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Date: 4/17/2023
BELCHERTOWN — The fiscal year 2024 school budget will be approximately $32.6 million which is an increase of 4.7% from FY23.
The School Committee hosted a public hearing for the school budget for FY24 at its April 11 meeting.
The school department’s original proposed budget was $33 million but after two joint meetings with the Select Board and Finance Committee on Feb. 28 and April 4, the schools had to cut their budget by $485,180.
School Committee Chair Heidi Gutekenst said that this final budget could have included more cuts based on conversations at the budget meetings.
“This was the least cutful, I guess, of everything. It could have been possible that we doubled or tripled those cuts. So I think we have come to some agreement cut size. I know we would love to be able to have better than level service but what we have is a whole lot of people working really hard to get it done,” she added.
The cuts will include the elimination of five positions that total $257,730 and educational programing will be reduced by $70,000, instructional resources by $75,000 and a reallocation of $82,320.
Superintendent Brain Cameron added, “Some of those positions are retired positions that are leaving the system. A couple of them are unfilled positions so we don’t believe anyone will be affected by those five positions.”
He added, “Educational resources is some supplies and subscriptions for a year that we don’t need anymore and there is some reallocation. What that means is for example, we have a position that delivers food to Cold Springs so we are able to take that position of custodian and move it into food service. We had to reallocate some tuitions as well.”
There were only a few members present for the budget hearing, but one community member said he wished the budget cuts were higher to help lower the taxes for the community.
Cameron added that the nine years he has been in central office, he has had to cut from his budget.
School Committee member Michael Knapp said that from 2017 to 2023 the school budget has increased annually by 2.5%, 1.6%, 2.9%, 3.2%, 1.4%, 1.3% and 1.1%.
He added, “This year we have a 4.7% increase. The point of reason for reading those numbers is our increase until this year has been below the growth of the town. We are growing much more slowly than the town.”
Most of the budget increases include non-discretionary expenses like oil, electricity transportation, out-of-district tuitions and benefits.
Out of the $1.5 million increase, approximately $1.2 million comes from non-discretionary expenses.
During the presentation, Business Manager Mark Chapulis explained that the schools are applying $1.25 million for School Choice in the FY24 budget but it can help with tuitions.
He said, “That number is more than last year and more than we are due to take in but we are using School Choice for two reasons. We are using School Choice to offset the additional tuition expenses which we haven’t done in the past, and we have tried to be prudent going forward as to try to keep School Choice balance at a particular level and work to maintain that. That offsets what the taxpayers must pay for school budget.”
Belchertown Schools will also see approximately $765,000 in circuit breaker funds which is an increase of $95,000 from FY23.
They still also have approximately $810,000 available in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds.
The School Committee is scheduled to vote on the FY24 school budget at its next meeting on Tuesday, April 25.