NORTHFIELD — Questions on school closures and possible shared services complicated last night’s public hearing on the Pioneer Valley Regional School District’s proposed spending plan for the 2019-2020 school year.
The schools’ proposed $14,272,210 budget would be a 1.65-percent increase over this year’s $14,223,865.
“I think we’ve done our due diligence,” said Superintendent Jon Scagel, noting that the plan makes no cuts to academics, sports or arts.
But further revisions to the proposed budget are still expected. The School Committee is considering closures of Warwick Community School or Leyden’s Pearl Rhodes Elementary School or both — but won’t have legal authority to make those decisions until mid-March, when the district’s $450,000 deficit is covered by a borrowing plan.
Finance Director Tanya Gaylord said that any savings that may be realized through school closures will be used to offset the towns’ payments to the district, and perhaps to replace previously cut curricular and extra-curricular programs if the School Committee sees fit.
“I’m going to beg you to please not start putting a bunch of stuff back in this budget,” said Leyden Finance Committee Chair Ginger Robinson. “We need to dial it way further back than anyone is comfortable with.”
Robinson also praised the work of the school administrators and School Committee for creating a budget with a relatively low increase in the towns’ payments.
She also urged administrators and School Committee members to consider all options for sharing services with neighboring school districts, saying that those potential savings could be used to keep open Warwick Community School.
School Committee Chair Sue O’Reilly-McRae spoke briefly about the committee’s recent decision to sign Superintedent Scagel for five more years.
“It was an honoring of his desire to make a long-term commitment to the district, as well as our desire for stability and leadership going forward,” she said. “I trust Superintendent Scagel to do what’s best for the district.”