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The Sudbury Public Schools (SPS) School Committee met on Monday night, May 13, with two new members present. Karyn Jones and Mary Stephens were sworn in last week. As is the committee’s normal procedure following Annual Town Meeting, they were set to vote a new chair and vice-chair.
The election for school committee was hotly contested for the first time since 2021, and at one point there were seven candidates who pulled papers, but the first meeting of the new committee was comparatively tame. Nicole Burnard was elected to serve as chair and Meredith Gerson was elected to continue serving as vice-chair. The vote was unanimous.
The committee also uses this meeting to determine liaison and subcommittee roles. During that discussion Mary Stephens voiced a desire to join the subcommittee that would negotiate the teacher’s contract, which is coming up this year. She was denied that opportunity by the three veteran members of the committee, who argued that those subcommittees should only be comprised of members who have experience serving on the SPS School Committee, and that priority should be given to the chair and vice-chair. The majority was also unwilling to add a new member to single-member subcommittees that negotiate other contracts such as the nurses contract, which has been unresolved for several years.
Nonetheless, the committee was able to work through the discussion, and is reorganized for the year ahead.
The work ahead of the committee looks quite similar to prior years. Don Sawyer, the district’s Director of Business and Human Resources, informed the committee that the latest version of the State budget included more Chapter 70 aid than previously anticipated. This also happened last year, leading to a controversial SPS article at a Special Town Meeting in October 2023, and contentious budget discussions in December 2023. That article, which succeeded, accelerated the funds into the current fiscal year, but was subject to a great deal of scrutiny as it broke with the traditional financial practices of the town. Members of the committee justified the move by citing the extraordinary nature of the aid increase, and the issues facing students in the schools.
Typically the town estimates Chapter 70 aid conservatively for the annual budget because the State budget is finalized after the Town budget. Then, it puts the full amount of prior-year Chapter 70 aid, plus a conservative estimate of an increase, into the SPS budget in the ensuing fiscal year, when the number is certain. This mitigates the risk of overestimating how much aid will come in from the State, which would created significant budget challenges for the Town. Based on comments in the SPS School Committee meeting on Monday, it appears the committee may endeavor to use a similar maneuver to accelerate higher-than-expected State aid into the budget for FY25.