Overview:
The Gill-Montague Regional School District is facing a $1.2 million shortfall in its preliminary operating budget for fiscal year 2027, despite some changes already made to close the gap. Teachers and community members have expressed their desire for budget cuts not to include student-facing positions. The district is looking at options for "strategic attrition and reorganization." The final budget vote is scheduled for March 10.
MONTAGUE — Teachers and community members expressed their desire for budget cuts not to include student-facing positions during the Gill-Montague Regional School District School Committee’s fiscal year 2027 budget hearing Tuesday night.
The school district is working on a preliminary operating budget of $25.6 million with a $1.2 million shortfall, despite some changes already being made to close the gap. These changes include not funding $795,000 in requests for new positions, moving $195,000 in rural aid funding to the revenue side of the budget and adjusting the Chapter 70 allocation based on updated state estimates, which rose by $45,000.
Business and Operations Director Joanne Blier explained there is $2.5 million in requested expenditures, counting the $795,000 in new positions, which equates to a 9% increase from FY26. However, there is only a $409,732 increase in revenue, up 1.42% from FY26.
“We have a huge gap to close, and we have been working with principals and with our directors to close that,” Blier said, “but we’re not quite there yet.”
Blier said more work has been done since the preliminary budget was approved on Jan. 27. Some of the changes were presented to town officials on Feb. 5 during a joint meeting of the Montague and Gill finance committees and selectboards.
Danielle Seltzer, a teacher at Amherst-Pelham Regional Public Schools who lives in Turners Falls, spoke from her experience of seeing program cuts and urged caution.
“As an educator who’s been in the classroom every day for the last 15 years, when programs are cut, as has been done in Amherst, they do not come back,” she said, “and so please keep that in mind when making decisions about cuts.”
Seltzer also spoke about supporting legislative priorities that are designed to help rural schools and connecting with local representatives to advocate for education.
In a similar vein, Gill Elementary School teacher Ramona LaTronica urged members of the School Committee to visit the schools within the district to see the work being done by educators, despite limited resources.
“I think it would be really beneficial for our whole community for School Committee members to come in and see what is happening day in and day out in our schools while making this budget decision, and seeing how potential cuts may impact our student learning and our staff well-being,” LaTronica said.
The budget hearing did not detail specific positions that could be cut, but the presentation mentioned that the district is looking at options for “strategic attrition and reorganization.” This involves looking at open positions and, where possible, consolidating roles and using “natural attrition,” like resignations or retirements, to avoid layoffs.
School Committee members also shared their thoughts on the budget reductions. Member Steve Ellis said it is important that context is provided about any proposed reductions, so there is an understanding of the impact on a department’s “staffing infrastructure.”
Member Wendy Thompson assured attendees that budget cuts aren’t something “that is done lightly.”
“It isn’t something that’s done arbitrarily,” Thompson said. “It’s digging in, and getting down and getting dirty to make sure that we are doing the best we can to make teachers and support staff the very last people who are cut.”
A week before Tuesday’s public hearing on the preliminary budget, town officials from Montague and Gill met to ask questions and provide feedback. While several topics were touched on, town officials in Gill shared a concern for how the assessment figures for Gill would impact their town amid other financial requests that are anticipated in FY27.
Gill Selectboard member Greg Snedeker said his town is in a “very different financial situation” than Montague, pointing to Gill’s limited excess levy capacity and the expected assessment increase, requiring the town to use some of its stabilization to fund the 12.74% increase. He also pointed out that Montague works with a greater tax base.
“It’s gonna be a really tough sell,” Snedeker said, “considering we’ve got the [Gill Elementary School] roof project, which we have to do, and we’ve got the Riverside [Municipal] Building — which we have to do that roof now because it’s leaking now — and so we’re in a really tough spot.”
Around 52% of the budget comes from town contributions, and both Montague and Gill spend close to double the minimum contribution set by the state to support the district. In the preliminary budget approved by the School Committee, the combined assessments total $15.1 million between the two towns.
However, the numbers presented at the joint meeting between the two towns reflect a range, with an assessment increase ranging from a 4.29% increase on the low end to a 5.89% increase on the high end for both towns.
Gill Town Administrator Ray Purington said Gill is “already at a pain-factor,” and would be seriously impacted regardless of whether assessments come in on the high end or low end.
“We said it last year, I’ll say it again this year — we’ll do our best,” he said.
The district’s final budget vote is scheduled for Tuesday, March 10.