School Committee member Timothy Collins, wearing a shirt that reads “Fund our Future,” speaks at the March 6 School Committee meeting.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen
WILBRAHAM — The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Committee voted to approve a $41.46 million level service budget for fiscal year 2026. Despite providing level services, the budget is $2.44 million, or 6.28%, higher than in FY25.
Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Operations and Human Resources Douglas Slaughter updated the School Committee on the changes to the draft budget since the Feb. 4 budget roundtable. The final version replaced placeholders with hard figures, including a lower than expected rate increase for health insurance and a retirement assessment hike that was more than 50% higher than originally assumed. The budget also included a cost-of-living adjustment for unionized teachers and staff. Labor costs, including salaries and benefits, account for 76% of the district’s budget.
Because the assessments for the district’s operating budget are split to reflect enrollment, Wilbraham’s portion is $32.09 million, $1.85 more than FY25. For Hampden, the assessment is $9.37 million, $557,770 over this year’s assessment.
“We tried to make our ask as modest as we can,” Superintendent John Provost said, sharing the spending per pupil rates of neighboring districts. Still, he acknowledged, the budget was a “large ask.”
Provost spoke about the district’s vision of the graduate as someone who can think critically, persevere, be resourceful, respectful, reflective and are curious, accountable and collaborative. He said it is “not a low-cost proposition” but it is “a worthy investment.”
School Committee member Sean Kennedy thanked the taxpayers of both Hampden and Wilbraham for supporting the budget each year. He shared that a petition was signed by 500 people asking the towns to fund this year’s budget. As a good faith effort, he suggested using $150,000 from the district’s excess and deficiency account to lower Wilbraham’s assessment and another $30,000 to lower Hampden’s assessment. However, the motion did not receive a second.
School Committee member Timothy Collins said he was disappointed in the lack of support from the federal and state governments. Not only is the district expecting to see a decrease in federal funding this year, but HWRSD, like more than two-thirds of the state’s school districts, will receive a $75 per student increase to Chapter 70 state aid, the minimum “hold harmless” amount allowed.
“We don’t have sufficient resources to give our students a full and complete education,” Collins said. “We’re short-changing our kids. We need to get back to educating the whole child.” He acknowledged the towns’ limited resources and urged people to advocate to their legislators.
During the public comment period, nearly a dozen people spoke in favor of passing the budget without any cuts. Most of the people spoke about the benefits of music and the arts, a previously raised possibility should the budget not be fully funded. Christine Goonan, the vice president of the Hampden-Wilbraham Education Association union, implored residents to contact their state legislators, as there are several bills under consideration that would adjust the formulas that determine Chapter 70 aid, circuit breaker reimbursement aid for special education and the way regional transportation is reimbursed. She said people in Boston are listening, “So, let’s get louder.”
Provost said, “I, personally, am not in favor of any cuts.” He added that he does not know of anyone who is an “opponent” of the budget. He said that if all the measures before the Legislature pass, the district would see an extra $887,000 in funding. Like Goonan, he urged people to speak to their legislators and added that he would be attending a budget hearing of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on March 24 at 11 a.m. He urged others to do the same.
Collins was the only member of the School Committee to abstain from the vote to approve the operating budget.
Prior to voting on the capital budget, Slaughter said the single largest project, new stands at the high school, had been removed from the proposal after speaking with Wilbraham’s Finance Committee. School Committee member Michael Tirabassi pointed out that the stands have needed replacement for about nine years and suggested using sponsors to fund their replacement. Kennedy said the facilities maintenance people can only fix them for so long and described it as a safety issue. “If something happens it would be devastating,” he said.
Slaughter said the stands may be an item that can be brought forward at the fall Town Meetings, but with the tariffs on aluminum imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration, he said, “A little bit of time might be on our side.” Nonetheless, he said he would explore sponsorships and grants.
The School Committee approved a capital budget of $458,000. Based on this, Wilbraham’s capital assessment is $368,408, and Hampden has an assessment of $89,592.
Barring any changes, these versions of the operating and capital budgets will be voted on at the town meetings in May.
