Proposed Salem School Budget Has 'Sobering Reality' Of Staff Cuts, Right-Sizing Classrooms

SALEM, MA — The School Public Schools 2024 budget that Superintendent Steve Zrike will propose to the School Committee Thursday night will include what he called the "sobering reality" of position cuts and other reallocations because of declining enrollment while seeking to "support vital investments to achieve our priorities and goals."

Zrike said the $71,154,142 budget for 2024 is a 3.5 percent increase over the 2023 budget, but that increase does not fully cover increased costs given the "largely flat" state contribution to the district and the pending expiration of federal ESSR COVID-19 funds.

"These demands have resulted in our expenses outpacing new revenue," he said in his message accompanying the budget presentation. "As a result of these circumstances, we were forced to eliminate a series of school- and central office-based positions in order to balance our FY24 budget."

He said this year's budget was designed in keeping with the priorities outlined in the most recent strategic plan, which included building a robust talent development system for all staff, meeting students' social and emotional needs and effectively engaging families, strengthening the pre-K to post-secondary experience and equitably distribution resources and monitoring results.

"This budget was designed with our district vision, values, and priorities at the forefront so that we can deliver on our promise to create a culture of belonging for all students that allows them to be locally engaged, globally connected, and fully prepared to thrive in a diverse and changing world," Zrike said.

Zrike said most of the staff reductions were achieved by "right-sizing" classrooms and central office staff in response to "a steady decline in enrollment over the last few years."

"In order to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, we never adjusted our staffing for this drop in student population," he said. "Additionally, to maximize impact, we also reallocated resources from less mission-critical areas to support vital investments to achieve our priorities and goals."

He said this budget as presented maintains the "integrity of the student experience, addresses escalating operational costs and beings to lessen our dependence on expiring grant funds.

"We believe that this budget proposal positions us well for the future and ensures that our students and staff have access to the resources, materials and programs that will allow our people to excel," he said.

The full budget presentation can be found here.

The school budget hearing will be Monday night at 7 p.m. in the School Committee Chambers at Collins Middle School at 29 Highland Avenue with virtual access and participation available here.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)