NORTHFIELD — The Pioneer Valley Regional School Committee unanimously approved an $18.2 million budget for the 2027 fiscal year.
Director of Finance and Operations Taffy Bassett-Fox told the committee on Thursday that the budget was a 4.47% increase over the previous fiscal year, and included an 8.99% increase to local assessments. To limit increases in the budget and town assessments resulting from rising health insurance and payroll costs, the district will eliminate its director of teaching and learning position, currently held by Zevey Steinitz.
“While one of our priorities is to invest in teaching and learning, the hard decision was made to cut the teaching and learning position,” Basset-Fox said.
School Committee Chair Melissa Gerry thanked district administrators and members of the budget subcommittee for its work in developing the budget, and said it was a challenging process, but she is “comfortable” with the budget.
“Many hours have gone into this and some really hard decisions have been made and I think that we’ve got it to a point where I feel comfortable with this budget,” Gerry said. “This is not ideal; we’re really missing out on a lot of things I wish we could fund, but I think that the hard work was faced and wasn’t shied away from.”
Superintendent Patricia Kinsella said Bassett-Fox and the rest of the district team looked for ways the budget could be trimmed, including eliminating plans to reinstate a certified librarian at PVRS and building-specific substitute teachers, and implementing a new literacy curriculum.
Budget increases in FY27 will cover salary increases for district staff as required by collective bargaining agreements ($301,000), along with health insurance ($280,623) and special education tuition ($118,940).
While fixed costs are increasing, the district is anticipating stagnant or decreasing state aid. The district is expecting a 8.97% decrease in transportation funding, and only a 1.92% increase to Chapter 70 funds.
“We looked for every possible place we could shave our margins,” Kinsella said. “Taffy went back and looked at every line to see what we could shave off.”
Bassett-Fox said that since last week’s budget hearing, the district has made some changes to the proposed capital budget and eliminated requests for a $3,000 washer/dryer and a $1,200 dish sprayer. Since these requests were under $5,000 it was determined they did not meet the criteria for a capital expense.
Remaining capital expenses include $50,000 repairs to the PVRS parking lot, a $12,000 replacement of the HVAC system in the school’s learning center, and a $31,000 air conditioner for the server room.
Northfield will have the largest operating assessment and pay $4,948,127, a 4.48% increase. The town’s capital assessment will be $83,023.
Leyden will be assessed $1,005,170 for operational costs, a 12.34% increase. The capital assessment will be $13,955.
Bernardston will see the largest increase in operational assessments. The town will be assessed $4,010,601, a 14.22% increase. The capital assessment will be $54,422.
The complete budget book can be found at pvrsd.org
Before the new fiscal year begins on July 1, the budget will need to be approved by Town Meeting votes. Bernardston is set to have its annual Town Meeting on April 29, Bassett-Fox said. Northfield is expected to have its meeting on May 4, and Leyden on June 1.