Brockton finds $14M shortfall at school district, emergency meeting planned for Friday

The committee overseeing the public school district in Brockton, Massachusetts, found out it’s short $14 million for the fiscal year just days before the start of classes, the mayor said Thursday night.

Despite the large deficit, Mayor Robert Sullivan said, classes will begin next week. He made the announcement after a four-hour executive session — which wasn’t attended by Superintendent Michael Thomas, who is out on medical leave.

“It was recently brought to the attention of the Brockton School Committee that an approximate $14 million deficit exists for FY23’s budget,” Sullivan said. “Mr. Thomas informed the committee that he would be out on an extended medical leave and he did not attend our executive session this evening.”

An emergency school committee meeting that will be open to the public will be held at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Sullivan said, flanked by other members of the committee.

“Come next week, we don’t even know if schools will be up for our students to be attending,” parent Gamaliel Lature told NBC10 Boston.

“As mayor, and a BPS alum, and a parent of a student in the BPS system, I’m extremely dismayed — collectively, we are all dismayed — by the situation, and we are committed to ensuring that we will rectify this situation, appoint new leadership, and move forward with our strategy and our concise strategy to deliver the best school for our teachers, our staff, our students, our parents and our guardians,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan didn’t share more on personnel matters or take questions.

“This is the city that we love,” community member Bri Nichols said. “We don’t want to see this happening. However, we do want accountability when it does happen.”

Stay with NBC10 Boston for more as this story develops.