CHARLEMONT — The Hawlemont Regional School District School Committee is looking at a draft $3.02 million budget for fiscal year 2027.
On Monday, committee members reviewed the draft budget, which includes a 3.23% increase in all funds and a $293,301 increase in local funds, in preparation for a Feb. 23 public hearing.
Charlemont, which sends 106 students to the Hawlemont and Mohawk Trail schools, will pay a $1.55 million operating assessment to Hawlemont for FY27. This represents an $140,865, or 9.99%, increase from fiscal year 2026. Charlemont will also be assessed $788,742 to the Mohawk Trail Regional School District. The town’s two district assessments will total nearly $2.34 million, representing a 6.37% increase from FY26.
Hawley, which has 18 students, will pay a $239,598 operating assessment to Hawlemont. This represents an $16,482, or 6.44%, decrease from the previous year. Hawley will also be assessed $248,929 for the Mohawk Trail district, creating a total $488,527 assessment for the two districts. This is a $951 decrease, or 1.36%, from FY26.
William Lataille, Hawlemont’s business administrator, said the district has made budget cuts and has increased assessments to member towns to cover increases in fixed costs, such as health insurance and staff salaries. In FY27, the district is anticipating a $3,322 decrease in regional school transportation funding and a $25,000 decrease in rural school aid, although these numbers are subject to change as the state budget is finalized.
Meanwhile, health and dental insurance for active employees and retirees is budgeted to cover an expected increase of $48,285 in FY27.
“I know it sounds negative, but the thing you have to understand is the funding for education right now is upside down in general, and when you get to small towns and communities like ours, it hurts even more,” Lataille said. “There’s no room for our budgets to even grow, really, with the communities the way they are, struggling for money and things like that. So that’s what leads us to having to try to go back and make cuts to try to do things and live within what we know the community can afford. … It’s not easy to do it, but we understand why it has to be done.”
Budget cuts include reducing paraprofessional salaries by $43,403, special education teacher salaries by $7,526, custodian and cafeteria staff salaries by $8,122, and custodian equipment replacement by $2,500.
Hawlemont Principal Amber Tulloch said that by trimming various budget lines, the district was able to cut the equivalent of just over two full-time staff salaries while maintaining a quality education for students.
“The total equates to 2.2 FTE (full-time equivalent) cut, and is as minimally impactful to student education as possible,” Tulloch said. “If this is what we’re going forward with, I feel really confident in what Hawlemont continues to offer for our students next year and the future years, but I am also aware that it’s asking a lot, especially of the Charlemont townspeople, and moving forward, we’ll have to get really creative with how we provide an authentic, engaging, rigorous education for all our students with continued financial stress and strain.”
“Hawlemont is so close to the bone in terms of expenses, so there isn’t a lot for Bill and Amber to look at to reduce a budget,” Superintendent Sheryl Stanton told the committee on Monday. “We do feel that we can continue to provide the education that our students deserve and that our community aspires us to be able to provide, including keeping [the Hawlemont, Agriculture and You program], in addition to many of our literacy and math improvement projects that are in place.”
Capital assessments have not yet been calculated. Lataille added that the budget is subject to change as the district gets more information from the Legislature regarding education funding in the state budget.
“I’m putting these numbers out there based on the budget that we have now from the state,” Lataille said. “It’s not etched in stone. This isn’t a done deal.”
The committee will host a budget hearing on Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. at Hawlemont Regional School, after which members are expected to vote on the budget.