Finance Committee Perspective on Weston’s School Budget
Weston Town Crier, April 23, 2020
Submitted by the Weston Finance Committee
As follow-up to last week’s article by the Weston Finance Committee, “Fincom on Town’s Debt and Unfunded Liabilities”, which detailed our lack of support for the proposed Fiscal Year 2021 town budget as recommended by the Town Manager, we want to provide some additional perspective on Weston’s public school spending.
As noted last week, we do not oppose the school budget increase of 3.5%, which is 1.7% after adjusting for accounting changes and legally mandated special education expenses. Rather, we are concerned by the remaining proposed municipal budget in this unprecedented environment. We have recommended deferring all significant discretionary spending and all proposed budget increases which are not absolutely necessary until after the current crisis has subsided. At that point, we may be able to restore discretionary expenses and investments on which there is already broad agreement and debate other increases as may be prudent at that time.
Nevertheless, it is still worth reflecting on this year’s school budget since it represents a large majority of the entire town budget. Nearly two thirds of spending is for Schools, including the cost of employee benefits and debt service on capital projects. Essential services (Public Safety, Department of Public Works) which also include the cost of employee benefits and debt service on capital projects, make up another 25%.
Weston has a longstanding tradition of supporting excellence in public education, and our schools are among the most highly rated in the Boston area, consistent with other affluent communities. However, we are concerned by the rate of growth of the School budget in recent years despite continued and projected future declining enrollment. In FY21, this budget is rising by $1,465,418 or 3.5%, though only 1.7% after the legally mandated increase of $600,000 in special education outplacement expenses and a $163,000 accounting change in the recognition of solar energy credits. Enrollment is projected to decline by 1.7% in FY21, with an 8.3% decline at the High School over the last two years and a projected total additional enrollment decline of 7% over the next five years. We have much higher per pupil expenditures than those of neighboring comparable school districts, despite performance metrics which are not materially different from other comparable towns. We recognize that the School Committee and Administration are working on initiatives to align costs with enrollment and we support and encourage those continued efforts.
Weston’s per-pupil expenditure of $25,367 is 27% higher than comparable towns, or $5,438 per student. This extra spending per pupil translates to an $11.4 million excess we spend on our schools annually (of about $61 million total) relative to other wealthy Boston-area towns, or $3,121 per household per year in higher taxes. Since employee benefits are a significant portion of this difference, we recommend that the Town insist on a significant reduction to town employee health benefit costs, to bring them more in line with those of other affluent towns, during union negotiations in the coming year.
This cost excess relative to neighboring affluent communities did not emerge only recently, or in a few large jumps that might be traced to certain discrete actions or decisions, but rather grew slowly over time as 1-2% increments each year, over many years, compounded over time.
The change in school spending and the change in enrollment often move in the same direction. However, the resulting large gap – averaging 4.5 percentage points annually – between the two explains the problem with our school costs. Weston school enrollment has been declining for many years, yet our spending increases every year. This large consistent gap causes our per pupil expense to greatly increase over time and causes the long-term incremental growth relative to other nearby affluent towns.
The absolute level of total education cost including related debt and benefits has been rising despite a significant drop in enrollment and projected further declines in enrollment.
The School Committee has taken important cost saving steps this year to recognize the ongoing decline in enrollment and high relative per pupil expenditures and these efforts need to continue. In the coming year, the Finance Committee will continue working in collaboration with the School Committee to analyze in detail these higher costs versus peer districts, and together explore additional areas of cost control, efficiencies, and savings that would not sacrifice excellence.
The full Finance Committee report is available on the Town of Weston website , on the Finance Committee page, at https://www.weston.org/DocumentCenter/View/22549/Report-of-the-Finance-Committee-PDF.