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Date: 4/13/2023
WILBRAHAM — Budget issues were again the focus of the Hampden–Wilbraham Regional School District meeting on April 6. Despite approving a budget in mid-March, financial issues remain due to a discrepancy between the assessment for Wilbraham requested by the school district and the amount Wilbraham has stated it will recommend funding.
Superintendent John Provost previously presented a list of positions and programs that would need to be cut as well as fees that would need to be increased if it could not bridge the nearly $800,000 gap between the requested assessment of $29.4 million and the amount the Finance Committee’s preferred amount of roughly $28.6 million.
School Committee member Patrick Kiernan said many of the items on the gap list should have been included in the budget, not as a “draconian after-the-fact” list. He added that the School Committee needed to examine the “return on investment” of programs and decisions such as the addition of an assistant principal at Minnechaug Regional High School last year, class size limits, moving back to the middle school model and investing in social emotional learning positions.
School Committee member Bill Bontempi called these “great strides.” He said, “There’s a boatload of issues” in schools across the district left over from the education gap and closure of schools when the coronavirus pandemic hit. Curtailing social-emotional learning would be “irresponsible.” Bontempi said that the middle school model may be more expensive than the junior high model, but it is better for students.
Kiernan said he was not recommending eliminating those measures, but said, “I don’t feel like we’ve done everything we can” to stay within the budget. He mentioned cutting “low hanging fruit” in the form of certain positions.
School Committee member Sean Kennedy responded that the position should not be considered low hanging fruit. “Maybe you do not have kids in the district that would be affected,” he said to Kiernan. School Committee member Maura Ryan asked Kennedy to reconsider the “tone” he was using when addressing other committee members.
“I don’t need you to correct my tone, but thank you, duly noted,” Kennedy said.
Provost reminded Kiernan that much of the “low hanging fruit” had been cut in the form of vacant positions that will go unfilled, changes to the transportation model and other modification with a limited effect on students.
The conversation turned to moving programs and offices out of Thornton W. Burgess School. Bontempi said constructing offices at Minnechaug to house the administrative personnel from the former middle school is “fiscally irresponsible.” Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Operations and Human Resources Aaron Osborne said $175,000 was a placeholder number and that he did not believe it would cost that much.
Kennedy pointed out that overhead would still be required at the shuttered school, including plowing and utilities. After a conversation about the cost of keeping the heat low and only “ramping it up” when the building is used, which Osborne said was inefficient and expensive, Bontempi commented, “You are one cold snap and a furnace blowout from disaster.”
Provost said that in addition to the reduction of seven paraprofessionals that had already been included in the budget, most of whom were funded through a grant in previous years, district leadership had determined 22 employees — 11 teachers and 11 paraprofessionals — may not be renewed if the budget does not pass at the Town Meetings this spring. The district must notify teachers and paraprofessionals if their contracts will be renewed by June 15, though he noted teachers would like to know sooner so that they can obtain new licenses for any positions that would require them.
“It’s a kick in the teeth” to the educators, Kennedy remarked. Ryan said, “If we can shield as much as we can, I think we should try.”
Bontempi noted that he would like to “engage in dialogue” with the Wilbraham Finance Committee at the district’s Finance Subcommittee meeting on April 10. The School Committee authorized waiting to send out “pink slips” until after the subcommittee meeting in case there was a “breakthrough” with the Wilbraham Finance Committee.
Finance Subcommittee
Despite this hope, no members of the Wilbraham Finance Committee attended the April 10 subcommittee meeting. Referring to a March 30 Wilbraham-Hampden Times article in which Wilbraham Finance Committee members Marc Ducey and Michael Tirabassi stated that they would be willing to reopen the school budget if the district agreed to negotiate, Kennedy wondered aloud why the Finance Committee would indicate its willingness to negotiate but not attend the meeting.
Osborne noted that within 45 days of the Town Meeting the budget cannot be changed.
Bontempi reported that Ducey had previously said Wilbraham has a $1 million cushion between its budget total and the levy limit. While it could be used to fund the gap, it would require raising taxes.
Kennedy reflected on the work done by the School Committee and the district in reducing the budget. “We did get better,” Kennedy said. “We kept sharpening our pencils.” The year-over-year increase to the budget was revised over several months from about 9.6% to 7.42% to 3.97%.
“For four months we were the only side that moved,” Bontempi said. “We’re trimming what we think is fat, but now we’re trimming into muscle.” Referring to state-mandated costs, he added, “Ninety percent of this, we don’t have any control over.”
Bontempi said, “We never had a clear number from [the Finance Committee].” Kennedy noted that early in the process, Ducey had tossed out a hypothetical total increase of $1 million over the fiscal year 2023 budget. The Finance Committee’s recommended assessment stuck to that $1 million figure. Bontempi noted that $1 million is less than a 2% increase.
Ryan commented, “It would have been nice to have a semblance of what the numbers could have looked like,” as far as cuts from the district. Osborne said “some of the challenge” was that the state’s numbers came through late in the budget process.
Ryan also said there had been conversations between Bontempi and Osborne that had not been discussed among the full subcommittee. “The town has questions that are not being answered,” she said. As an example, she noted capital projects had not been included in the assessment letter in the past but were this year. Osborne told her that “both the regional agreement and state law” require any capital items funded by the towns to be listed on the assessment letter. The items were listed separately so that if the town does not vote for the capital projects, the budget can still be approved.
Bontempi said Minnechaug only recently begin requiring several capital projects each year as the school ages. He said including the numbers as a separate item on the assessment letter provides more transparency rather than less.
Kennedy noted that the district had been “kicking the can down the road” on about $3 million in capital projects for several years. So much needs to be done at various schools “just to get them up to where they need to be, it’s astronomical.”
Bontempi added, “These deferred projects, eventually they pile up.”
Ryan suggested seeking state earmarks for safety and technology capital expenses. She also said more than once that the district can seek extra funding at fall Town Meetings. “We say we can’t go back to the well, but we can,” she said.
When presented at the spring Town Meeting, the budget article will appear with the full assessment requested by the school district and the Wilbraham Finance Committee will report that it does not recommend approval. If the budget does not pass at both Hampden and Wilbraham’s Town Meetings, Osborne said there is a process governed by state law that involves the district voting on an amended budget. Kennedy said he does not think it will come to that and is optimistic that Wilbraham will approve funding the schools.
Athletic fees
At the School Committee meeting, the group discussed a possible increase in fees, including those for athletics and student parking at the high school. Bontempi said the athletic revolving accounts, in which athletic fees are deposited, should contain enough to cover athletic costs without “gouging” students. Kiernan doubted that and said those accounts may never be able to cover all athletic programing costs but should be examined to see how they can be more effective. He added that coaches he spoke with said higher fees do impact a team’s ability to attract players. Osborne noted that before the coronavirus pandemic, athletic accounts were “in the black.”
On a related note, Osborne said the athletics line item is over budget. Aside from stagnant fees, a move by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association to schedule games statewide rather than by region has increased the amount of travel and overnight accommodations required for teams to compete. Osborne will examine the fee structure further.
Ryan asked if any of the athletic programs have too few students to fund, noting that while she does not want to cut programs their financial feasibility is a factor. Osborne said that he would review the programs.
Other financial issues
Osborne said much of the software used in schools is moving to a cloud-based model, which is more expensive as it involves subscription services.
A crack in the heat exchange unit in one of the five boilers at Minnechaug has been identified. Osborne said that the other four boilers are not compromised, and the system could continue to run on those in the short term. However, the boiler will need to be replaced next year. The cost of a replacement boiler, plus labor and the use of a crane to remove the equipment, will add about $100,000 to the FY25 capital plan budget. Ryan suggested asking for funding at the fall Town Meetings, instead. She also asked for a review of boilers throughout the district and when their warranties expire.
Bontempi and Ryan agreed that the boiler is an eligible project for the Minnechaug Stabilization Account.
One positive item Osborne noted was that the winter had been mild resulting in lower energy bills for the district.
Osborne also said that he is hoping that next year’s state circuit breaker reimbursement for special education costs is higher than what was received this year. State Sen. Jacob Oliveira (D-Ludlow) has filed legislation that would boost the reimbursement rate from 75% to 90%.
Compliance
The district received a memorandum from this state indicating that the School Committee was not in compliance when choosing a vendor for the 2022 superintendent search because it did not choose the lowest bidder, the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. Instead, the School Committee chose the New England School Development Council. School Committee Chair Michal Boudreau said that as the cost of the search was under $50,000, she did not believe it fell under that provision.