MONTAGUE — A balanced budget proposal has been settled by the Gill-Montague Regional School District, after some difficulty earlier this month left a relatively small shortfall of $66,000 in the $24.1 million proposal for the 2021 to 2022 school year.
The key issue has been uncertainty over how much support the state might lend to public schools next year, considering the financial difficulty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this winter, professional associations and the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) were optimistic that state support might be more generous than usual, said Gill-Montague Superintendent Brian Beck. Now, Gov. Charlie Baker has recommended against increasing public school funding, which has been taken as a likely indicator that there will not be extra support, though it remains to be seen whether the Legislature will agree with his recommendation.
Gill-Montague’s goals for next year, Beck has said, will include efforts to address the educational and social impacts of the pandemic on students. To that end, a handful of new positions are in the budget, including a new adjustment counselor, new teaching assistants and a speech pathologist, among others.
As the forecast has darkened for state funding, Gill-Montague Business Manager Joanne Blier said previously that some or all of the new positions may have to be cut, if alternate funding sources could not be identified.
However, this week Blier told the School Committee she had managed to balance the budget proposal without removing any of the new positions. School Committee members noted their approval of the newly balanced budget, especially considering that none of the positions were cut.
“I always feel that having the people in place to support the kids is the most important thing,” said School Committee member Cassie Damkoehler. “Even though it’s not sunshine and rainbows currently, it is something.”
The $66,000 gap was closed mostly by drawing on available transportation funds and grant money that the schools have received through the federal CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security), Blier said.
CARES Act money is expected to be critical for the school budget through the 2021 to 2022 school year, and likely even into 2022 to 2023. Blier said the money will more or less fill in where state aid has fallen away. The district has already received one round of CARES Act funding, worth $196,000, and expects another round later this year worth $860,000.
This newly balanced budget comes two weeks before the school district must finalize its budget proposal and forward it on to the two member towns, Gill and Montague, which will then incorporate it into their own budgets for approval through their respective Annual Town Meetings this spring.
Next week, school administrators will meet with the finance committees and Selectboards of Gill and Montague to discuss this budget proposal, before the School Committee votes to formally finalize it the following week.
The meeting with town officials is listed on the Montague town website for March 3, at 6 p.m. The meeting will be online, but an agenda and information to access the meeting have not been posted yet.
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.