GREENFIELD — The School Committee voted unanimously to keep the fifth and eighth grade classes at their current schools for next school year after the mayor’s fiscal year 2026 budget brought significant restraints amid previous plans to redistrict next school year.

At the committee’s Wednesday meeting, Chair Glenn Johnson-Mussad brought plans to redraw the district’s lines to determine which students attend which elementary schools — while keeping fifth and eighth grade students in their current buildings. No classes, under the committee’s vote, will change buildings during the 2025-2026 school year.

“We’ve reached a crossroads where our redistricting plans are coming up against new data and new financial challenges,” Johnson-Mussad said. “As a school board that is always focused on the best interests of our students and our citizens, we need to be able to adjust in these times.”

Mayor Ginny Desorgher sent an email to department heads in November requesting level-funded FY26 budgets as health and life insurance costs both increased by approximately 20%. Consequently, Desorgher proposed a nearly $23.7 million school budget for the next fiscal year, denying the School Department’s nearly $25.59 million budget proposal with a $1.89 million increase, a key driver of which was redistricting measures.

Johnson-Mussad added that since he expects the School Department’s economic challenges will persist, the committee will have to take a closer look at its redistricting project and spend the 2025-2026 school year determining whether it will have to close a school.

“We’re not expecting enormous increases in funds in the years after this one. We’re actually expecting it to be even harder,” Johnson-Mussad said. “Given these numbers, the concept of keeping all five schools open seems pretty untenable to me. …. We need to take a fresh look at redistricting in light of the new economic realities we’re faced with.”

School Committee member Elizabeth DeNeeve, who serves as chair of the Redistricting and Reorganizing Ad Hoc Committee, said meetings with Superintendent Karin Patenaude and Desorgher have been scheduled for the near future to discuss redistricting amid budget cuts in a “careful, thoughtful manner.” DeNeeve added that she will come back to the committee with ideas.

Patenaude also reflected on the budget crisis and its consequences on the department’s redistricting plans, noting that given the high costs associated with redistricting, the school district should prioritize stability for its students and staff in any way that it can.

“While we understand there’s declining enrollment and we understand that a redistricting model is not cost-neutral, we really want to talk about stability for the district and providing that for folks,” Patenaude said. “If these budget cuts are ultimately going to lead to school closures in 2026, which seems to be a very real possibility, the current redistricting plan seems not viable.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.