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Richard presents 2016 fiscal year budget for West Springfield school district

Date: 3/13/2015

WEST SPRINGFIELD – Interim Superintendent of Schools Michael Richard presented his budget proposal for the 2016 fiscal year to the public and the School Committee on March 10.

The public budget hearing, preceding the regularly scheduled school committee meeting, saw Richard request a total of $42,722,798 for the 2016 fiscal year. This means a 4.65 percent increase, or an almost $1.9 million increase, from the 2015 budget of $40,797,239.

This budget increase would allow the district to accommodate for additional enrollment, hire a curriculum director and middle school assistant principal and increase the level of technology in the schools.

“There may appear to be some ‘nice-to-haves’ in there, but by my estimation, they’re ‘need-to-haves,’” Richard said.

Richard argued that one of the biggest areas that deserve more funding is professional development. A suggested $45,000 of the proposed budget would be used towards training faculty and staff.

“We can’t ignore that professional development any longer,” he said. “If we want our students to grow, our faculty must grow as well.”

This professional development has even more significance, as the district’s enrollment continues to go up. Enrollment has been inching towards 4,000, jumping from 3,932 to 3,977 since the 2011 fiscal year.

In early childhood alone, there are 146 students special and regular education students, with 28 moving to kindergarten next year.

“What you need to understand there is that these students are not going away,” Richard said. “Those students are with us now and they will be with us for the next 13 years from their K through 12 years.”    

While Richard said these additions reflect positively on the community, they also add a financial strain.

“You see significant growth here in West Springfield. I see it as a positive. Families want to be here. Families want to raise their children, they want to send their children to school at West Springfield public schools,” Richard said. “It’s a testament to the hard work that our faculty, staff and administration are doing. However, we also understand that we need to continue to service those students as those numbers increase.”

Though the presentation mostly focused on the future of the district, Richard covered the current and past financial situations to explain why the increase in the budget is necessary.        

This includes the School Department’s burden in the 2015 fiscal year, forcing a decision to freeze the current budget.

A combination of unanticipated costs – the additional hiring of staff at Cowing, Memorial and Mittineague schools and the electric bill for the new West Springfield High School – played pivotal roles in the department’s decision to freeze unnecessary spending.

“The central office made a determination as a team that we needed to make sure that we would be financially solvent at the end of the school year in order to meet all of our needs,” Richard said. “So for the past couple of weeks, we haven’t been spending unless it’s an absolute emergency. All departments across the school department have been put on notice that only those obligations that are necessities for them are being paid.”  

Despite the financial freeze for the current year and Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed cut in funding for full-day kindergarten and academic support, there is hope from the governor’s proposed budget.

As promised, Baker’s budget follows through with financial support in local aid, namely Chapter 70. West Springfield has been slotted $22.6 million for the 2016 fiscal year in Baker’s proposed budget. This makes for a $1.25 million increase in Chapter 70 funding from 2015.

This number is still up in the air until after the House, Senate and Conference Committee approve it. Mayor Edward Sullivan said in an email that he was happy with the preliminary numbers.

Regardless of how Baker’s budget plays out, the West Springfield school district will need to see a bump in its individual budget in order to avoid making cuts in faculty, staff and programming.  According to Richard, if funding stays at $40,797,239, about $1.9 million will need to be slashed from the district.    

At the end of the day, Richard said, the budget that was proposed is designed in the best interest of the students.

“I need to remind you that the goal of the West Springfield Public Schools is to provide the highest level of service to our students, to our community,” Richard said.

The committee voted to continue the public budget hearing on April 7.