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The Sudbury Public Schools School Committee appeared to be fed up in their January 15 meeting. After two months of a budget building process that raised more questions than answers, the committee let the administration know that they expect better communication from Superintendent Brad Crozier moving forward.
Over the course of two nights this week, the committee sought to reverse a unilateral decision made by the administration to restructure the Extended School Year program (ESY) into a consolidated 4-day format. They also sought to establish a summer program to bridge SPS families for one more year after voting to eliminate the SMILE and Explore programs. Those efforts began with a joint meeting with the Special Education Parent Advisory Committee on Wednesday, January 14 and continued in an ensuing budget meeting on Thursday January 15.
But the apparent frustration was not entirely focused on summer programming. Superintendent Brad Crozier presented a balanced budget during the January 14 meeting, which was achieved, in part, by making staff cuts including three Educational Support Professionals and one English Learner (EL) staff position. The full presentation and recommended cuts and be reviewed in the packet here:
While the proposed cuts achieved a balanced budget, members voiced frustration that they were not provided options and alternatives to weigh. Vice Chair Jessica McCready expressed her frustration that the administration did not provide requested information prior to the meeting, forcing the committee to react live in open session to new information. Chair Karyn Jones asked for alternatives on the spot, but the administration refused to give a specific answer other than to say staff cuts, as they didn’t want to frighten any employees by naming specific departments or functional areas where they would make alternative cuts. Chair Jones lamented that the SPS budget is so tight that it was impossible to avoid direct impact on students with any alternative cuts.
Much of the two meetings involved hours of questions for the administration as the committee members sought to find out what exactly was happening in the SPS budget.
The committee also expressed disappointment in Superintendent Crozier’s communication with Town Manager Andy Sheehan. Sheehan had joined a December school committee meeting and indicated that he may be able to drum up more funds for SPS, but SPS would need to find a way to close their $1.6M forecasted deficit to a more manageable number first. Crozier recommended budget cuts and staff reductions to get to a balanced budget without following up on the additional funds that Sheehan had mentioned in December.
During the meeting, Sheehan informed the committee that he was providing increased guidance to SPS, along with Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School and the Town (guidance is a year-over-year percent increase for their budgets). The three cost centers had previously received level 3.75% guidance late last year. With the new guidance, SPS was getting 4.17%, which is a $200,000 increase. The other cost centers got just under 4% according to Sheehan, who explained that he freed up the funds by planning to pay the Town’s OPEB (Other Post Employment Benefits) contribution out of free cash instead of the operating budget.
While that was welcome news for the committee, Sheehan sent a strong message to SPS by telling them that this approach to budget building cannot continue. Sheehan drummed up over $100,000 at the 11th hour for SPS during last year’s budget building process, and a year later the district was in an even worse position with its budget.
That exchange led to some back-and-forth about Superintendent Crozier’s communication with the Town Manager and Assistant Town Manager over the course of the last month. Member Betsy Sues pointed out that this was the second time in the last month that they had to discuss communication issues.
While SPS is getting the additional $200,000, it remains uncertain how it will be used. The administration indicated the it would be placed in the line item for ESY, but the committee will likely need to vote to move it once a final plan is created. To that point — the priority for the committee appeared to be establishing a summer camp or childcare program that would provide a 1-year bridge for families and allow more time for them to make alternative plans for the summer of 2027. Crozier did inform the committee that he was initiating conversations with the Sudbury Park and Recreation department to see if they could help with a solution.
The district could also outsource a summer program to a private partner or run an in-house program. However, the administration was resistant to running an in-house program, citing timelines and staffing challenges, while putting the onus back on the committee to conceive of a summer program during the discussion.
If the program they decide upon is budget neutral, then the $200,000 could be used in a variety of other ways, including to stave off some of the cuts proposed by Crozier — but nothing is certain at this stage.
The committee voted to transmit the budget to the Town at the end of the meeting, voicing their appreciation to Town Manager Sheehan for once again getting the district out of a difficult situation, but FY27 budget conversations appear to be far from over.