BERNARDSTON — The finance committees and selectboards of the Pioneer Valley Regional School District’s member towns met Monday to discuss a potential increase to fiscal year 2021 budget amounts, which each town hopes to avoid.
Members of the Leyden Selectboard and Finance Committee were not present as they had a conflicting Special Town Meeting. Bernardston Finance Committee Chair Jane Dutcher and Northfield Finance Committee Chair Lois Stearns led the meeting at the Bernardston Senior Center, during which the groups entertained discussion about potential amounts each town could support for the fiscal year 2021 budget.
“We want to be in agreement with the other towns, but our recommendation would be that there be no increase in the budget,” Stearns said.
Dutcher said Bernardston also wants to avoid an increase. She received a message from Leyden officials during the meeting emphasizing their agreement and interest to establish a comprehensive, long-term budget plan. However, the Budget Subcommittee has presented a 3.3 percent increase to the district budget over the current fiscal year.
“We have reiterated at every budget meeting that we don’t agree with that,” Dutcher said.
Bernardston Selectboard Chair Robert Raymond said he attended a budget meeting where a suggested 2.2 percent increase to town assessments was proposed.
“The amount of money they’re looking for is about $400,000,” Raymond said.
Both Raymond and Dutcher said some grants that were previously awarded to the district are no longer available. Raymond said because grants are hard to account for, given the uncertainty of being awarded, they are not normally calculated into the regular budget. Additionally, Dutcher said contractual obligations and insurance costs tend to increase each year.
“We’re all familiar with how many items there are in the budget that you have no control over,” Dutcher said.
Warwick Finance Committee member Diana Noble said her committee is looking to create a long-term plan, and will focus on assessing budget items related to the Pioneer school district’s central offices in comparison to other districts. To help offset budget costs, Noble said Warwick is willing to contribute further to maintenance expenses at Warwick Community School.
“One of the things I felt was glaring in looking at the budget was that there is still no conversation on what enrollment is looking like,” Noble noted.
According to Pioneer Valley Regional School District Superintendent Jonathan Scagel, who arrived for the second half of Monday’s meeting, Pioneer has an enrollment of 283 students, as of October. Bernardston Elementary School has 185 students, Northfield has 179 students and Warwick Community School has 46 students.
Scagel said the school district will discuss possibly moving sixth grade students from the elementary schools to the Pioneer Valley Regional School. He said the administration is hoping to gather information on benefits of the potential change by the end of January, before the district makes a decision. Moving students to Pioneer would create a “true middle school model” as outlined by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. It would also allow sixth grade students to be more involved in extracurricular activities like sports, band or chorus.
“We’re looking at how this would benefit the students and the opportunities they would be receiving,” Scagel said.
Ahead of the four-town meeting, the Bernardston Selectboard discussed the budget items for the town’s central office, transportation, elementary school administration and Pioneer school district administration. Raymond said the overall budget figures for these four categories were estimated to be $39,000 more than last year.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 264.