Seekonk School Budget Still in Limbo

The FY’27 school budget is still in limbo after the Select Board and the School Committee were unable to reach an agreement at their April 1 meeting.

The School Committee will hold a special meeting on Wednesday to vote on the budget.

The current budget projection, considering level services and mandatory updates, is a 4.61 percent increase ($1.5 million). The school budget will be presented to voters at the May 11 Town Meeting.

Fixed costs have increased in several categories, including transportation, energy, maintenance materials, and tuitions.

Level services, non-salary costs are the primary driver of the increases.

“We are attempting to work together to meet the needs of all constituents in this town,” said Superintendent Rebecca Kidwell.

Town Administrator Shawn Cadime is willing to give the school department a smaller increase, closer to three percent. Kidwell said $544,000 would have to be reduced from the school budget to reach three percent.

Fees for transportation, athletics, and student parking at Seekonk High School are a possibility.

Kidwell said another option to save money would be to not fill some vacant staff positions or to eliminate elective courses. Larger class sizes would be a result at Hurley Middle School and the two elementary schools.

Eliminating athletics altogether would save the district $695,000.

“This is what we’re down to at this point and we want to be transparent with the community,” Kidwell noted. “We have already reduced everything that is extra. We’ve already made significant cuts beyond what is extra.”

“We’re trying to be even and fair in how we reduce the budget,” said school committee chair Bob Gerardi. “We have increased class sizes to the limits, where it's detrimental if we go higher. We have reduced course offerings. I feel like these budgets have set us back four years.”

Committee member Kyle Juckett, who is not running for re-election, acknowledged mistakes have been made.

“I think both of these boards have failed, myself included. Had we truly met to collaborate and find a solution to this problem, I don’t think we have. Maybe I should have pushed harder to have these types of meetings,” Juckett said. “This is a problem we all do have to solve together.”

Select Board member Michael Healy said agreement between the two boards on a budget figure before town meeting would be “very difficult.”

“The last thing I want to see is for us to go to Town Meeting and not be on the same page,” Healy added. “That usually doesn’t work well for one side or the other.”