Salem Public Schools Work To Close $4.9 Million Budget Gap

SALEM, MA — The Salem Public Schools 2026 budget will include reductions to help close a $4.9 million gap — but will maintain what Superintendent Steve Zrike said are key programs and initiatives within the district, while honoring pay increases negotiated into the latest teacher collective-bargaining agreement this past September.

The full budget proposal will be presented to the School Committee on Monday, with a public budget hearing set for April 14.

Zrike said the "significant deficit" comes despite a 4.8 percent increase in city funding with causes related to increased costs due to inflation and personnel.

• Salem Teachers Reach Tentative Deal On New 3-Year Contract

"We made a very important and significant decision to increase salaries to make them more competitive for our educators," Zrike said of the CBA agreed to in September. "They were among the lowest in the region. So, as you all know, we settled the contract last year, and with that, we are compensating our educators in a way they deserve for the work that they do."

Zrike said the cost increases come as state aid remains largely stagnant and that the budget crunch is similar to those being felt in districts across the region and the state.

"We have some difficult decisions when there is a deficit," he said. "We worked really hard to minimize the impact on classrooms. We are working hard not to fill vacant positions. We're trying to right-size the number of staff in places where student enrollment has declined and minimize the impact on students.

"Any budget reduction has consequences. But we're doing our best to be as strategic as possible."

Zrike said the proposed budget maintains investments in pre-kindergarten, advanced coursework, career technical programming, "and the things that make our school system unique and that, we think, has led to our success in recent years."

He said class sizes will not be "significantly altered" and that caseloads for special education and multilingual learners will "remain in line with other districts with comparable demographics."

A consideration to add fees for school athletics and extracurricular activities was not included in the proposed budget.

He said any reductions in personnel will be "equitably distributed" among schools and departments, and work has been done to "minimize reduction of roles where they were certified and qualified individuals."

"Anybody who is certified and qualified, and in good standing in Salem Public Schools, we have pledged to find a role for them next year," Zrike said.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)