Up To 40 Braintree School Jobs At Risk Without Additional Aid

BRAINTREE, MA —The Braintree school system will lose 30-40 staff members, most of them teachers, if the school district cannot get additional state or federal aid.

Without additional relief, the School Committee must reduce the school budget from about $76 million to $73.2 million for the fiscal year beginning July 2021, Superintendent Frank Hackett said at Monday's school committee meeting. Hackett described the budget as a "worst case scenario, with reductions stemming from losses in local hotel, meals and excises taxes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Hackett said the elementary schools will be the hardest hit by the cuts. Between 25 and 31 jobs will be eliminated under the budget proposal. Hackett said some reductions at the elementary school level are due to declining enrollment, while others were decided with future redistricting plans in mind.

There will also be five -to-seven jobs cut at the secondary school level, with most of them coming in the middle schools, Hackett said.

Retirements will also account for some job reductions, and some of those positions will be filled with new hires at lower salaries, Hackett said.

If more state and federal aid does come to the school district, Hackett said school officials will create a prioritized list of positions to bring back to the budget. Hackett said he expects to hear back on additional funding "later, rather than sooner," so the district is in position it needs to budget conservatively.

"We're not trying to hedge our bets here," Hackett said. "We want these numbers to be real, and some of this is going to take some more time to sort out. But these numbers are where we are."

School committee Chair Thomas Devin said the cuts will be devastating for the schools, but he does have hope that money to reverse some cuts can be found.

Mayor Charles Kokoros has instructed town departments to present level service budgets that account for contractual pay raises and then cut the budget by 10 percent. The mayor has until May 1 to submit a budget proposal to the Town Council, and he said he's obligated to present a balanced budget.