CHARLEMONT — After making $220,744 in reductions in what has been described by Business Administrator William Lataille as “a really challenging budget year,” the Hawlemont Regional School District held a public hearing on its fiscal year 2027 budget proposal this week.
Monday’s hearing began with Lataille and Superintendent Sheryl Stanton acknowledging the difficulties in crafting the FY27 budget amid increases in fixed costs, such as health insurance, while also grappling with declining enrollment.
“It’s a really challenging budget year, not only for Hawlemont [and] Mohawk Trail, but also across [western] Franklin County and western Mass in particular,” Lataille explained. “Most budgets are coming in around 10% for increases. We’ve worked really hard to come in under that. … We are so tiny that when the education budget goes up significantly, we recognize that that means expenditures for town services can be affected.”
The presentation began with an overview of the budget, which totals nearly $2.86 million across all funds for Hawlemont, $2.3 million of which comes from local funds. Including assessments owed to the Mohawk Trail Regional School District for shared services, such as the central offices, the total budget comes to just shy of $3.1 million.
Lataille explained that the town assessments are the biggest source of funding.
‘That’s what we know carries the school district,” he said. Of the total budget, 56.5% comes from town assessments.
Lataille encouraged listeners to refer to the budget book, saying that it contains “every single revenue source and every single expense.” He explained that the budget book is not only important for people on the School Committee, but also for community members to fully understand the costs of educating children.
To decrease the overall budget figure, the district made reductions amounting to $220,744 in areas such as instruction, student services, maintenance and operation.
However, even with these decreases, Charlemont will still see an increase in its assessment.
“Charlemont is looking at a 7.4% increase,” Lataille said. “We know this is tough on the town, which is why we actually work and we reduce. We’re coming to you with a budget that’s less than the current year, which still translates to an increased assessment for Charlemont.”
Charlemont will be assessed nearly $1.52 million to Hawlemont and $803,434 to Mohawk Trail, a 4.54% increase over fiscal year 2026.
Hawley will be assessed $239,598 for Hawlemont and $250,002 for Mohawk Trail, a 2.03% decrease from FY26.
Charlemont School Committee member Anne Kaplan acknowledged the hard work that Hawlemont Regional School Principal Amber Tulloch and Lataille put into crafting the budget, and endorsed the FY27 figures.
“They clearly prioritize minimizing increased costs to our towns, in addition to ensuring that the budget will provide sufficient resources to maintain and grow Hawlemont’s academic excellence and its strong culture and unique identity,” she said. “I wholeheartedly support them, their work, the school and their proposed budget.”
Hawley School Committee member Peggy Travers asked about the individuals who will be affected by the cuts to specific positions. Per the presentation, there will be three reductions in teaching staff (one full-time role and two part-time reductions) and 1.5 reductions in paraprofessionals (one full-time position and one part-time role that is currently unfilled).
Charlemont School Committee member Betty Barrett praised the work that Stanton, Lataille and Tulloch have put into crafting the budget and emphasized the positive effects that the Hawlemont Regional School District has had on students.
“Preparing our young people to do the kinds of things that I see them prepared to do at Hawlemont is really amazing and actually kind of inspiring for me, so I just kind of wanted to say thanks,” she said.
Similarly, Lataille acknowledged the hard work that Tulloch has put into the budget, emphasizing how difficult it is to decide where to make cuts.
“She’s stuck between a rock and a hard place because she knows that any cut is going to be devastating to the people, to the school, to the students, things like that, but we have to do it in order to pass a budget, in order to make this work,” he said. “I don’t want anybody to think that it comes easy to any of us, but especially to Amber. There’s been some tears shed along the way as well. … I just want to let you know that we appreciate it and let everybody know how hard it’s been for her as well.”
The School Committee is set to vote on the budget on Monday, March 2, after which point it will be sent to voters at Annual Town Meetings.