By Carol Britton Meyer

There were no questions or comments from the several community members present during Monday’s school committee public hearing on the proposed $17.9 million fiscal 2025 school department budget.

This figure represents a 3% increase – or $520,043 – over the FY24 budget.

“This percent is the town manager’s recommendation and will be presented at [the May 6] town meeting,” according to Superintendent of Schools Judith Kuehn.

Salaries comprise 76.79% of the overall budget; special education (non-salary related), 7.95%; while transportation, non-salary maintenance costs, utilities, technology, and other expenses comprise the remainder of the budget.

The budget proposal includes a $31,477 increase in transportation costs (from $756,747 to $788,224), a $360,632 increase in special education expenses, and a reduction of $225,275 in maintenance costs due mostly to the closure of the Memorial School.

Other changes in the budget include reductions of four full-time and two part-time positions – a custodian, school secretary, long-term substitute, special education teacher, physical education teacher, and an elementary counselor. With the middle school’s closure, the principal’s position has been eliminated and replaced with an intermediate assistant principal at the Jacobs School.

The school department’s budget presentation is available for review by clicking here.

In other business at the meeting, Director of Curriculum & Assessment Christine Cappadona outlined the Hull Public Schools 2024-2027 Student Opportunity Act Plan, which was a team effort.

The Massachusetts SOA requires every school district in the state to develop three-year plans that identify strategies for addressing persistent disparities in achievement among student subgroups, including English learners, students with disabilities, and low-income students.

The focus is on evidence-based programs and strategies to help improve the educational experiences and outcomes of all students.

The SOA “is tied to the goals Hull Public Schools is working on, backed by data,” Kuehn said.

School districts submitted initial three-year SOA plans in March of 2020 to outline strategies for the 2020-23 school years and were requested by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to develop and submit new plans for 2024-27.

The new plan, approved unanimously by the school committee [4-0, as member Ernest Minelli resigned last month], focuses on supporting curriculum implementation, looking at chronic absenteeism among students and helping them and their families, and supporting all students regardless of their academic level.

“This is a nice polish on our already existing standards,” School Committee member Kyle Conley said.

‘No’ to school choice

On another unanimous vote, the committee decided not to participate in the school choice program again this year upon Kuehn’s recommendation, due to a number of factors.

Should the committee decide to participate in school choice, once a student is accepted, he or she would be allowed to remain in the Hull schools through 12th grade; a student’s disciplinary record is not available and therefore may not be considered; and the HPS would be responsible for any special education or out-of-district costs associated with students accepted into the school choice program, according to Kuehn.

However, because there are some “pros” to participating, couple of school committee members noted – including declining HPS enrollments, diversifying the student population, and a per-pupil payment by the sending district – the school committee will consider this option for another year at its summer retreat and involve new Superintendent Michael Jette in the discussion.

School committee members also agreed it would be a good idea to complete the HPS consolidation before further considering participation in school choice.

At the end of the meeting, the committee went into executive session to discuss collective bargaining with teachers and paraprofessionals.

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