Brockton schools facing a deficit up to $25m
New report cites budget mismanagement and lack of financial oversight in district
As a result of poor budget management and oversight, Brockton Public Schools faces a shortfall of up to $25 million in the current fiscal year, according to an independent review of the beleaguered school district’s finances that was made public Friday.
The report, prepared by Open Architects, an education consultancy, was commissioned by the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education following the shocking discovery this summer that the school system south of Boston had overspent its previous fiscal year budget of $219 million by about $14 million, a figure that city officials later revised to more than $18 million. The city was forced to cover the shortfall in an emergency council meeting in December to avert a state takeover, with a mix of reserved funds, free cash, and an increase in estimated revenues.
But the district is unlikely to balance its current $231 million budget, according to the report, facing a deficit ranging from $19 million to $25 million. And despite projections that the district will see an increase in funding from the governor’s budget, the district is projected to face a $7 million to $19 million shortfall in the upcoming fiscal year, the report said.
The review blamed the district’s financial woes on “budget mismanagement and inadequate fiscal controls.”
Brockton Public Schools is among the state’s largest and most diverse districts, serving nearly 15,000 students, more than 80 percent of whom are Black or Latino. Its flagship high school has made national headlines recently due to reports of student violence that have left faculty injured and fearing for their safety, a staffing crisis that has stranded students without teachers for hours in the cafeteria, and calls from several members of the School Committee to bring in the National Guard to restore order.
Brockton Mayor Robert Sullivan said in a statement Friday that the report is a major step toward understanding the root causes of the district’s budgetary problems.
“The issues identified in the report are unacceptable,” Sullivan said. “The city is taking action — with guidance and assistance from the Commonwealth — to address these issues in the short term and imple
ment safeguards to ensure that nothing like this happens again.”
The report identified key areas that were not budgeted properly and are driving the district’s current deficits, including transportation, special education services, and employee benefits. For example, the district allocated $11.2 million to its transportation budget in fiscal year 2024, but is on track to spend $22.5 million — twice the original amount. The district is also on the hook for $2.8 million in tuition for students with disabilities attending specialized out-ofdistrict schools, and nearly $1 million in unmet special education services. Unplanned employee benefits, like “buy backs” that compensate staff for unused sick and vacation days, are also squeezing the budget.
The report faulted the district for failing to adequately record, track, and approve expenditures using its budget software, MUNIS. Grants, for instance, were not correctly managed or closed in MUNIS, resulting in overdrawn accounts for grants that had long expired. The district’s transportation department created bus routes without knowing how much it was actually allowed to spend. Controls for monitoring payroll and positions are also “inadequate,” the report said, and likely contributed to over-hiring.
“These challenges,” the report said, “pose substantial risks to the financial health of both BPS and the City of Brockton.”
To plug this year’s financial hole, Open Architects helped the district find $15 million in onetime funding sources, including state reimbursements for special education and homeless students, and federal COVID relief aid. But the city will likely have to find additional funding in order to balance the fiscal year 2024 budget, the report said. For next year’s budget, which is projected to be $250.5 million, the city needs to locate $20 million in total over the next six months to pay for its increasing transportation costs and replenish a rainy day fund that was extinguished entirely to cover the 2023 budget gap.
Acting Superintendent James Cobbs said in a statement Friday that the district has “not done a good enough job” mitigating its costs or adhering to best budget practices.
“We owe it to the Brockton community to do better, and we are steadfast in our commitment to work with our city and state partners to ensure that our budget and spending processes are rebuilt from the ground up in a way that’s sustainable and — most importantly — keeps us moving toward our goal of providing Brockton’s students with the best possible education,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the state’s Executive Office of Education said the agency is “in constant discussion with Brockton school and city officials about their next steps.”