Stoneham Schools Warn of Mid-Year Staff Cuts as FY25 Budget Runs Deficit

STONEHAM -- February 27, 2025, Stoneham schools are running a deficit in FY25, with Finance Director Leah Secor warning the committee that mid-year staff cuts may be needed to reach June 30. The January electricity bill at the new all-electric Spartan Place high school came in at $100,000, up from roughly $15,000 the same month a year earlier, and is the primary driver of the shortfall, along with special education staffing gaps that have required costly agency placements. Secor said the budget has been frozen since early November and that the district is pursuing several revenue measures, including maximizing Medicaid billing through vendor New England Medical Billing and seeking state "extraordinary relief" reimbursement on out-of-district special education tuitions, which yielded roughly $300,000 in FY24 and $200,000 in FY25. On the FY26 side, Superintendent David Castellano reported the town will increase its school allocation by 1 percentage point, adding approximately $357,000 and bringing the no-override budget to $37,049,872 and the level-services override budget to $39,896,857, with voters deciding on a $14.6 million override question April 1. The committee voted unanimously to give tentative approval to the high school program of studies so scheduling can begin on core courses, while deferring a new graduation competency determination policy that members called redundant with existing requirements.