Pioneer School Committee mulls increasing School Choice seats

NORTHFIELD — Amid concerns about the availability of rural school aid in the upcoming budget cycle, the Pioneer Valley Regional School District School Committee is considering opening more School Choice seats in the district for the 2026-2027 school year.

The committee is expected to vote on how many School Choice seats will be available at a future meeting, after hearing an initial recommendation from Superintendent Patricia Kinsella that the district could increase the number of seats and bring in more School Choice revenue. Kinsella said initial conversations with principals indicated the district could take on a few more students without placing too much of a burden on staff.

If the committee does opt to open more School Choice seats, it will be a step away from a 2023 decision that cut School Choice seats in half to allow staff more time to focus on students with increasing needs. At the time, the committee voted to reduce School Choice seats from a total of 88 to 45. Of those 45, 27 were at Pioneer Valley Regional School, 15 were at Bernardston Elementary School and three were at Northfield Elementary School.

Kinsella told committee members that in the current school year, there are 43 School Choice students enrolled — 10 at Bernardston Elementary, two at Northfield Elementary and 31 at Pioneer. After talking with principals about the current needs of students and the capacity of the schools and their staff, she is recommending adding at least 14 School Choice seats.

“The district is probably ready to open up more seats and begin bringing in kids again,” Kinsella said.

Renee Keir, a teacher at Bernardston Elementary, said that since staff learned School Choice would be on the agenda, her colleagues have been reaching out to her to express concerns about their ability to manage the needs of students if their class sizes increase.

“Overwhelmingly, [they] feel like that’s a large burden to bear for the current needs of our current population and the reality of staffing,” Keir said. “The reality is there’s less bodies to support students.”

Keir said there are currently no building substitutes, and Title 1 support staff were replaced with teachers in previous budgets. She added that while the budget for the next fiscal year accounts for bringing back building substitutes, Bernardston Elementary staff feel that they are at capacity with the support and resources they have.

“You want to fly the aircraft with full seats, but we have to think about the air marshals that are going to be on board those aircraft and what’s going to be needed, and the flight attendants — all the things that are going to make that flight successful,” Keir said.

Melissa Osborne, a School Committee member representing Northfield, brought up that having more seats available for students from outside the district would bring in more revenue, and said adding more School Choice seats at the high school level could allow Pioneer to better fill out its athletics programs.

“School Choice also brings in money to the district, which helps us provide more resources overall,” Osborne said.

Kinsella said she wants the district to consider adding more School Choice seats because it is shaping up to be a tight budget year, and amid uncertainty regarding how much rural school aid the state is going to make available in its budget while trying to navigate federal funding cuts, School Choice could help fill revenue gaps.

“We’re in the worst budget season of my five years,” Kinsella said. “It’s one of, if not the worst, in my administrative career. There are very limited ways for the district to generate more revenue.”

The School Committee is expected to further discuss and vote on how many School Choice seats will be available for the 2026-2027 school year at a future meeting.