As the costs associated with educating students continue to rise, districts across Franklin County were faced with difficult decisions when crafting their fiscal year 2027 budgets that included cutting educators, staff and programming.
Many of the districts in Franklin County found themselves dealing with similar issues, with administrators reporting that operating costs and salaries are outpacing revenues and state aid. A turbulent health insurance landscape also contributed to budget decisions.
After combining figures from the various districts, the Greenfield Recorder has found that there are more than 40 fewer educators, administrators and other staff members working in Franklin County’s public schools than there were in the 2025-2026 school year. Some districts reduced the hours of their positions, but did not lay off employees, and others opted to keep vacant roles unfilled to save money.
School administrators shared how these cuts to staff and programming are impacting service to students this year, and what their districts are doing to cope with the losses.
Erving School Union 28
Erving School Union 28 Superintendent Shannon White-Cleveland explained that crafting the FY27 budget was “tough,” with health insurance expenses rising at Swift River School in New Salem and the Erving, Shutesbury and Leverett elementary schools, along with increasing operating, transportation and salary costs.
In terms of staffing impacts, White-Cleveland said there were four positions cut at Swift River School that were all student-facing. Two of those were vacancies that Union 28 opted not to fill. Following a retirement in Erving, that vacancy was not filled either.
“Our communities want to support education, but they’re impacted by the rising costs, and they have to make decisions about funding resources,” White-Cleveland said about how towns are supporting education at a time when their budgets are tight as well.
Union 28 did not have to eliminate any classes or programming due to the staff changes.
Franklin County Technical School
Once the FY27 budget was finalized, Franklin County Technical School lost four student-facing positions, including the librarian, a carpentry instructor and two paraprofessionals. The public relations coordinator was also laid off.
On the other hand, a fifth special education instructor was hired as there was an increase in the number of students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). A change in health insurance providers allowed enough cushioning for Franklin Tech to hire the special education teacher, as well as fill an existing English teacher role that had been expected to remain vacant following a retirement. The predicted increase in health insurance costs went from more than 12% down to 6%, allowing some leeway in the $16.8 million budget.
Principal Brian Spadafino said there is an “all-hands-on-deck approach” for classes. Some teachers have cross-certifications, allowing them to backfill class periods that need a teacher. This includes a physical education-certified staff member who can fill in for one of the other physical education teachers who is now taking time to oversee the library.
“Most of our staff, we all wear many hats, so people pitch in, and where there might be a need for an extra section here or there, people will step up and and take that section to keep our class sizes down as much as possible,” Spadafino explained.
Outside of the library, the only other academic impact from these cuts comes from the loss of a retiring carpentry instructor who also taught computer-aided design (CAD) to some of the other vocational classes. This program is not continuing this school year.
Spadafino said extracurricular clubs and sports are continuing as usual.
Frontier and Union 38
At Frontier Regional School, the School Committee agreed to cut seven positions, three of which led to lost jobs, while the others were reduced through attrition. Among the seven positions were a building monitor, three instructional assistants, a part-time school adjustment counselor, a special education teacher and the librarian, who was replaced with a part-time library aide.
Several Frontier staff members and residents spoke out against the elimination of the librarian, with one calling the cut a “gut punch” at a School Committee meeting.
Nevertheless, Frontier Regional and Union 38 School Districts Superintendent Darius Modestow said the school avoided cutting programming for its students.
“We were able to make reductions without having a huge impact on programming — we were fortunate,” Modestow said. “If trends continue, that’s going to be an issue, but we’re a little behind the other districts. It’s good to be behind.”
At the elementary schools, Whately Elementary School did not lose any positions, while Conway Grammar School lost one instructional assistant due to budget cuts and Deerfield Elementary School lost a sixth grade teacher, a special education teacher, a reading interventionist and a part-time physical education teacher.
Sunderland Elementary School combined its two kindergarten classes into one class and two fourth grade classes into one class, which led to one kindergarten teacher, one fourth grade teacher and an instructional assistant being cut. To adjust, six teachers shifted positions for the school year, instead of the typical one or two shifts, according to Sunderland Elementary School Principal Benjamin Barshefsky.
“Obviously, jumping from one grade level to the next, there’s a learning curve in the curriculum that is taught at that particular grade level,” Barshefsky said of the teachers who shifted roles. “The anxiety attached to that is rooted in professionalism and wanting to do well and provide an exceptional experience for the students. … I’m really, really proud of how the staff throughout the whole budget process became stronger and bonded and supported one another.”
If Sunderland voters did not pass an override, the elementary school would have lost its art, music and library programs, and a school adjustment counselor, instructional assistant and math interventionist.
“We avoided catastrophe there,” Modestow recalled.
Gill-Montague
Budget season at the Gill-Montague Regional School District was driven by the district rolling out its restructuring plan, which ultimately impacted 17 positions through jobs being “eliminated, adjusted or reassigned.”
As a result of the restructure, the district laid off the middle school health instructor, while eight teachers were lost due to “retirement, resignation or non-contract renewal.” There were another eight internal transfers where employees took on other jobs in the district.
Before the school year started, interim Superintendent Tari Thomas said there were two further resignations in August. However, Karin Patenaude was also hired as the director of teaching and learning, filling a position that had been eliminated from the budget in the 2025-2026 school year.
The restructuring impacted special education, music education, reading intervention, library services, math intervention, English learner support, health education and theater. The Gill-Montague Education Association has criticized the restructuring.
Thomas said the restructuring is part of the larger goal to transition into the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s recommended Multi-Tiered System of Supports model. As the district looks at “turnaround efforts” for improving educational outcomes for students, Tier 1 instruction for all students is a key priority.
Thomas mentioned the hope is to secure grant funding that would allow the district to bring back the middle school health instructor position. Physical education teachers are filling some gaps in health instruction.
Greenfield
While other districts’ budgets required staffing cuts, the Greenfield School Department is using savings from employee vacancies and revolving funds to add to its team.
City Council approved a $24.1 million appropriation for the city’s School Department, which is 2% higher than the previous year’s budget, but $1.31 million less than the School Committee had requested. To help bridge the gap and prevent programming and staffing cuts, the School Committee agreed to use $2.7 million in revolving funds to maintain “level service,” after hearing from city councilors that “the rainy day has come.”
The budget funded the restoration of two positions that were cut in previous years: an English language learning teacher at Federal Street School and a float custodian. The School Department is also considering adding a director of health and wellness position, which would pay $105,000 to $115,000. The position was not originally included in the budget for this school year, but after the School Committee voted to approve a job description earlier this month, Business Manager Andy Paquette is working to rearrange budget lines and use savings from vacant positions to fund the role.
As of Wednesday, the district had 20 vacant positions listed on its website, including substitute teachers, a school psychologist, a Spanish teacher and a bus monitor.
Hawlemont
Hawlemont Regional School Principal Amber Tulloch said the FY27 budget process largely involved a reduction in hours — the equivalent of 2.2 positions — for various roles. Some staff members left the district due to the reduction in hours.
The initial proposed budget for Hawlemont was $3.02 million, before $221,000 was cut. Of that, $142,579 came from reducing instructional staff salaries. The positions that had their hours reduced were one full-time teacher, two part-time teaching teachers and one full-time paraprofessional. Another part-time paraprofessional role was not filled.
“We had a number of budget reductions to ensure that we were in a place where our taxpayers could support the school and that we were still providing the best education possible for our students,” Tulloch said. “As a result, we’ve reduced some of our positions and we saw some turnover because of that.”
The district is still looking for a speech language pathologist.
Mohawk Trail
The Mohawk Trail Regional School District is getting to the point where there isn’t anything else that can be cut from the budget, according to Superintendent Sheryl Stanton.
Mohawk Trail cut 21.5 positions. Ten of those were educators (five teachers and five paraprofessionals), while the district also dismissed an administrator and a secretarial employee. The remaining roles had been vacant, and the district opted to eliminate them.
“It was a combination of a reduction in hours, not filling unfilled positions from this year and also some full-on elimination of positions,” Stanton said. “And that’s hard in our district. We are small, we are tight-knit, and teachers and principals want their students to be really successful, so they will pick up the slack and add work that was formerly done by other folks.”
Because the member towns passed the FY27 budget, narrowly avoiding implementation of a one-twelfth budget, Stanton added that the district has not needed to cut any clubs or athletic programs. A one-twelfth budget based on last fiscal year’s numbers, which would have been implemented had the eight member towns not passed the FY27 budget proposal, would have meant that “every extracurricular for students is removed.”
Pioneer
Patricia Kinsella, superintendent of the Pioneer Valley Regional School District, said she likes to look at the budget through a 12-month time frame, starting in August 2025.
“When we faced those extraordinary increases in healthcare costs, we said, ‘We know you as towns are also hurting, we will manage this,'” Kinsella said. “During our budget development for [FY27], we protected all frontline positions. … We did cut one of our senior-level administrators — we cut the position of the director of teaching and learning.”
What this means for the district, according to Kinsella, is that Pioneer is operating on the equivalent of “an administrative shoestring.” She said the responsibilities for that role, and the duties of the early childhood coordinator — a position that has been vacant since the start of the 2025-2026 school year — were spread out among front office staff.
“While I appreciate the gallant, heroic, collaborative efforts of my team,” Kinsella said, “it’s not sustainable to run any high-performing district without the adequate number of administrators.”
Of the 75 faculty members working in the district in the 2026-2027 school year, 68 are returning employees while seven are new hires filling vacancies, Kinsella recently told the School Committee.
Mahar
One teaching position was eliminated through attrition at Ralph C. Mahar Regional School, and that position’s responsibilities are being absorbed by other teachers, according to Michele Tontodonato, who serves as director of finance and operations for the Ralph C. Mahar Regional and Union 73 school districts.
Tontodonato added that no positions were restructured and there are no changes to courses or activities being offered this school year.
Meanwhile, Fisher Hill Elementary School eliminated one nursing position that had gone unfilled for two years, according to School Committee Chair Mallory Ellis.
Warwick Community School
Warwick Community School did not cut any positions. In fact, the school added two positions between the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 school years, with a new instructional assistant and a farm, wilderness and wellness teacher joining the staff.
“We’re breaking the mold,” Warwick Community School Principal Stephen Stroud said. “Everyone else is cutting and we’re not cutting.”
The independent school has a different style of operations than most in the county, with Stroud mentioning a plethora of grants the school has received, including recent funds awarded by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health to implement the Bridge for Resilient Youth in Transition (BRYT) program this school year.
Rowe
Rowe Elementary School didn’t see a change in the number of staff members inside the building, however, the positions themselves are different. According to the budget book, a part-time guidance counselor position was cut, as well as a full-time teacher’s aide.
Joining the staff are a special education aide, as well as the addition of a 0.8 equivalent teacher. With these cuts and additions, along with rising fixed costs, the FY27 budget rose by 6.65% over FY26.
