Mattapoisett's school budget for the next year has increased to a total of $6,917,439.

The total budget for fiscal year 2018 (the 2017-2018 school year) was proposed at a meeting of the Mattapoisett School Committee Monday night. The budget is an increase of two percent ($135,206) from the FY17 total.

The biggest cost expense occurred due to the town's need for a Board Certified Behavioral Analyst. The analyst, explained Superintendent Doug White, is becoming a real need for the school system.

He explained that even though the total number of students enrolled in Mattapoisett's school system is actually decreasing, the number of special needs students has consistently hovered around 11 percent. An analyst, he said, would be able to help teachers plan individual programs for special needs children and make recommendations for their education. The total cost for the analyst was described in the budget as $43,859.

The committee was able to offset some of the budget in several ways. A total of $115,716 was received via federal, state and local grants. The school system also pulled in revenue from a revolving account, totaling $15,300. In addition, the state made available $75,770 in Circuit Breaker funds, meant to help partially reimburse costs of special education funding. Without these offsets, the total school budget would have been $7,124,225.

The budget was approved by the School Committee. However, Pat Donahue, a member of Mattapoisett's Finance Committee, remained concerned.

"Mattapoisett has a lot of pressing issues right now," she said. "We have an increasing elderly population, and a decreasing elementary school enrollment. This is one of the only places where I see a need actually declining."

She added that she wasn't sure it was fair to take away from other needs when those needs were more pressing.

Old Hammondtown school principal Rosemary Bowman explained that the very small number of kindergarten students in the district in 2017 was an aberration. "It was a surprise to us. We usually have five to 10 enrollments every summer. Last year several students moved out of the district, but that isn't usual."

According to Bowman, current sign up numbers, plus the usual sign up numbers in the summer, should lead either to a four kindergarten classes, or three kindergarten students with 20 students apiece. "It doesn't really seem fair to roll the dice on the off chance that some people decide to move away."

Donahue was unpersuaded. She noted that over the last several years, Mattapoisett enrollment numbers had decreased by 80 and yet there had been no reductions in staff.

"In fact, we've even added three or four teachers," she continued. "That's my concern."