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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-10-14 Finance Committee Minutes di Finance Committee Meeting Minutes of October 14,2025 I IIIIiY)loll`ii�Ei@tl} �}pIt 1}i'I}y, (IIII II Illt'lll�ll I i ,i Call To Order: Chair Regina Kean called the meeting to order at 7:OOPM. The open session meeting took place in the School Admin Room at the School Administration Building on 566 Main Street. Present: Chair Regina Kean, Vice Chair Denevan O'Connell, Christine Allen, Jeanne Irwin, and Jennifer Watson. Not Present: Nancy Sarro, Eva Pastor, Keith Chaney, and Dustin Silk. Non-Board Members in Attendance: Finance Director Dennis Keohane. PUBLIC COMMENT None. NEW BUSINESS Finance Update from Superintendent of Schools Pamela Lathrop and Gail Dowd were present. Ms. Kean stated the town and the schools signed a memorandum of agreement outlining some practices that were put into place to help with checks and balances. Ms. Lathrop stated they also brought their first financial report that they provided to the School Committee last Thursday. Ms. Dowd stated they met with the Town Finance Director and Town Manager to present a similar report to them. Ms. Dowd stated the chart is a projection as of October 3, 2025. Ms. Dowd stated they are still working on some of their transportation routes so they have not received a lot of their first month invoices yet. Ms. Dowd stated they do not encumber for overtime, hourly employees, or some of the stipends that may not happen until later in the year. Ms. Dowd stated they are constantly reviewing items to ensure everything is being captured correctly. Ms. Dowd discussed what they have encumbered. Ms. Dowd stated they are having weekly meetings to review, and as of right now, they are on target. Ms. Dowd stated they will be meeting with the budget liaisons from the different schools. Ms. Irwin asked how much they are paying for out-of-district tuition. Ms. Dowd stated it is a combination; some of it is operating, some of it is grants, and some of it is circuit breaker. Ms. Irwin asked if they knew if the out of district population has increased or decreased from prior years. Ms. Dowd stated it is ever evolving, but they are holding pretty stable with where they were. Ms. Irwin asked if vacancies were encumbered. Ms. Dowd stated no. Ms. Irwin asked how many vacancies they have. Ms. Dowd stated a handful. Mr. O'Connell asked if they could talk about how they are putting together those forecasts and placeholders. Ms. Dowd stated they have built up their forecast and projection student by student. Ms. Dowd discussed the process they take to make their forecasts and projections. Ms. Dowd discussed the need to do assessments throughout the year. Ms. Lathrop stated the director of special education has also put some safeguards in place. Ms. Allen asked if they have ever put together a comparison from year to year on what they have budgeted for special education and what has actually been spent. Ms. Dowd stated no, but they are tracking it now. Ms. Watson asked if they budget for the case that all of them get out of district placement. Ms. Dowd stated no. Ms. Irwin asked if they do some of the transportation in house or all through NRT. Ms. Dowd stated all through NRT. Ms. Kean asked when how much negotiation or leeway is in where they go. Ms. Lathrop stated it depends on the needs of the student. Ms. Irwin stated the rates are published on the state's website. Ms. Lathrop discussed the opportunity for the school district to think about what kinds of programs they have within the schools and how they might change them to prevent having to send students out of district. Ms. Kean asked if there was something from the di Finance Committee Meeting Minutes of October 14,2025 I IIIIiY)loll`ii�Ei@tl} �}pIt 1}i'I}y, (IIII II Illt'lll�ll I i ,i School Committee about bringing something back at the old Senior Center. Ms. Lathrop explained how they used to partner with Andover holding a program for their 18 to 22 year old students. Ms. Lathrop discussed bringing their own program back into North Andover. Ms. Kean asked if this will generate a savings, is it going to be equal, or will it be brought in house. Ms. Dowd stated a slight savings. Ms. Irwin asked if there are neighboring districts where they would place a student where they have the services available for it to be less expensive than an actual placement. Ms. Lathrop stated they are unsure if they have any in other towns, but they would explore that if that was an option. Mr. O'Connell asked if they send out more students than they take in. Ms. Lathrop stated yes. Mr. O'Connell asked if the School Committee approved the out of district tuition to fund the one on one teaching assistant. Ms Lathrop stated yes. Mr. O'Connell asked how do you ensure that these midstream reallocations do not create a deeper structural problem towards the back end of the budget. Ms. Dowd stated there is a significant savings when you bring students back into district. Ms. Dowd explained their plan. Ms. Watson asked if they had a reserve budget. Ms. Dowd stated no. Ms. Kean asked how they set the rate to get paid tuition for students they take in. Ms. Dowd stated it is based on the needs of the students, and what it would cost them. Ms. Kean asked if they would consider taking other students from other towns into their program. Ms. Lathrop stated there could be potential if a district reached out. Ms. Dowd discussed the various grants the school district receives. Ms. Dowd explained how the grant funds are broken down and what each of them are. Ms. Kean asked where they will see the extra million dollars that the state provided in this chart. Ms. Dowd explained why they will not see it. Ms. Kean asked where they would look monthly to realize that they are not spending this money and actually keeping it in a reserve for the circuit breaker. Ms. Dowd stated it is a separate account in Munis. Mr. O'Connell asked if they could expect to see that in an every 3 month financial update. Ms. Kean asked how much of the $3.3 million is planned to be used versus planned to be sitting in reserve. Ms. Dowd stated it is a fluid item. Ms. Dowd stated providing quarterly updates makes more sense. Ms. Kean stated she would like those unexpected situations to be captured rather than buried if they are using the additional $1 million to cover them. Ms. Irwin asked how many salaries were on the IEDA grant. Ms. Dowd stated it is a combination of partial teachers and TAs; they have about$275,000 to $300,000 on there. Ms. Irwin asked if they are 1.0 FTs. Ms. Dowd stated no. Ms. Dowd stated their goal is to limit the amount of professional salary dollars they put on the grants. Ms. Irwin asked if they have someone in charge of their grants. Ms. Dowd stated there is not one key person who oversees the grants. Ms. Lathrop discussed the MOA and explained what the parties agreed upon. Ms. Lathrop discussed a few adjustments on the MOA that have been made amendable by the Town Manager and Town Finance Director. Ms. Lathrop provided a summary of the challenges they previously experienced but also their progress towards the intent of the MOA. Mr. O'Connell stated they would rather the school district come in and explain to them what they are seeing within the budget instead of not giving an update for fear of it being misconstrued. Ms. Lathrop asked some clarifying questions. Ms. Lathrop explained why they would not recommend reporting in early September, and why they stopped reporting after October and waited until January. Ms. Dowd stated they needed to take a step back and look at everything that had been encumbered, which is when they saw a significant shift in reporting. Mr. O'Connell asked how the indirect cost analysis was going. Ms. Dowd stated they had a good model last year that they are going to build upon. Ms. Allen asked how they like using Munis. Ms. Lathrop stated she has used Munis in the past but di Finance Committee Meeting Minutes of October 14,2025 I IIIIiY)loll`ii�Ei@tl} �}pIt 1}i'I}y, (IIII II Illt'lll�ll I i ,i likes it better now that Gail is here to be the final stop. Ms. Lathrop stated Gail has been doing a great job of ensuring they are putting money in the right spots. Review of Finance Committee Policies and Rules of Procedures Ms. Kean asked Ms. Watson if the documents new members were supposed to be provided were provided to her. Ms. Watson stated most of them. Ms. Watson stated the Town Manager will share information on a course for new Finance Committee members. MOTION:Mr. O'Connell motioned to adopt the policies and procedures document as presented. Ms. Watson seconded. Motion approved 5-0. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM SEPTEMBER 15, 2025 MOTION:Mr. O'Connell motioned to approve the Open Session minutes of September 15, 2025 as presented. Ms. Allen seconded. Motion approved 5-0. Ms. Watson provided an update on the Tri-Board Chairs meeting. Ms. Allen discussed the importance of the topics discussed, and that the information should be provided to everyone. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Mr. O'Connell made a MOTION, seconded by Ms. Watson to adjourn the Finance Committee meeting at 8:20PM. Motion approved 5-0. Respectfully submitted. Nicole Civitarese Executive Assistant Documents used at meeting MOA Policies and Procedures Minutes from 9/15/25