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Date: 5/10/2023
WESTFIELD — In advance of the School Committee’s unanimous vote on May 1 to accept a budget request of more than $69 million for fiscal year 2024, Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski said three programs will be restored using $380,000 in School Choice funds.
The cuts in question included a recommended fourth Autism Spectrum Disorder classroom at Paper Mill Elementary School, the hospitality and culinary teacher at Westfield High School, and the Children’s Corner Laboratory Preschool at WHS.
School Business Administrator Shannon Barry said since the cuts were announced at the committee’s April 24 meeting, the district has heard it will receive an early childhood grant of $750,000 for three years in conjunction with the Boys & Girls Club and the YMCA.
Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief grant funds that were going to be spent on the preschool program can now be spent on the autism program, including the fourth classroom, said Barry. School Choice funds—tuition paid to Westfield by other towns with students in Westfields schools — that were previously designated for the autism program can instead be used to restore the two high school cuts.
FY24, the year that begins July 1, will be the last year ESSER funds are available. Czaporowski said the grant will also help the schools to continue preschool funding after ESSER.
“I want to thank everybody involved in the grant. We were supposed to hear in February, but we didn’t hear until Friday,” April 28, he said.
School Committee member Kathleen Hillman said she appreciated the transparency of the process.
“I want to thank you for giving me a list of all the cuts — that helped me, it was much clearer to me. A lot of these cuts are what you were talking about along the way,” Hillman told Barry.
“So we saved those three programs, what’s fourth?” asked School Committee member Bo Sullivan. He asked what services would be impacted by moving a guidance counselor to the Career Center, instead of having a MassHire employee at the helm there. In April, Czaporowski said MassHire had been having difficulty keeping a staff person in that position.
“In a perfect world, we would cut nothing. Essentially, there are five guidance counselors at Westfield High School, one who will be assigned to the career center. We’ve also hired a Westfield High School 504 [special education plan] coordinator, who will take some of the work off of the guidance counselors,” Czaporowski said.
Mayor Michael McCabe, who chairs the committee, said he got caught up in the moment at the last meeting, and questioned whether restoring the programs was an appropriate use of School Choice funds.
Czaporowski said there are specific limits to School Choice, but it’s for students.
“For me, these are programs for students, so it is an appropriate use of School Choice funds,” he said.
School Committee member Tim O’Connor asked about putting the fourth autism classroom on ESSER funding. Czaporowski said September 2024 will mark the end of ESSER.
“I believe this will help us with enrollment, then we’ll have to add two classrooms to the budget next year,” he said.
“We’re going to have to be aware of what programs are being funded by ESSER,” O’Connor said.
“I would just like to urge the City Council, when we do make this vote, to take a careful look and retain the number that we vote on. This number is not fluff anywhere. I urge them to keep the budget we approve,” said School Committee member Diane Mayhew.
“And when it gets to the Finance Committee, everybody needs to remember due diligence was done on all sides of this,” Sullivan added. “We are completely level-funded on the city side this year. Everything we added came from state Chapter 70 [state aid] money. We are getting the same money from the city.”
McCabe, who is responsible for writing the municipal budget proposal that the City Council will consider, made a slight correction.
“You are going to see an increase of $500,000 from the city that is more shared costs,” the mayor said without further explanation.
“We do a lot with a little — it doesn’t just happen,” said School Committee member Heather Sullivan. “I agree with Bo 100%. I would like us to get the funding we’re asking for.”
“I completely support my colleagues,” said McCabe before the unanimous vote to approve the budget of $69,870,373 for FY24.