BYFIELD — The Triton Regional School District is financially prepared for the upcoming school year, at least for now, according to the superintendent.
Superintendent Brian Forget recently appeared on Salisbury Community TV & Media Center's "Salisbury Speaks" TV show and told host John Housianitis that the district delayed some hiring due to the COVID-19 pandemic but no cuts have been made going into the 2020-21 school year.
"We're leaving that list of cuts on the table of what we could use to mitigate what we still think will be lost revenue," Forget said. "There are still some logistics that we are figuring out."
Forget said the state has funded local aid to the district's three towns — Salisbury, Newbury and Rowley — through fiscal 2021, which ends in June.
"This is significant," Forget said.
Forget said he and the School Committee went through most of the spring assuming they could expect a cut of roughly 25% in state aid.
"That would be about $2 million to $2.5 million for the district," Forget said. "We now know that Chapter 70 (state education funding) is confirmed. We lost $68,000, so the same reason why I am always complaining that we don't get more in Chapter 70, in this case, actually helped us. Because districts that were receiving an extra $2 million or $3 million lost that money."
"The piece that we are still waiting on is regional school transportation and the (special education) circuit breaker," Forget said. "Those are both reimbursement programs. We absolutely assume that we will lose funds there."
The district has held off on roughly $568,000 in reductions.
"There was also a couple of hundred thousands of dollars in savings because the health insurance decided to have a premium holiday in July," he said. "So the health insurance was half of July's bill, which was about $200,000 in savings."
Triton is also in the midst of a complete overhaul in regard to personal protective equipment and has received roughly $720,000 in federal stimulus funding, according to Forget.
"That will be used on everything from putting a Chromebook in every student's hands to upgrading our facilities and buying 47,000 disposable masks," he said. "So we are in a very different place than we were when we went into the summer."
Forget's "Salisbury Speaks" episode airs today on Channel 12 at 1, 4, 6 and 10 p.m. The episode is also available on demand at www.SCTVMC.org.
Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.
The Link LonkAugust 20, 2020 at 03:56PM
https://www.newburyportnews.com/news/local_news/forget-no-cuts-at-triton-for-now/article_cfb8ab3d-5b25-55c4-a2e4-1dcabbcce584.html
Forget: No cuts at Triton for now - The Daily News of Newburyport
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