Superintendent Elizabeth Homan is proposing a 7.3-percent increase in next year’s school budget, which she said prioritizes an increase in employee wages and more support for students with individualized education plans.
The $103.6 million budget is $7.1 million higher than this year’s $96.5 million budget. About $460,000 of that would be offset by an increase in state aid that Arlington expects next year.
Overall, the budget would result in roughly a 30-cent increase in the school portion of the property tax rate, adding about $240 to the annual tax bill for a house assessed at $800,000. The budget requires approval by the Arlington School Committee and Town Meeting voters.
The school district has scheduled a special public hearing with a vote possible for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 13, in person and on Zoom. Details here >>
With this budget proposal, the Arlington School Department is following its strategic planning promises of increased compensation for teachers and paraprofessionals and high-priority teaching for special-education students, Homan said.
“We’ve talked to the community about doing a better job of closing achievement gaps among various focal groups,” said Paul Schlichtman, chair of the Arlington School Committee.
The first step toward addressing this divide is bridging the wage gap between Arlington and comparable communities, Homan said.
“When we compare ourselves to other tax-based similar communities, we have consistently been lower in pay for those two groups of paraprofessionals and teachers,” Homan said.
The average Arlington teacher salary is $83,466; the state average was $86,118 when it was last calculated in 2022 according to state data.
The budget would add a net total of 33.5 positions, which includes 8.5 new librarians in the elementary schools.
“We’re organizing the libraries to have licensed professionals in every library,” Homan said. “Overall, it’s more dollars in the next year’s budget, but eliminating some of the paraprofessional support offsets the increase.”
Schlichtman said Arlington’s restoration of school librarians in elementary schools is a long time coming.
“People have wanted us to increase the number of librarians for the longest time,” he said. “We’ve done it gradually, and right now we’re at the point where we can finish the job.”
This addition in staffing is one step in combating Arlington’s decadelong enrollment bulge.
“Starting around 2012, we had a huge increase in enrollment, particularly the elementary level, and that surge is coming through over the course of time,” Schlichtman said.
Arlington’s enrollment has jumped from 4,858 in 2012 to 6,113 this year.
“You’re looking around at the housing in the community and you’re saying, ‘How can that be? There’s not a lot of new housing in Arlington,’” Schlichtman said. “But what’s happening is it’s being repurposed.”
Two-family homes are shifting from multigenerational occupants, a growing family on one floor and grandparents on the other, to rental units or condos.
The school system also plans to increase special education support that doesn’t exclude students from core classes.
“A lot of what we’re adding is in an attempt to make sure these students can get support from a special educator without being pulled out of other things,” Homan said. “It’s better if they are in a classroom where they can get some support from a special educator and from a general education math teacher.”
Arlington Public Schools’ strategic plan took effect July 1, 2024, thanks to a Proposition 2½ override voters approved in November 2023. An override vote allows municipalities to increase the property tax rate by more than 2.5 percent a year. The increased funding that results from the tax increase allows the school department to spend more money to implement its strategic plan.