost in the shuffle,” Healy said.

Healy also rejected the idea of cutting funds to replace aging police cruisers, as well as for new employees for the Fire Department and the Department of Public Works.

The budget will be presented at the May 11 Town Meeting.

“All departments are absolutely being impacted, that’s 100 percent true,” said committee member Andrew Tessier. “But we have heard about Police, Fire, (Public Works) have had to work with limited constraints as well. No one is disputing that. No one is saying that anyone here is rolling in money. That’s obviously not happening. But when you compare the major service areas, the schools experienced one of the largest slowdowns in growth.”

“Everything we do is for the schools,” said Select Board member Chris Zorra.

At the April 13 school committee meeting, the Chair Robert Gerardi repeated his claim that the school department had been “treated unfairly.”

“The right recipe for us to collaborate is not with sarcasm and bashing people,” said Chair Gary Sagar.  “That’s not a positive thing and hopefully we can move forward. There are some areas we need to dive into - special education and maintenance.”

“I really appreciate you working with us,” said committee member Emily Field. “In my four years (on the school committee), we’ve never had this type of relationship. I apologize if anyone on our board offended anyone on the Select Board. I think you guys have shown very good faith working with us.”

Last week, the committee approved fees for athletics and activities at the middle and high school levels as a way to compensate for a deficit in the FY’27 budget.

Along with some reductions, the total increase is 3.41 percent. At their April 8 meeting, the committee had approved a 3.95 percent increase.

Last February, the school department had proposed a 4.61 percent increase over the previous fiscal year. Town officials had been unwilling to allow for more than a 2.5 percent increase, noting town departments would be negatively impacted, including the Police and Fire departments, as well as the Department of Public Works.