By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
CLAREMONT, N.H. — The Claremont School District is in the red financially, with a shortfall of about $1.4 million leading the district to go on a spending freeze.
The shortfall was discussed at the last two school board meetings, and on April 2, Business Administrator Mary Henry gave an update to the board about the 2021 audit and out-of-district education costs, saying that the deficit has a lot to do with encumbrances “that may not happen.”
Henry said she has had conversations with other business administrators, and it is clear Claremont is not the only district in this situation.
“It’s happening in a lot of districts right now,” Henry said. “We’re not the only district in a deficit right now currently, but I don’t want panic. Let’s put it that way. I don’t want panic. I’m managing it to the best I can right now.”
She said the largest aspect of this pertains to special education costs, with Henry saying that the district is about $1 million over in tuition and about $700,000 over in contracted services.
“I also know that there’s a flip side to that,” Henry told the board. “We have about $300,000 sitting in salaries because we didn’t hire, so we had to go to contracted services, which are more money, which we all know that if we could have hired personnel, that doesn’t help. To counter this, we have a freeze on all spending currently unless it’s necessity.”
Henry told the school board that she reviews every purchase order and discusses them diligently.
“Even if it is for pencils, I want to know why,” Henry said. “So, if we need pencils for testing, of course I’m going to say yes.”
Henry said this does impact cash flow a bit, but that “we are OK currently.” She said it is not a fun scenario to be in, but also a scenario not within their control.
“Unfortunately, special ed is its own beast,” she said. “We have to fund it, and you don’t know what you’re going to have year to year for the kids, how much it’s going to cost. We’ve got some real heavy hitters that are not cheap. $300,000 a year is big money. That does not take long to add up.”
She told the board that she is looking at fund balances from the past with auditors to see where they are at, and how it adds to or takes away from the $1.4 million. At the April 2 meeting, she said that she and Director of Special Education Mike McCosker reviewed the students, mainly who is coming back next year and who is not, to make sure purchase orders for out-of-district placements are correct.
“From what I can see right now, they are,” Henry said.
School Board member Candace Crawford said freezes are not unusual and they have been known to even happen in December. She asked McCosker how they got to this situation.
McCosker explained that last July during a subcommittee meeting he was told that the previous director had asked for an extra $1 million for the current budget because of projected out-of-district costs not included in the budget.
“There were a number of students who moved out of district who were not included in the proposed budget,” McCosker said. “We had that meeting in July and every subcommittee from that point until we got to budget committee got cancelled. So, we never dealt with that issue. I went through all the numbers. I looked through everything. The number was right. We were short $900,000, somewhere around there.”
McCosker said this budget was voted on six months before his arrival in July. Crawford said when the budget is put together there are anticipated certain students being in district or out-of-district. She also learned that they have budgets for hiring personnel to do jobs like speech pathology and counseling, and she is aware that they have had a difficult time finding those people to hire. This has resulted in hiring out of district instead of having their own staff.
At the April 16 school board meeting, the budget shortfall was discussed again as the spending freeze would affect Staff Appreciation Week. Crawford said that last year they provided things like coffee, juice, pastries and bacon to teachers at the city’s six schools. The cost was about $1,500, and while they are ready to do it again, she knew “times were tough and there was a freeze on.”
“The bottom-line budget right now is in a deficit situation, but I’m going to be honest with you, this is important,” Henry said. “I’m not turning away students’ items that they need, and I think this is something that teachers need. I know we look out for students, but this is the one time of the year where we look out for our staff. And I think it’s important to do it, even when we are in a deficit.”
Board member Arlene Hawkins said she loves teacher appreciation, both on the receiving and giving end, but with a spending freeze she questioned how to go about this with the deficit in the public eye.
Board member William Madden felt that too much time was being talked about on the subject, considering how many other problems of greater magnitude they have.
The board ultimately approved using up to $1,500 for teacher appreciation, but instructed Henry to try to keep these costs as low as possible.
Henry gave an update on the audits at the end of the April 16 meeting, saying she has reviewed Fiscal Year 2021 and approved it, so they should have the final number. Journal entries have all been entered for FY 2022 so they can start with that audit, as well. Crawford noted that by FY 2023, they are in a much better spot because everything is online rather than being “in boxes.” Henry said FY 2024 is completely scanned in the system.
“I think we’re heading in the right direction and we’re going to be done by fall with these,” Henry said.
Each member of the school board was emailed for requests for comments regarding the shortfall, and Sprague and Loren Howard deferred comments. Chair Heather Whitney deferred comments to Henry and Superintendent Chris Pratt, who did not respond to an email and voicemail.
The finance committee will be meeting to discuss audit findings on May 5.
