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Date: 4/11/2023
WEST SPRINGFIELD — School Committee members voted 6-0 on April 4 to support the administration’s $53.43 million requested budget.
Mayor William Reichelt, who chairs the committee and voted in favor of the budget, explained that he will now incorporate the school request into his overall fiscal year 2024 budget for the town. The Town Council will vote this spring on whether to adopt or modify that budget, and the new budget will take effect July 1.
Though the school budget proposal represents an increase from the fiscal year 2023 figure, $48.96 million, at least one parent who spoke at the public hearing said West Springfield should be spending much more.
“Even with the proposed 9% budget increase, we’re only on track for funding an adequate education next year,” said Adrienne Latham. “I believe they deserve better than adequate.”
She said West Springfield ranks lowest among nearby school districts in how much it exceeds the state’s minimum net school spending benchmark. West Springfield funds its schools at 107% of the minimum, she said, while Agawam is at 144% and other similar towns are in the 130s and 140s. The state calculates the net school spending target differently for each district based on population and local wealth.
Yet Latham, and the School Committee members who spoke before their unanimous vote, framed the choice as preserving what’s in the budget built by interim School Superintendent Vito Perrone, not adding to it.
“No one wants to see a budget that we have cut any further than it is. Parents want to see this go through,” said School Committee member Kira Thompson. “Obviously our schools need more help in [addressing] the testing and the learning loss.”
Committee members Kathy Alevras and Diana Coyne agreed that West Springfield lags the region in spending as a percentage of minimum net school spending. Alevras said the schools need to reexamine how much is spent per student. Coyne asked if the schools should be doing more, though she also said West Springfield is efficient with its spending and offers a wide range of “amazing things” for students, such as robotics clubs and arts programs.
Other parents at the public hearing pointed to the value of the school music program and the need for more adjustment counselors, as children continue to cope with emotional effects from the lack of socialization during the coronavirus pandemic.
Linda Parent, a former School Committee member, pressed administrators to search for revenue streams to bolster education without adding to the burden on local taxpayers. She said the schools need to make sure they are receiving as much reimbursement as possible from the Medicaid program, and suggested making money by placing solar panels on the roofs of all school buildings.
Though the FY24 budget is 9% larger than the current year’s budget, it includes a 13.9% increase in state aid, which will lessen the impact on local taxpayers. The budget incorporates several academic enrichment and adjustment counseling positions added in the past two years to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, originally paid using federal funds that are now set to expire.