Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 1/25/2023
HAMPDEN/WILBRAHAM – The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Committee gathered with state lawmakers and leadership from both towns on Jan. 19 to discuss the budget issues facing the school district in fiscal year 2024 (FY24).
Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District (HWRSD) Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Operations and Human Resources Aaron Osborne began by presenting a preview of the budget, highlighting the “major drivers” increasing this year’s costs. The first of these drivers is special education, the cost of which is expected to rise by 20 percent, or $830,000. A “big piece” of this increase is a 14 percent hike in tuition costs for out-of-district placements. Those tuition costs are determined by the state’s Operational Services Division.
Superintendent John Provost said that he understood the inflationary pressures that private special education was under. “Every public school is facing the same inflationary pressures,” he said. “If 14 percent is needed for them, 14 percent is needed for us.”
The circuit breaker, a reimbursement for special education costs, kicks in after the district spends $49,000. The amount of money reimbursed through the circuit breaker dropped by 50 percent during the height of the coronavirus pandemic and prior investments in in-district services. In FY23, however, the reimbursement jumped to $729,489 from $408,125 the previous year. This reflects an increase in the number of students receiving special education services and the cost. In FY24, the reimbursement is expected to be $750,000.
With that in mind, Osborne reminded, “For every dollar reimbursed, we spend $3.”
Utilities are another budget driver. They are expected to increase by 17 percent, or $173,901. There is also a 7 percent projected increase in health insurance costs and a 3 percent contractually obligated cost-of-living increase for teachers. The budgetary offsets that usually help absorb these increases are flat or have decreased for the upcoming fiscal year.
One of those offsets is Chapter 70, state aid designed to help fund schools. Osborne compared HWRSD’s Chapter 70 funding with that of West Springfield Public Schools. In 2008, West Springfield and HWRSD had similar enrollments at 3,951 and 3,687, respectively. By 2022, West Springfield had lost 2.53 percent of its students, while HWRSD lost 21.62 percent of its student population. Osborne acknowledged that West Springfield has a greater number of low-income students but pointed out that West Springfield’s low-income student population increased by 49 percent over the previous 14 years, while the proportion of HWRSD’s low-income students grew by 359 percent in the same period.
Despite the enrollment loss and the sharp increase in students with greater needs, HWRSD’s Chapter 70 funding has only increased by 7.46 percent since 2008, while West Springfield has seen a 53 percent bump in its aid.
Then there is regional district transportation. Governed under Chapter 71, Section 16C, regional school districts are required to provide transportation for all students and in return, “the commonwealth shall reimburse such district to the full extent of the amounts expended for such transportation, subject to appropriation.” While the full 100 percent has never been appropriated, since FY18 the reimbursement rate has fluctuated between 71.3 percent and 96.21 percent.
Osborne called the rate “erratic” and explained to state Sen. Jake Oliveira and the representatives from state Rep. Angelo Puppolo’s office that the inconsistency has made it difficult to budget around.
Osborne pointed out that the towns are expected to bridge the divide between Chapters 70 and 71 and the district’s budgetary needs. While the budget usually increases by between 1 and 2 percent each year, the FY24 operational budget is expected to be $54,050,784, more than 6 percent higher than last year. The town assessments, which are generally 2.5 to 3 percent more yearly, are estimated to increase by 9.5 percent, bringing them to a total of $37,247,432.
In addition to the operational budget, HWRSD is facing several capital expenses.
“Every one of our school buildings is aging,” he said. He noted that the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), which provides reimbursements for school construction and repairs, has paused its accelerated repair program for the year. Schools need backup generators, windows and doors, and aging technology.
While each town handles the capital needs for the elementary and middle schools within its borders, Minnechaug Regional High School’s (MRHS) capital expenses are split by the towns based on the split in enrollment. The towns must find funding for projects totaling $458,000 for the high school alone.
School Committee member Sean Kennedy showed Oliveira two lottery tickets he had bought and said he did not know what else to do to help the district’s financial situation.
Discussion
Oliveira told the local officials at the table that funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and state revenues that came in higher than expected in FY23 have opened more opportunities for funding. Bruce Adams, a legislative aide to Puppolo, said that the Booster Club had received a $350,000 earmark for the turf field at MRHS.
The state budget depends on the current revenue figures, which are not yet final, Oliveira said. Once they are, Gov. Maura Healey will lay out her budget proposal, and the House and Senate will create their versions. Oliveira said that when it comes to asking for earmarks, “You have to tell us what you need,” with, “as early of a heads up as possible.”
Osborne quipped, “Will an email tomorrow be enough?”
When it comes to the MSBA, Oliviera said the agency has “a pot of funds shrinking every year.” He pointed out that collaboratives, such as the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative, of which HWRSD is a member, cannot apply to the MSBA. Instead, their capital expenses are charged back to the member communities. He said he has filed legislation to change that.
Oliveira then addressed transportation reimbursement, saying, “The problem is that the majority of people in the Legislature don’t represent a regional district,” and therefore do not understand the need.
Kennedy said that requiring every student to have a bus seat, whether they take the bus, leaves the district funding empty seats. Additionally, regional districts cannot charge fees for busing, as municipal districts can. Kennedy asked, “Can you free us up from some of these requirements?”
School Committee member Patrick Kiernan posited that if sidewalks could be funded with Community Preservation Act funding, residents would walk for recreation and students could walk to school.
Oliveira said “the whole transportation structure” needs an overhaul. In the meantime, he promised that he would push to appropriate 100 percent of what regional districts were owed in transportation reimbursements.
Director of Student Services Gina Roy pointed out that the transportation of special education students to out-of-district placements, sometimes as far away as Northampton, is a factor in the rising costs. She said the circuit breaker reimbursement covers out-of-district transportation, but the money is not received until the next year. Osborne explained that the Department of Children and Families will sometimes make the unilateral decision to place a student out of district or in a residential program. He said the cost of this was “frequently in the $75,000 range.”
Osborne said that the district has seen an influx of students that require special needs services. If the family moves in after April, he said, the budget for that year is already set but the district still must pay to accommodate the student’s needs. Roy said the salary for a one-to-one paraprofessional, which at least two special education students require, is increasing from $33,000 to $43,000.
School Committee member Bill Bontempi noted that a third of the FY24 budget was slated to be spent on special education.
Oliveira acknowledged the district’s struggle and said he was working with the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents to “look at the long-term health of special education because it’s not working.”
Bontempi and Kennedy talked about the usage of school buildings, some of which are full, and whether the district should increase school choice placements for the $5,000 each student brings to the district. The conversation did not yield answers to either topic.
The officials discussed the “Fair Share Amendment,” a constitutional amendment approved by voter referendum in November 2022 that will impose a 4 percent surtax on income over $1 million. It was estimated by proponents to generate about $2 billion in revenue annually. That revenue is designed to be used solely for public K-12 education, public colleges and universities, the repair and maintenance of roads and bridges and for public transportation.
School Committee members asked Oliveira how to ensure revenue from the Fair Share Amendment was not diverted away from K-12 education in favor of colleges and pre-K programs, but the state senator had no easy answer.
“There are many competing interests,” Oliveira said. “Once you start splitting that [$2 billion] up ...” School Committee Vice Chair Maura Ryan made the comment that public schools have been underfunded for too long and without K-12 education, there is no higher education. Oliveira countered that early childhood education is also underfunded and it is the foundation for K-12 learning. He added, “We’ve got to raise them all.”
Kiernan told the people at the table that they have “the same conversation every year.” He added, “You pit department against department to fight for the same dollars,” both in terms of town assessments and at the state level.
Bontempi agreed. He said 72 percent of the district’s budget is paid by taxpayers.
“We’re taxing people to the hilt,” he said. Wilbraham Finance Committee Chair Kevin Hanks said the town did not have discretionary spending. “Every dollar has to be spoken for,” he said. Hampden Advisory Co-Chair Carol Fitzgerald said it was the same there.
“What we can do is speak as one voice,” Oliveira said. He said Western Massachusetts must build a coalition and people at the local level can help.
Referring to himself and his fellow legislators, Oliveira said, “You got to beat down our doors.”