City Council approves $8.13 million appropriation to balance school budget

Superintendent Dr. Marcus Ware talks about a proposed $8.13 million to the School Department to help balance its FY27 budget.
Photo credit: ChicopeeTV

CHICOPEE — With budget season in full force, the School Department is getting a major boost from the city to supplement its financial outlook this upcoming fiscal year.

The City Council approved an order that transfers $8.13 million to the Stabilization for Education Purposes account to help balance the school district’s fiscal year 2027 budget.

The appropriation comes from available funds in the school year prior salaries account — approximately $5.95 million — and the school year prior expenses account — approximately $2.18 million. The council approved the appropriation during its April 7 meeting.

Mayor John Vieau explained that this is a rollover of funds from multiple years that will be used to balance the budget moving forward. “This would be using and expending all of our rollover accounts to balance this up-and-coming budget,” he stated.

Vieau also shared that the appropriation combats the budget cliff that Chicopee Public Schools is facing in its FY27 budget. The school district’s low-income status has been reclassified, which has impacted the funding from the state for Chapter 70.

At the March 18 School Committee meeting, Chicopee Public Schools’ Budget and Finance Director John Miarecki discussed the reclassification and loss of funding to the district.

For FY27, the number of low-income students decreased by 217 students. This caused the low-income percentage to drop to 69.34%, which is below the group 11 minimum threshold of 70%. This moved Chicopee into low-income group 10, and the difference is about $1,071 per student.

According to Miarecki’s presentation, $5 million will not be coming to Chicopee because it went under the 70% threshold when the low-income classification was reevaluated. He also added that Chicopee and “270 other districts across the state” are also facing this challenge.
Superintendent Dr. Marcus Ware joined the meeting to discuss plans past this current budget cycle and focus on sustainability in the future.

Ware said that he will continue to communicate the process and plan with the School Committee. “Each year, we go through the budget cycle, and we actually present options to the School Committee that they vote upon.”

Ware also said that in the past, rollover funds were discussed with the School Committee, where they then decided to expend all or expend a certain amount of the funds. Due to the designation change in Chicopee’s schools’ low-income status, they are expecting a budget cliff.
“What we are planning for is to present a budget that will be advised through the School Committee with certain drivers, including how much stabilization to use, and then from there, we’re going to have to have conversations,” Ware stated.

Ware did not have specifics beyond 2026 and 2027 but said that there will be conversations with the School Committee to make the necessary adjustments.

Vieau stated that the city is talking to its state delegation, the Department of Secondary and Elementary Education, the federal Department of Education and the governor’s office about the cliff Chicopee is facing when it comes to funding future years.

Vieau said that while he cannot predict the future, the $8.13 million will at least balance the budget for next year.

“We will be able to hopefully get through this year’s budget season,” Vieau said. “We’re comfortable with that, but there’s some real challenges ahead that Dr. Ware and I have been talking about, and I know that the School Committee has some real challenges ahead.”

The City Council unanimously approved the appropriation.