EAST LONGMEADOW — A contingent from the School Committee and School Department met with the East Longmeadow Town Council on Jan. 14 to discuss budget challenges.
Assistant Superintendent for Business Pamela Blair laid out some of the financial issues with which the department is grappling. She explained that the budget is approximately $36 million, with 83% of that going to salaries. That leaves approximately $6 million to operate the district, she said. About half of that is spent on special education, she added.
School Committee Chair Gregory Thompson said that budgetary “gaps” in fiscal year 2025 were filled with money from the School Department’s School Choice and Circuit Breaker accounts. School Choice is a program in which students living in one school district can attend school in other districts. The school department receives $5,000 per student from the pupil’s home district.
“Thank goodness we have the School Choice,” Blair said, explaining that $496,000 in School Choice funding was used to cover budgetary needs. She said that she is “hoping” the School Department will be able to rollover $450,000 to FY26.
The Circuit Breaker is a state reimbursement for money spent on special education that exceeds a threshold. This fiscal year, the threshold is $52,419 per pupil and the School Department is reimbursed for 75% of instructional and tuition costs beyond that. Transportation for special education programs has been funded at different rates each year since FY21. This year, 44% of the transportation costs were reimbursed.
The School Department is allowed to rollover a year’s worth of Circuit Breaker revenue to offset the next year’s budget. Blair said that the department was able to rollover $1 million to help offset FY25’s budget but she expects to have to spend the $1.6 million in the Circuit Breaker account, leaving no money to rollover for FY26.
Despite Circuit Breaker-eligible expenses steadily increasing over the past several years, the amount of funding has not kept pace. Blair said leadership from school departments and organizations across the state wrote a letter asking for more funding.
One area in which the School Department has seen a dramatic increase is in out-of-district tuition for students whose needs cannot be met in East Longmeadow’s schools. The cost of out-of-district programs increased from $2.68 million in FY24 to $4.17 million this fiscal year. There are also costs incurred from contracted services to meet staffing needs. This year’s contracted services cost $1.75 million, more than three times what it was 10 years ago.
Councilor Jonathan Torcia asked Superintendent Gordon Smith if the increased special education costs are a result of more students requiring services or expenses related to services going up. Smith said it was a little of both but it largely came down to tuition costs.
Thompson said that when it comes to meeting student needs in FY26, “a lot of it will depend on the state,” however he added, “We really need to look internally and to think about how we might be able to fund some of these things and also some efficiencies.”
Blair acknowledged, “We do realize that the town has its constraints as well, and its challenges.” Council President Connor O’Shea praised the work of the School Department and the School Committee for working within its limits.
“At some point, we’re going to start looking a little harder at the other half of the budget, which is revenue side,” said Town Manager Tom Christensen. “We’ll leave no stone unturned this year in terms of thinking outside the box in ways to increase our revenue.” He acknowledged that municipalities all over the state are facing the same struggles. “We don’t know what we’re going to get [in state aid] yet,” but said he was “confident” that “there’s enough to keep the outstanding staff in place.”
