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Date: 4/18/2023
AGAWAM — The proposed fiscal year 2024 school budget — described as “fiscally responsible” — is nearly $50 million. The increase is just over $1 million from the fiscal year 2023 budget and maintains the district’s existing education programs.
School Superintendent Sheila Hoffman revealed the proposed budget to the School Committee and the public during a presentation at the committee’s April 11 meeting. The total proposed budget shown in Hoffman’s brief PowerPoint presentation is $49,960,427 for the 2023-24 school year.
The FY23 budget, for the current 2022-23 school year, is $48,730,006. The difference between it and the FY24 budget for 2023-24 is $1,230,421. The 2.46% increase is slightly higher than the 1.95% increase the committee approved last April for the FY23 budget.
“The FY24 budget addresses the impact our schools are experiencing post-pandemic,” said Hoffman. “In addition to recognizing the realities and learning gaps, especially between different groups of students, school communities continue to rebuild and stabilize students’ needs.”
Hoffman said students and staff “are still healing” from disruptions in learning during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. She said there is more of a need now to transform teaching and learning to allow equitable access to resources and provide unique learning opportunities for all students.
The school superintendent explained during her presentation that federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, or ESSER, have been used by the district over the past few years. The funds were used to hire additional positions to increase family engagement, address mental health concerns and provide educators with instruction coaches to meet academic needs.
ESSER funding, some of which is set to expire, also has helped schools to support major updates to technology for both safety and instructional purposes.
“The FY24 proposed budget includes some of these additional positions as we plan to make them permanent,” said Hoffman.
The proposed budget also continues to support a data collection and analysis system that tracks student data across grade levels for use in instructional and social-emotional interventions through software, hardware and curriculum resources. She said the remaining ESSER funds will be used for school-based instructional hardware and software.
Hoffman said the budget takes into consideration collective bargaining agreements, the reallocation of the Family Resource secretary and two adjustment counselors and one reading teacher into the budget. The budget’s total salary increase — including cost-of-living raises and bonuses for longevity and higher education degrees — is $724,888.
Other increases to budget include
Increases to the FY24 budget total $1,248,461, but are offset by a decrease of $18,040 for non-school based budget items.
Hoffman said the budget funds the following educational services:
Hoffman thanked members of the City Council’s School Budget Subcommittee, chaired by Councilor Paul Cavallo, for their “interest and thoughtful input” in the review of the FY24 school budget.
“I’m also extremely grateful that we have a talented professional staff dedicated to increasing student achievement,” said Hoffman. “We also have a mayor, School Committee and City Council who fully support the town’s schools by providing necessary funds to provide our students with the services they need to be productive citizens.”
Following Hoffman’s presentation, Shelley Borgatti-Reed, the School Committee’s Budget and Finance Subcommittee chair, said the proposed budget is fiscally responsible.
“I think it’s a good budget. It meets the needs of our kids, especially with the rising costs. I think it’s a very well put-together budget,” she said.
Michael Perry, a member of the subcommittee, echoed Borgatti-Reed’s comments. He said a school budget is “a really complex thing” to do.
“The school system is complex, the challenges are complex and unique,” he said.
Perry complimented Hoffman and her staff, including Business Manager Rob Clickstein, for doing an “exceptional” job.
“I think it’s an extremely prudent budget. You also have the foresight of the fiscal cliff for the ESSER cliff that we’ve been talking about. And I think that it was well done.”
No committee member raised any objections to the preliminary budget proposal.
Residents can tune to cable Channel 15 to view the proposed budget. Public comments about the proposed budget can be made at an open hearing scheduled for 6:30 to 7 p.m., just prior to the committee’s April 25 meeting, in the auditorium at Agawam Junior High School, 1305 Springfield St., Feeding Hills. After the hearing, the committee will vote at its regular meeting to adopt the proposed FY24 operating budget. If the budget is adopted, it will be presented to the City Council, which takes the final vote on all sections of the town’s FY24 budget.
Once approved, the FY24 school budget will be available for the public to view at the Agawam Public Library, at the City Clerk’s Office at Town Hall and in the superintendent’s office at the junior high school. It also will be posted at agawamed.org.