The Medford School Committee voted unanimously to appropriate $7 million to retain over 14 positions across the school district, fund infrastructure upgrades and reserve funds for a new collective bargaining agreement on Jan. 13. The city’s approval of Proposition 2 ½ override questions 7 and 8 in the November 2024 election, generating $3 million and $4 million, respectively, for Medford schools.
Without the override, budget cuts would have laid off school nurses, mental health supports and teachers, according to Jenny Graham, vice chair of the Medford School Committee.
The COVID-19 pandemic put a significant strain on the Medford schools. The usage of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds tied them over for a few years, but the funds ran out by June 2024.
The city’s Financial Task Force discussed options for raising revenue to prevent further cuts and improving Medford schools last spring. The results were the city’s three ballot questions and the Medford City Council’s appropriation of $1.75 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds to fund 14 teaching positions. The money was rescinded on Nov. 19, 2024, following the election results.
The eight new positions that the district proposed to fill include a special education teacher, an assistant director for buildings and grounds, a district-wide music teacher and two swing-shift custodians.
Other proposals include a Best Buddies program and the implementation of electronic key access controls and video intercoms at all school buildings.
Graham explained that an expansion of school hours is necessary to increase accessibility to high school and vocational programming.
“More time in the day means more learning for students, which is important for us because we have the minimum number of hours allowed for learning,” Graham said. “This gives us an opportunity to do and be more than the minimum.”
Jessica Parks, a parent and Medford resident, expressed joy that the override was passed because it prevented staff layoffs.
“I think many people were incredibly happy that it passed, myself included, and there is a lot of work to be done. I think that there’s a recognition, though, that Question 7 really was, as we like to joke, to stop the bleed. It was to make us whole,” Parks said.
Parks said the most significant use of the override money is to stabilize the schools and restore positions and programming that had been canceled since the pandemic.
“It’s literally to increase the school day from a bare minimum, or to keep staff so that we can have guidance counselors that help support struggling students, or nurses, or someone who can support payroll so that our teachers can get paid,” Parks said. “And I think that it’s important to keep in mind that the easier we can make the lives of the people who have our children, the better. This is basically our future right here.”
Aaron Olapade, a member of the committee, discussed the impact that staff layoffs had made on students’ experience.
“Bringing them all back has allowed us to recognize, not only do we have staffing shortfalls that impacted student learning, not just in the classroom, but also student retention in class, student enjoyment, student involvement [shortfalls] especially,” Olapade said.
Given that both questions applied to this fiscal year, which started in July, the override money for those two quarters will be applied to the last two quarters of the year.
“That is going to feel a whole lot different than if that same amount of money was spread over the full yearlong term,” Graham said. “The other thing that happens in January, which I think lots of people don’t think a lot about year to year, is that’s when the tax bills go from estimated bills to actual bills.”
“When I saw my tax bill, I wasn’t necessarily surprised by it. I had kind of calculated it out,” Parks said. “My taxes have increased every single year because property value increased.”
Graham and Parks believe that communication from the city about the rises had not been sufficient enough.
“There are people who saw significant adjustments, and whether that adjustment was from the override collection, or it was for some other reason, was frankly not as clearly communicated as I would have liked it to be,” Graham said.
