Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 12/8/2017
CHICOPEE – The committee charged by Mayor Richard Kos to find efficiencies in the School Department budget has started their work by requesting in-depth information about budgets, personnel and grants.
Eight of the nine-member committee met on Dec. 4 at the Chicopee Public Library, where they will meet on Dec. 12 and Dec. 21, both at 6:30 p.m. Chair John Mruk emphasized soliciting participation from the approximately 20 people in attendance, which included School Committee members Michael Pise, Marjorie Wojcik and Mary Beth Costello.
Kos has asked to see a report of their findings and recommendations by the end of January.
Besides Mruk, a former president of the Chicopee Teachers Association as well as a former member of the Chicopee School Committee who currently teaches at the Elms College, the committee includes: Joel McAuliffe, who was recently elected to the Chicopee City Council and currently serves as an aide to Massachusetts State Senator Eric Lesser; Shane Brooks a current City Councilor and former school committee member and parent of a Chicopee student; Sandra Roy, a current teacher in the Chicopee school system; Janet Reid, a principal in the Chicopee school system; Erin Hurley, a teacher in the Springfield school system; Joshua Clark, a teacher at Chicopee Comprehensive High School who is in his second year of teaching; Tricia Bouchie, a resident and parent of students in the Chicopee school system; and Gary LaPerle, a resident and retired efficiency engineer from the private sector.
It was announced that Brooks had a conflict and could not attend the first meeting.
Almost immediately in the meeting Mruk led a discussion about information the committee would like to see, including a complete list of consultants, contracted or not, and the budget for each; a list of administrators, principals, vice principal and department chairs and their salaries both present and previous to the administration of Superintendent Richard Rege; information on special education; data on the financial impact of evacuees from Puerto Rico; cost per student, not just from Chicopee but from throughout other Hampden Country and Gateway City school districts; and enrollment projections for the near future.
McAuliffe noted the reason the committee was created was because a shortfall between $3 million and $4 million was discovered “accidentally,” which he described as “totally unacceptable.”
Pise offered the committee some context by explaining the district cannot do a final budget until the state has released its Chapter 70 education funding and that 70 percent of the budget is from the state. Pise offered to ask Rege and the budget committee to speak with the committee to explain how the budget process works.
McAuliffe and others noted that for years Chicopee has allocated the “bare minimum” as required by state law from the city funds to the school budget. McAuliffe said the committee must examine the school district’s philosophy and what it is trying to do and noted that Springfield and Holyoke both spend more money per student.
The School Department’s director of Budget & Finance, John Miarecki, was present at the meeting and offered to supply some of the data requested by the committee. He noted that one challenge the department faces is increasing health insurance costs, which eliminates increases in Chapter 70 funds.
In terms of revenue, Pise noted the Chicopee’s schools do not charge athletics fees or club fees, among others that are common at other districts. He also said the committee should look at the financial impact on the district by charter schools. He warned that with the departure of Pope Francis High School from its Chicopee location, that another charter school may see that a preferred location, which would take more money away from the district.