As members of our school community, the Jefferson School Committee is invested in providing the best possible education for every child. This year’s proposed budget reflects not only our commitment to excellence but also the reality of the challenges we face, particularly the ongoing shortage of qualified staff and the significant, mandated costs associated with providing high-quality special education services.
Efforts to hire and retain staff, specifically in special education, have been largely unsuccessful in Jefferson for the past two years, even finding qualified candidates to interview has been difficult. High rates of teacher burnout driven by low pay, excessive workloads, and a challenging school environment have led to a revolving door of staff turnover at both the professional and support staff levels.
In addition, enrollment in teacher preparation programs has declined sharply, further shrinking the pool of new educators entering the profession. The inability to find, hire, and retain qualified staff not only disrupts student learning but also undermines the stability and effectiveness of Jefferson Village School.
As a result of not being able to hire qualified staff, we have been forced into a situation where we need to contract services, including physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, at a much higher cost, in some situations more than double what it would cost if we were able to have a qualified person on staff.
We have been forced into utilizing agencies to find and supply ed techs that provide support at higher costs. We have also been forced to tuition out more students than ever before because JVS is unable to meet the specific needs of these students. These tuition costs are extreme and currently unavoidable without the proper staffing levels at JVS.
Special education is not just a legal obligation; it is a moral one that reflects a dedication to ensuring that every child, regardless of ability, receives the support and opportunities they need to reach their full potential. These investments benefit our entire community by fostering inclusion, achievement, and long-term success for all students.
Jefferson has a group of elected people that worked countless hours to put forth a budget that met the needs described above that was then voted down by taxpayers. This group has now been sent back to the drawing board to presumably look for additional places to cut funds from an already sparse budget. The budget that was voted down already had significant cuts to administration staff, maintenance/building repair funds, and initially proposed support staff numbers.
Our students deserve safe, well-staffed classrooms with teachers and support professionals who have all the resources that they need to help every learner succeed. The current staff shortages already threaten JVS’s ability to maintain reasonable class sizes and deliver the individualized attention all students — especially those with special needs — require. The idea of cutting additional positions in other areas to compensate for an extreme budget due to special education costs shouldn’t sit well with anyone and won’t resolve the long-term issues.
The school committee will be working closely with the AOS 93 superintendent and new director of special education in the upcoming year and looking at potential options to help alleviate increasing costs special education while still meeting the needs of our students. None of these options will be an immediate fix and any changes will take time to implement, but the hope is, and always has been, that over time we are able to build a program in which we can bring these students back into our school setting.
What the committee has discovered in going back to the drawing board is that our special education costs are now underbudgeted compared to our first proposed budget.
In April when we built our initial budget, we knew of six students that we are going to need to tuition out to different schools/districts. Since then, there have been an additional seven high-needs students identified coming into our school and JVS cannot meet the specific needs of all of them.
As of writing this statement on June 27, the plan is for JVS to have to tuition out an additional two students, at $150,000 each, for a total of eight, up from the initial six. Because of this unexpected increase, we have been forced to increase the budget that we are now putting forward to the community.
To offset some of that increase we have decided to cut a bus driver position, cut the bus fuel budget line 25%, and add funds for a substitute bus driver to cover runs in the hopes that we limit how much we need to contract with Luce Transportation. These changes reduced the transportation cost center by $19,447.14.
We also have increased the revenue in the funds balance forward line by $300,000, from the last proposed budget, which will be taken from unexpended fiscal year 2025 funds. This leaves the total increase to the new proposed budget is $280,552.86 more than the original budget that was brought to taxpayers in early June.
The school committee will also be looking for approval to be able to transfer up to $300,000 from unexpended fiscal year 2025 balances to create a special reserve fund and expend up to $300,000 from said reserve fund for unexpected special education expenses that may arise.
Aside from the special education mandated costs, the committee also faces mandated costs associated with the Paid Family Medical Leave Act of $26,942.53, an increase in secondary public tuition of $53,000, a secondary special education tuition increase of $16,940, a mandated increase in the secondary private insured value line of $51,848.90, as well as a 15.35% increase in Jefferson’s share of the AOS 93 budget of $47,832.24.
The most important thing to understand is that the mandated costs explained above as well as the costs for supplying mandated special education services through contracted services and out of school tuitions accounts for $1,445,863.67 or 98.71% of the total budget increase.
Passing this budget is not simply about numbers; it is about our values, our priorities, and our future. It’s about choosing to invest in all our children, support our educators, and uphold our commitment to educational excellence for every student.
The school committee understands the concerns of Jefferson residents, but the town is legally required to give all students a proper education. We need to come together to ensure our school has the resources they need to thrive.
(Danielle Bernier is the chair of the Jefferson School Committee.)
