'So many misbudgeted items': Here are 5 key reasons Brockton schools budget imploded

BROCKTON — The Brockton School Committee got a shocking glimpse into the school district’s $18 million budget deficit from fiscal year 2023 as a new report by a state-backed data analysis firm reveals more insight into the fiscal fiasco.

Representatives from Open Architects — a state-wide data analysis company recommended to Brockton Public Schools by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) — have been tasked with reviewing the district’s Fiscal Year 2023 financial records. New findings were presented to the committee at their recent meeting.

“There’s just so much happening,” said TJ Plante, a representative from Open Architects, at a Feb. 6 school committee meeting. “There are so many misbudgeted items.”

While looking through the district’s finances, Plante found: Over 100 individual staff contracts promising costly benefits; massively underfunded transportation and special education accounts; payroll budgets with no money left in them; and major disorganization of the school’s business team.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Brockton Mayor and School Committee Chair Robert Sullivan.

Here are five of the key findings Plante identified:

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Over 100 non-union staff contracts

Plante said that between 125 and 150 Brockton Public Schoos staff members at various levels of command — from administrators to nurses and custodians — signed individual, non-union contracts with the school district that included lucrative benefits including vacation time, buyback clauses, built-in salary increases and weekly overtime pay on top of their typical salaries, some of which total six figures, Plante said.

Plante estimated that the school district owes roughly $2 million to staff just in contract buyouts alone.

'Sweet deals': Brockton schools gave at least 125 non-union contracts with costly benefits

Empty grants are funding payroll

Plante also said some BPS staff are getting paid through grant funds that were closed but never shut down, meaning those employees are getting paid through funds with no money in them, further increasing the deficit.

"You have a significant problem with grants paying payroll from fiscal 2023 that are closed out grants that no longer exist that have been closed out by DESE," Plante said.

"Payroll is going to hit no matter what and people are getting paid which is thereby creating further deficits," he said.

Plante said the school committee should move those employees' payroll to other grants or other revolving accounts while school officials shut down those used grant funds in Munis, the city's financial software.

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Transportation, special education underfunded

Since 2022, BPS has moved toward owning and operating its own bus fleet to help contain transportation costs and switch to an in-house bus system instead of outsourcing to a third-party partner. The school district estimates the move will save them several million dollars on transportation costs.

But meanwhile, transportation costs have skyrocketed as hundreds of students have fallen homeless and are required to be picked up and dropped off by bus everyday. Plus, more special education students are entering the district, increasing the need for transportation and special programs.

“That transportation cost is out of control and that’s not fully funded,” said Superintendent Mike Thomas at a School Committee Finance Subcommittee meeting on April 25. “Our transportation department just isn’t big enough now to do that.”

When the deficit was first announced in August, multiple school officials, including Thomas, said transportation was one main area where the district overspent.

"Generally speaking, the transportation department did not have a budget when they started the year," Plante said last week. "Those numbers are skyrocketing and those numbers are in the millions of dollars."

Between special education program costs, student transportation and the cost of purchasing in-house buses, Plante estimated that those departments were underfunded by roughly $2 million to $3 million.

The committee voted to launch an investigation into the district's transportation department to conduct a financial and operational audit of that entire department. School officials said that audit hasn't started yet.

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'Your business office is broken'

Overall, Plante said that the school district's finance team was decentralized and disorganized, often lacking proper historical record of when money was moved or taken out and who did it.

In October, city CFO Troy Clarkson, who took over control of the school department's finances after the budget deficit came to light, said the number of BPS employees who had access to the budget "was extraordinary" and was unlike any other districts he had worked in.

Clarkson said that a "significant" amount of staff were able, with the click of a button, to override the budget and overspend it for individual line items.

"The authority over at the schools was very dispersed, meaning who had permission to literally spend money," Clarkson said.

Plante said that BPS' budget override capability was unlike anything he's seen in other districts, and following historical spending in the district is "next to impossible to track in any meaningful way."

"It is something that should be shut down," Plante said. "Your business office is broken."

Plante said that until now, there was a major lack of awareness of the status of the district's budget.

"It's sad, it really is," said committee member Joyce Asack. "We need to just stay focused and get through this."

How did we get here?

Back in August, Sullivan announced that the budget for the previous fiscal year had been overspent by roughly $14 million. At the same time, Superintendent Mike Thomas took an indefinite medical leave and Brockton Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Aldo Petronio was placed on administrative leave.

Now, the total overspending is estimated to be around $18.25 million, and that figure could increase to nearly $20 million.

Just before Christmas, the Brockton City Council agreed to bail out the school department from the deficit using money from several city accounts to stop the state from stepping in, but Sullivan said the city can’t cover the school district any further.

“It's a slippery slope,” he said. “The city side cannot bail it out. They can't.”

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Brockton Schools budget deficit: new details shock committee