The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About2025-01-31-SC-min (Finance Subcommittee) AGENDA Public Meeting Notice Lexington School Committee's Finance Subcommittee Jan 31 st, 2025 from 11-12.30 pm. Ast. Superintendent for Finance Office Central Office Finance Department 146 Maple Street, Lexington Participants: Larry Freeman, Deepika Sawhney, Finance Sub Committee of LPS School Committee Mr. Coelho, Ast. Superintendent for Finance The Meeting was called to order at 11.09 am Deepika thanked Mr. Coelho and his team for all the hard work and exemplary reporting for the budget and other finance related documents provided in the past. She asked which towns-cities were providing exemplary Budget books with appropriate granularity of detail. Mr. Coelho pointed to two that had won awards recently - Worcester and Wellesley Deepika asked about how 0% increase in per pupil spending was possible when inflation was greater than 0: Mr. Coelho explained that in 2008 — the then Finance dept head Mary Allen created a spreadsheet widget which helps schools understand how spending was growing percentage wise year by year. It was largely, an LPS specific growth percentage. Akin to a market basket of what kids consume such as materials etc. that Lexington Public schools needed to provide every year. So, it's like an LPS specific inflation rate. Some of the widget's underlying math is based on a national rate after some of the food and utilities etc. factors are removed. This allows LPS to use this metric to understand the spending with some continuity. It also helps establish some groundwork for spending levels in school depts across the district. It functions as the baseline (just pure calculation vs. all the actual tangible factors that come into play) as the work on creating the next year's budget starts. So, in this budget for 2026 a 0% per pupil expense has been taken as baseline, which does not take into account for expected inflationary growth_ Each year in august or sept, the finance dept downloads the file which is the baseline on which to build the estimated expenses per dept. The baseline therefore incorporates the assumptions of the year previous in the per pupil expenditure (materials, transport et al) and an additional percentage is applied (inflation, or natural increase in cost of goods and services) to arrive at the baseline for the coming years budget. A 0% increase in per pupil spending is a very risky assumption as realistically there will always be a cost of goods increase. Some other risky financial steps taken in the recent past is to fund positions through ESSER funds. ESSER funds are one-time grants and personnel costs are ongoing expenses. About $1 M+ therefore became a permanent increase in personnel costs. Looking at slide 7 "I lie FY'26 bucWt assumes the �m'nportr7lt INot(,,:: b ng I... Angd�rfs budget process • Federal funds e;.ndinrna ted at a pr)irrmxtrnnrate;y$3.51M ffl� typun:A4Hy uirnckides am airn.iic,pate reinrnan in the sa irlrne. end of year turnlba ck ofat IV east • n"v'„G:yll....A for Irnegotbled contracts through nnulrr inrt 'I M. caxpfllra1.flcalrn date of CBA We do not sntidpat Iha)Jn an • UII"Illloin contracts assumies ainld average Ilrlunlre ase rmt, In I "' 4.56%...475%, fuinclusflve of COI..A(2.5%)steps and 4rl s Inrnovennei nt for staiff • n"v' rc ulit IE reaker r61 mlb urrnei meint rams rernafin s«at7515. In 2024 —we got the late breaking increase from the state in a finance holding account. Essentially a chapter 70 windfall. As how chapter is 70 funds are treated as general revenue $1.75m went to payroll after 26% of the grant went to town. About $268K was deposited in a finance account to fill the gaps. And $1.4 million went to the salary lines as a way of managing current funds. It gave us a cushion in 2024. The additions of Supplementary position are which required the usage of ESSER and grant funds to pay these positions. The discussion then centered around questions that Deepika had sent ahead on the budget document. Page 10: Negotiated Salary Increase: 1) Please include a column which shows the resultant % increase so that the actual percentage increase is understood. For 2023, and 2024 there will be actual numbers as these years are done. For 2025 a predicted number should suffice. Reason: This help readers understand the effective larger percentage increase as opposed to the lower 'negotiated one'. The actual percentage increase is much higher than the negotiated because the educators change steps and lanes and as in the last LEA unit A contract and others additional steps were added. 2) Also in page 10-11: Please outline how the Supplementary Positions are going to be used. Also put procedures in place to periodically inform School Committee and Municipal Finance Department about additions so that elected officials and town are kept informed. Deepika acknowledged that this question was more appropriate for the Superintendent. Mr. Coelho said that it's hard to predict how many supplementary positions will be needed based on move-ins. The administration is only able to predict and therefore have unallocated positions which is 12 for this year. The participants agreed that it would be good idea to add the number of supplementary positions requested in previous years and project a trend. He further explained the difference to answer a question from Larry. Unallocated captures what - ifs in the budget Supplementary position is when the what - if becomes reality. Deepika suggested that the quarterly report should state this clearly. Currently the vacancies reported in a quarterly report are the known FTE needs, wherein attrition has occurred during the year. As these staff positions are not new the vacancies table in the quarterly reports are about back filling a position which became vacant. Page 13: Legal services line and Superintendent expenses line 1) LPS legal expenses have been increasing. What are the last two years expenses at so that this may be better budgeted? From page 57, it appears it has been reduced to meet allocation. However, given the increasing costs this would be unrealistic. It may be more prudent to take money out of the SC line item and keep this better funded for example. In addition, what other concrete steps can be taken in the HR or SPED ed Depts. to reduce issues that usually lead to legal costs. 2) The Superintendent's budget line used to be included similar to the SC budget line. It appears to have been eliminated. The screenshot below is from last year's budget book. Does the Superintendent expense line which has grown to over 400-700k in past years, not exist for the coming year? Mr. Coelho explained how there is a new code being used for the line for Superintendent Expenses (SUPT) It will now be CO-ADMIN in the quarterly reports. In the financial reporting required by DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) specifically DART webpages, it will still show up as Superintendent's expenses. In previous years some of the increase in Superintendent's expenses line were due to the EdCo dissolution penalty. Some other expenses such as postage, or some contracted services such as coaches for principals may also be added there. Larry pointed out that as the Superintendent's Expense line has become a catch all bucket for some expenses, those that are Non-discretionary costs should be separated out (such as Postage) and the Discretionary costs which are under Superintendent control should be in a different line, for transparency. Pages 29, 30, 31: Criteria for Financial Reporting: Revenue and Expenditure classifications Perhaps this section is better at the end of the document in an appendix or resources section. Please also add some narrative around the classification of expenses along 'Object Codes' and why should the reader know or care about that. That will help advance the reader's understanding. These are the DESE reporting criteria. Page 45: It is mentioned that there will be consolidation of administration positions elsewhere. Perhaps given Diamond's recent challenges Johnny Cole could be persuaded to stay on as principal and stabilize the school. That will save one headcount while also giving much needed support to the school that is struggling with climate and other issues. Page 52: Superintendent's office Sara Jorge's position as Office Manager appears to be missing. Mr. Coelho explained that there are some consolidations and Ms. Jorge's position is counted as the 1.0 FTE. Page 53: Finance Operations The budget book section has a link to a doc containing the responsibilities of the dept ,.h ,�,;, ,. In it there is this sub bullet. Please provide the SC a copy of this report for 2023-24 year. The reason I have been requesting it is that past expenditure trends help us understand where the cuts seem sustainable or not. In addition, in Brockton's case the budget misallocated and then over/miss spent funds out of buckets. That was one of the big reasons that threw their budget out of balance. The SC needs to be given the quarter 4 end of year financial report every year well before the vote on the next School budget. Page 77: Special Education programs Is this first table I assume this is the number of employees who are in the central office for SPED department. It's not clear in the doc. So are the total number of SPED FTE at LPS = 26.19 (Central Office)+297.50 (k-8) +27.99(LCP) +95.38 (LHS) + Summer program management staff maybe stipends + LABBB (present but funded through tuitions)? Mr. Coelho said that the math was correct and the page 77 table was counting the FTE needed for system wide SPED programs implementation. Page 86-88: Special Education Out of District Budget This is adding significant risk to the budget becoming imbalanced again given the move-ins happening. Especially as the context changes at the Federal level. For page 88 table on circuit breakers expenditure can the finance dept project what expenses could be like in 2027, 2028, given current trends just so that we know that there will be enough in coming years? Larry had a question regarding the print center and its costs. Mr. Coelho explained that the Print Center does a lot of curriculum materials printing as not all of the materials used is electronic in classrooms. Classroom materials which are home grown, are cheaper to print in house. For example: 8 cents a page to copy outside and it's about a penny a page in house. For Color it is almost a dollar a page to print outside. In previous years for Illustrative math = instead of buying the materials we printed them in the print center probably a million pages in 5 grades in 6 schools. Many Worksheets are printed for the elementary schools. Print center also does the work for the town. Police force may get some printing done but for those kinds of print requests LPS gets some revenue back. It will cost more to get the print shop work done outside, possibly almost $1 M or more for that cost. Deepika raised the question of catering expenses attributed to Dr. Hackett's expense line. Mr. Coelho explained that some were for the staff winter party. Deepika and Larry clarified that catering expenses for a full day staff training or a staff winter party were not the concern. It is hoped that no School Building Committee catering costs were being born by the school's operating budget. 19821. 00000 LEXINGTON SCHOOL. 553455 250462 402553 472.50 .00 7,635.50 CAT42037 CASH 1001 2025/07 INV 09/18/2024 SEP-'CHK: N DISC: .00 13107200 538060 472.50 1099: ACCT 101.000 DEPT SSUP DOE 01/31/2025 DESC:Dr. Hackett's Catering. The above purchase order n LEXINGTON HIGH SCHOOL 251 WALTHAM ST LEXINGTON MA 02421 k,p,rc gazv,e r'axe d: 01/23/2025 IIA3 Page 4 Ws eu: Pda irrle prt'oy r'a,n YIP: api—t. TOWN OF LEXINGTON INVOICE ENTRY PROOF LIST w. rw.^ w. ^r • w w, ^w ^r 19521 00000 LEXINGTON SCHOOL 553456 250462 402554 506.25 .00 7,635.50 CAT43975 CASH 1001 2025/07 INV 12/12/2024 SEP'-CHK: N DISC: .00 13107200 538060 506.25 1099: ACCT 101000 DEPT SSUP DUE 01/31/2025 DESC:Dr. Hackett's Catering. The above purchase order n LEXINGTON HIGH SCHOOL 251 WALTHAM ST LEXINGTON MA 02421 19821 00000 LEXINGTON SCHOOL 553457 250462 402555 3,558.00 .00 7,635.50 CAT44206 CASH 1001 2025/07 INV 12/18/2024 SEP-CHK: N DISC: .00 13107200 538060 3,558.00 1099: ACCT 101000 DEPT SSUP DUE 01/31/2025 DESC:Dr. Hackett's Catering. The above purchase order n LEXINGTON HIGH SCHOOL. 251 WALTHAM STT LEXINGTON MA 02421 19821 00000 LEXINGTON SCHOOL 553458 250462 402556 573.75 .00 7,635.50 CAT43974 CASH 1001 2025/07 INV 12/11/2024 SEP-CNK: N DISC: .00 13107200 538060 573.75 1094: ACCT 101000 DEPT SSUP DUE 01/31/2025 DESC:Dr. Hackett's Catering. The above purchase order n LEXINGTON HIGH SCHOOL 251 WALTHAM 5T LEXINGTON MA 02421 1.9521. 00000 LEXINGTON SCHOOL 553459 250462'. 402557 202,50 .00 7,635.50 CAT44545 CASH 1001 2025/07 INV 01/02/2025 SEP-CNK: N DISC: .00 13107200 538060 202.50 1099: ACCT 101000 DEPT SSUP DIVE 01/31/2025 DESC:Dr. Hackett's Catering. The above purchase order n LEXINGTON HIGH SCHOOL 251 WALTHAM ST LEXINGTON MA 02421 1.9821. 00000 LEXINGTON SCHOOL 553461 250462 402559 1,380.00 .00 7,635.50 CAT43857 CASH 1001. 2025/07 INV 12/03/2024 SEP-CHK,: N DISC: .00 13107200 538060 1,380.00 1099: ACCT 101.000 DEPT SSUP DDE 01/31/2025 DESC:Dr. Hackett's catering. The above purchase order n LEXINGTON HIGH SCHOOL 251 WALTHAM ST LEXINGTON MA 02421 The catering funds for a winter party 12/18 event for staff. Larry and Deepika discussed an idea to create a Schools Stabilization Fund which could be a repository for annual turn backs in good years allowing for a GenEd buffer to be built up for use in lean years. The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 12.30 pm