NORTHFIELD – The Pioneer Valley Regional School Committee approved a budget of $14,077,676 for the next fiscal year Thursday night.
Now that a budget has been approved by the School Committee, three of the four district towns — Bernardston, Leyden, Northfield and Warwick — must vote in favor of it at their respective annual town meetings.
The four towns will be responsible for $9,205,774 of the total budget with the shares broken down accordingly: Bernardston, $2,929,668, an increase of 3.17 percent; Leyden, $741,230, an increase of 5.37 percent; Northfield, $4,706,420, an increase of 5.39; and Warwick $828,457, 3.21 percent.
Thursday’s vote followed last week’s public budget hearing, presenting a “level-funded” budget that would have been equal to this year’s budget of $14,067,538. The budget approved Thursday, however, increased the spending plan by approximately $10,000.
The version approved by the committee, one of three options provided, was recommended by Superintendent Ruth Miller, who described the $10,000 increase as a “buffer,” which she said would enable the committee and school administrators to continue to modify individual line items in the budget even as the approval process of the budget continues.
Despite the relatively slight increase, the budget remains essentially “level-funded.” Committee members emphasized that this would require making cuts to the schools’ services, although it is yet undetermined what services will be reduced, as the committee will continue to adjust appropriations over the coming months.
“We’ve cut everything but staff at this point,” said School Committee Chairwoman Patricia Shearer. “I don’t think we’re being extravagant at all.”
The evening discussions before the committee also included filling jobs that are vacant or will be soon. Notably, the roles filled by Superintendent Miller and Assistant Superintendent Gail Healy, who will both be leaving their jobs this year, have been divided into multiple part-time positions.
Among the positions that have been changed to part-time jobs are superintendent, business manager, and curriculum coordinator.
Several committee members advocated for “shared offices” — hiring a single person to fill multiple part-time jobs.
“We have a rare opportunity,” said committee member David Young. “Most districts of our size and in our position have superintendents who are trying to preserve their jobs, and are not looking at shared positions. We have a departing superintendent, we’ll need a business manager, a lunch manager, and we’re extremely small.”
The committee is in talks with Gill-Montague Regional School District to jointly hire a food service director, who would divide his or her time between the two districts.
The school lunch program was also discussed. Currently there is a deficit of approximately $270,000 due to the school lunch program. Miller said that the four towns have agreed to a plan to pay back that deficit over a period of three years. And, she said, to prevent the district from overspending in that department again, a $50,000 line item was included in the new budget to offset the anticipated losses from the lunch program.
Max Marcus can be contacted at mmarcus@recorder.com and at 413-772-0261, ext. 261.