The Up-Island schools have approved funding for the Islandwide testing initiative that will see elementary schools conduct 600 tests biweekly as a necessary safety measure for staff and students.
According to West Tisbury School Principal Donna Lowell-Bettencourt, West Tisbury’s share of the overall cost for testing, which amounts to approximately $305,000, is estimated at $24,000. Lowell-Bettencourt said there is enough money in the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER), which is part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, to fund its necessary contribution.
Lowell-Bettencourt said she can rewrite the grant to cover the testing, and she would prefer to do that instead of taking money from line items in West Tisbury School’s operating budget. “I prefer to [use the grant] because it is a known expense, which is appropriate to put in the CARES Act. But I can’t tell you I will never come back to you to ask for more money for COVID,” she said.
Chilmark Principal Susan Stevens said Chilmark must pay $3,800 toward the testing initiative, but her school does not have CARES money to cover the cost. “We are going to have to take that out of the budget. I can take little bits and pieces out of different categories,” Stevens said.
The committee approved a motion to use the CARES Act funds for West Tisbury School, and contingency money for Chilmark School.
Committee member Roxanne Ackerman wondered whether the committee could agree to fund the purchase without specifically allocating funds. Finance manager Mark Friedman said it has been the practice “from time to time” to allow the committee to enable schools to proceed with a purchase without appropriation, but said, “It would not be wise if we were looking at some sort of contractual agreement,” which he said would be the case with the testing.
Committee member Robert Lionette said that if there is no grant money available for Chilmark School, he would prefer exploring the possibility of using contingency funds that were previously reallocated from excess and deficiency funds after townspeople approved.
He said taking money out of the general operating budget at this time in the year would “be inappropriate,” with so many uncertain costs potentially lying ahead.
Friedman said there is currently around $99,000 in the Up-Island district’s contingency fund, $22,000 of which is money earmarked for the Chilmark School. He reiterated that there is plenty of money in that contingency line item to cover the $3,800.
Committee member Skipper Manter reminded the group that there is still a deficit in the Chilmark School for paying a full-time nurse, and he said that issue should be addressed before “going into more debt.”
Friedman said additional funding to make the nurse full-time at the Chilmark School is around $31,000.
Committee member Kate DeVane said she doesn’t want to conflate the issue of the nurse and the issue of testing, because they are entirely separate, but said she would like to see the cost for the nurse paid out of the general fund, possibly from any excess in salary employment lines due to retirements.
Friedman said the committee will work through multiple funding sources to resolve each of these items, but if the schools can vote to use the contingency money for the Chilmark share, West Tisbury can use the CARES money without a vote. “Then we can move forward with the testing issue, and work to get the nurse issue resolved in the coming months,” Friedman said.