Superintendent's Message
Marc J. Smith - Dennis-Yarmouth Regional Schools
Next Year's Budget - Update
Good Afternoon Dolphin Community,
I was fortunate enough to play a small part in a D-Y Community event earlier this month when I joined the DYHS band during their Winter Formal Concert as the narrator for their rendition of “Peter and the Wolf.” It was so much fun to be a part of it; especially, the opportunities to rehearse with the students prior to the performance. Tomorrow, I will attempt to not embarrass myself as I join several other faculty, staff, and community members as we play a basketball game against the Harlem Wizards in a fundraising event for a couple of our PTO organizations. If you are available, please come out and support the PTO at this event. Having run this event in previous school districts, I know it is a great family event and full of fun and entertainment for the whole community. The game starts at 6:30 at the D-Y Intermediate Middle School. I hope to see you there!
I would like to provide a brief update on the budget for next school year. This Monday, February 5th at 6:30 in the D-Y Intermediate Middle School cafeteria is the Budget Hearing. During a Budget Hearing, the typical structure for a School Committee meeting changes. Citizens are able to comment on the budget during this portion of the meeting as well as ask questions of the Committee.
During the budget hearing, David Flynn (Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance) and I will be presenting updated budget information to the Committee and public. This will include the new information that we have received regarding the Governor’s budget and what we are anticipating for state aid, as well as what information we have received regarding health insurance costs for next year. Unfortunately, neither of these bits of news was good for the school district and both added additional pressure to our budget. While we will present more detail at the meeting, the simple version of what we learned is that we will be receiving less total revenue (monies coming into the district) from the state than we were conservatively estimating and health insurance costs are increasing more than we were conservatively holding in our budget up to this point (increasing our expenses).
Our presentation will also provide some more detail to the committee regarding where we are recommending the School Committee make reductions in order to lower the overall budget increase. We have made some adjustments to our previous presentations based upon some feedback we have received from the public. The presentation will show the reasoning behind these recommendations as well as the impact. As I have said in previous meetings, I do believe that these recommendations all fit within our work as a district to “right-size” following COVID and our need to adjust to the fact that millions of dollars in federal funding that followed the pandemic are ending. In working with the building leaders, we have thoughtfully put forward these recommendations in a way that will have us providing an equitably delivered instructional program based upon a consistent staffing model.
That being said, I have received guidance from the governing boards of both towns that the school district’s assessment to the towns has been budgeted to remain within a 2.5% increase. This was stated in a public meeting as a matter of policy in one town, and I have received letters from two of the governing boards from another town to this effect. In order for the district to meet this level of financial support from the towns would require approximately another $2.2 million dollars in cuts from the school programming. I will not be recommending to the School Committee that we make cuts to meet this level as I believe it would be detrimental to the DYRSD school program.
If you are unable to attend or watch any of our School Committee meetings regarding the budget, please know that we post all of our budget presentations along with the link to the meeting recording here.
Thank you and have a wonderful weekend,
Marc
Community News
The Family Resource Center of Cape Cod is offering a groups for grandparents raising their grandchildren. The group meets on the 3rd Tuesday of the month from 4:30-6:30 and dinner is provided.
There are a couple of events celebrating the Lunar New Year this weekend in Hyannis that families might be interested in. Check out the attached picture for more information.
Rachael Devaney, reporter for the Cape Cod Times, is running a journalism workshop for BIPOC students ages 12-18 starting in March. The program will run at the Zion Union Heritage Museum and is free. Please see the attached photo for more information.