School Committee
School Committee: March 27, 2023
The Marblehead School Committee held a brief meeting on June 7, 2023, voting unanimously to approve two FY24 budgets. The first, a base Services budget of $44,837,273, passed 4-0. The second, a level-Services budget of $45,971,790 representing a 4.52% increase, passed 5-0 but is contingent upon passage of a Proposition 2½ override at Town Meeting and the ballot.
School Committee passes two FY24 budgets — base and override-contingent level-services
Both motions passed unanimously; the larger budget takes effect only if voters approve a Prop 2½ override.
The chair called the meeting to order at 6:03 PM and immediately moved to two sequential votes on the FY24 school budget.
Vote 1 — Base Services Budget (Article 30): $44,837,273, representing an increase of approximately $855,000 over FY23. Passed 4-0 (Allison Taylor, Megan Taylor, Sarah Gold, Sarah Fox all in favor; Tom Mathers was not yet present).
Vote 2 — Level-Services Budget (Article 31): $45,971,790, representing a 4.52% increase over FY23. Includes contractual salary increases, utilities, curriculum, and known special education costs. Passed 5-0 (Tom Mathers joined before this vote). This appropriation is contingent on passage of a Proposition 2½ override at both Town Meeting and the subsequent ballot.
Following adjournment at 6:07 PM, the chair noted she would proceed to the Finance Committee meeting at Abbot Hall to seek their support for both figures ahead of Town Meeting.
Sarah Fox (Chair) · Allison Taylor (member) · Megan Taylor (member) · Sarah Gold (member) · Tom Mathers (member) · Michelle (staff, budget liaison) · John (staff, budget liaison) · Alicia (Finance Director)
Also on the agenda
Level-services budget explicitly tied to Prop 2½ override passage at Town Meeting and ballot
The $45,971,790 level-services appropriation (Article 31) only takes effect if the override succeeds.
The chair explained that the meeting was structured as two votes: the first covering what the town can appropriate without a Proposition 2½ override, and the second — the level-services budget — contingent on override passage. The override article must pass both Town Meeting (Article 31) and the subsequent ballot. The chair indicated she would seek Finance Committee support for both articles at the same evening’s FinCom meeting.
Sarah Fox (Chair)
Tonight's record
2 decisions ▾
- Approved FY24 Services (base) budget of $44,837,273
- Approved FY24 level-Services budget of $45,971,790, contingent on Proposition 2½ override
2 votes ▾
- in favor (unanimous) Approve FY24 Services budget of $44,837,273
- in favor (unanimous) Approve FY24 level-Services budget of $45,971,790, contingent on Prop 2½ override
6 min full transcript ▾
AI-generated · may contain errors · verify with the source video
Transcript captured from YouTube auto-captioning. No speaker labels; proper names and dollar figures occasionally misheard. Click any timecode to jump to that moment in the source video.
0:03 did everybody get the notice about the live stream yeah I did okay I screwed that up once I’ll never do it again um I don’t have time so I’m gonna give us one more minute and if he’s not on then I’ll just call us order um without him
0:29 just there we go um
0:34 everybody can just bear with us for one minute here
0:48 all right he’s minute is up so I’m gonna call us to order at 603 um this is going to be very straightforward we’ve already had our budget hearing and talked um I will ask for a motion if then if there’s any discussion we can have discussions I’ll ask for a motion to approve fy24 Services budget in the amount of 44 million 837 273 dollars so moved moved by Megan Taylor seconded seconded Sarah gold okay um open for discussion just I want to point out we’ll have a second motion we’re going to do this in two votes the
1:33 first will be the to meet the what the town is able to appropriate without a proposition two and a half and the second one will be for the level Services contingent on the two and a half so this is just for the first one which would be in article 30.
1:49 is there any discussion sir I just um just for clarification I know I missed last week so I apologize but can you just confirm what the town appropriation is
2:02 44 million eight hundred and thirty seven dollars 273. sorry I meant the town portion like what they have the additional amount they appropriated us 8 is it 855 000 is that what you’re asking about so 855 yeah it’s an increase from our FY 23 of 855 000. okay sorry for my wording
2:31 um all right so I will ask for a roll call vote Allison Taylor yes Megan Taylor yes Sarah gold yes Sarah Fox yes and the motion carries four to zero the second emotion I’ll ask for tonight is a motion to approve the FY 24 level Services budget in the amount of forty five thousand nine hundred and seventy one dollars oh no 971 790 which is contingent upon a proposition two and a half override this would allow what is being often referred to as level funded there was some movement in that number
3:17 um Michelle and John have been working very closely with Thatcher and the new Finance director Alicia and that would be representative of a 4.52 increase and again dependent on article 31 passing town meeting and the ballot still moved second
3:40 Megan Taylor I should have saved my little blurb for after that I apologize procedurally is there a discussion on that can you repeat that number yep it’s 45 million 971
3:59 790. so four five nine seven one seven nine zero
4:05 okay and again just for my clarification as I missed last week that includes contractual increases from a salary perspective utilities and um our curriculum and I ready yes as well as our um special education um the ones we know about okay right now um yes that and it’s representative of a 4.52 increase correct yes I see Michelle’s head shaking ass um so any further discussion on that okay so I noticed that Tom has joined us just Tom we voted the
4:51 um reduced Services budget and now we’re voting the level Services which will be contingent on the prop two and a half the motion was moved and seconded and I’m going to do a roll call vote Allison Taylor yes Megan Taylor yes Sarah gold yes Tom Mathers yes Sarah Fox yes the motion carries five to zero um without further Ado I will adjourn us because I’m going to head down to the fincom meeting where I will then ask for their support in approving both of these numbers to appear at town meeting um if it sounds like there will be a form of us so I will call us better from from Abbot Hall whether you’re virtual
5:38 or in person and then we’ll take it from there folks thank you very much at 607 quickest meeting ever so Sarah just to be clear you need us there virtually or in person at Abbot Hall I literally just walked in the door from the airport it’s okay um you you don’t need to be in person you don’t procedurally wise we none of us have to attend other than myself and Dr Bucky but I posted it in case we do have members in attendance I’ll call us to order just because we are talking about our budget just to cover us with open meeting stuff but there’s no need um it won’t really be our meeting Dr Bucky good luck tonight foreign appreciate that I will absolutely I know
6:24 you’ll do a great job we’re behind you bye and I’ll