by Marty Green ·
Friday, September 27, 2024
Articles 11 and 12 both create new funds for use by the schools. Each would do a job that some other fund formerly did. And each new fund is intended to solve a problem that arose in the past year.
Article 11 asks voters to approve a Special Education Reserve Fund, as allowed by state law. To establish that fund, the School Committee is seeking $150,000 from the General Stabilization Fund, which requires Town Meeting approval by a two-thirds vote.
Reserve funds are meant to be used for extraordinary or unanticipated costs. The town itself sets aside a Reserve Fund each year. The purpose of that fund, as Finance Committee Chair Eric Ward explained in an interview, is to cover emergency costs that can’t wait until the next town meeting—say, a burst boiler in a town building. The money can be spent immediately, with the approval of the Finance Committee.
Moreover, money in the town’s Reserve Fund can’t be earmarked for any specific matter, Ward said. But historically, the usual examples given at Town Meeting were the costs most likely to be unpredictable. Those were winter snow and ice removal and—for a dozen years, from 2010 to 2022—special education.
Special education costs can fluctuate unpredictably from year to year, depending on the needs of students who move into or out of the district. Because special education costs can be so variable, in 2016 the state Legislature passed a law allowing communities to create reserve funds to pay for those unexpected costs. Among the numerous towns that have set up special education reserve funds are the nearby communities of Ayer and Westford.
From 2010 to 2022, the Harvard schools never needed to ask the town for emergency money for special education. In 2023 and 2024 the mention of special education in connection with the Reserve Fund was dropped from the yearly finance booklets.
Then, in fiscal 2024, the school district faced an unforeseen cost of $162,000 from a special education legal settlement. The town paid only $80,000 from its Reserve Fund. The other $82,000 was paid by the schools, as the Reserve Fund was depleted by the time the matter was settled. If Article 11 passes, Harvard schools will have an account to help cover such emergencies.
Money in a Special Education Reserve Fund cannot be used for regular special education costs that are normally part of the school budget. The Reserve Fund money can be spent only with the approval of both the School Committee and the Select Board.
Throughout the year, a range of groups may rent the school buildings for after-school or weekend courses, sports practices and games, and civic events. For many years, the school department has deposited those fees in an account that was then used to pay for expenses resulting from the rental, such as overtime pay for custodians, heating and electricity, or maintenance.
Late last year, the existing account was flagged by the state Department of Revenue as having been set up incorrectly. The account was frozen, and the money in it—estimated by the School Committee to be around $60,000—was moved into the town’s general funds.
If approved, Article 12 would establish a new revolving account in which the schools could deposit rental money from groups that use school facilities. All the money in the account would come from those fees; the town is not being asked to put any money into the account. As before, the money could be used to pay expenses related to the use of the buildings.
According to Finance Director Jared Mullane, this type of revolving account must set a maximum amount that can be withdrawn in a single year. The proposed measure sets that limit at $300,000. Ward pointed out that the schools can spend only what they take in, which will probably be much less than the limit. But, speaking at a FinCom meeting, Superintendent Linda Dwight explained the amount was set high so that it would not need to be revised for many years. However, some members of both the Select Board and the Finance Committee questioned the amount. As a result, last Monday the School Committee voted 2-1 (with two members absent) to reduce the amount to $150,000; the article will be amended at Town Meeting.