School Committee David Ela, chairman of the committee’s finance sub-committee, delivered a preliminary Fiscal Year 2015 projection to the School Committee Monday night that, if approved by the legislature, could mean more than 5.25 million in new revenues for the Everett schools.
Ela was careful to point out that the early budget projections are based on the so-called Governor’s House budget, which typically frames the legislature’s debate around budget priorities, but is usually not a reliable indicator of what the final budget appropriations will be.
Last year, the Governor’s House budget actually proposed additional spending in state Chapter 70 spending for education, which was eventually cut from the final budget by the legislature.
However, optimistic revenue projections from both the Governor’s office and the State Treasurer, has the legislature indicating a willingness to share the additional revenues with municipalities and there is reason to believe that state spending on education could go up, when the House and Senate develop their budgets.
In any case, the major changes that Ela noted in his budget projection from the current fiscal year are an increase in the school district’s enrollment figures, from 6,835 last year to 7,295 in the first month of the current school year, as well as a proposed increase of $5.5 million in Chapter 70 spending from last year.
In all, Ela said that the early budget projections show a potential for approximately $85,328,325 in the total budget for school spending in FY 2015, that would be an increase of $5,284,939 or roughly 6.6 percent increase over the current fiscal year.