$8 million school budget deficit in Braintree means tough decisions lie ahead

BRAINTREE, Mass. — An $8 million school budget deficit in Braintree with cuts likely has residents upset including Paula Smith who is the parent of a senior at Braintree High.

“I think it’s wrong. I don’t think they should be doing this at all,” said Paula Smith, a Braintree High parent.

But the Braintree School Superintendent, James Lee says a $75.5 million budget has ballooned to $83.5 million.”

“Nothing you are about to see is final or exhaustive. This is a target number $75.5 million,” said Lee at a School Committee hearing on Monday.

To close that $8 million gap he says some tough decisions will have to be made. They may include:

• Teachers could be laid off
• One or two elementary schools could close
• Course offerings and extracurriculars could be cut
• And fees for school buses and school sports could go up

Last May Braintree teachers won a new 3-year contract increasing salaries by 9 percent.

In Monday’s School Committee Meeting Braintree’s Superintendent explained:

“It’s a $5.2 million increase over last year,” he said.

Now teacher jobs could be on the line.

“This is where our money is. If we need to talk reductions we need to be talking about personnel because that’s where the money is,” said Superintendent Lee.

Braintree students like Kate Harkin don’t like the idea that fewer teachers may mean bigger classes

“It’s kind of annoying because they’ll have a lot more students at one time and it’s going to be a lot harder for them to teach a lot of people,” said Kate Harkin, a middle school student.

And while Smith sees no way out of some cuts she doesn’t mince words about the idea.

“Cutting teachers and closing schools is not good for a town or the children,” said Smith.

The Superintendent did not return our request for comments but did say in Monday’s meeting that this is still a work in progress and no decisions have been made yet.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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