WILBRAHAM — The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District is preparing for a delay or denial of federal funding.
Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Operations and Human Resources Douglas Slaughter said the funding issue is part of billions of dollars in Title II and Title IV for schools across the country that were appropriated by Congress but are being withheld by President Donald Trump’s administration.
In Massachusetts, $108 million is expected to be withheld from schools, according to a press release from Gov. Maura Healey’s office.
Title II of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides funding to increase student achievement, hire educators, improve educator quality and provide low-income and minority students with greater access to effective educators. Title IV of the law provides funding to support well-rounded educational programs, technology and safe, healthy students.
Whether the funding is denied or delayed, Slaughter said, “It has some real impact on us either way.” He explained that the district has had an open instructional coach position since the beginning of the 2024-25 school year. The federal funding is needed to fill the position. Even if the district receives the funding later in the fiscal year, Slaughter said most qualified candidates will already have been hired, making it harder to fill the role. “It will be challenging for us,” he said.
Curriculum Director Lisa Curtin said Soule Road School and Mile Tree School will be the most impacted. However, instructional coaches at other schools will be stretched thin covering the vacancy at those two elementary schools. She said it will also impact the number of grants the district receives as the coaches will have less time to write grant applications. She said the district will have to pay consultants to supplement the work.
School Committee member Rich Rediker said it was illegal for the president to withhold congressionally appropriated funds but opined that Congress is unlikely to “step up” to stop it.
When asked why the position has remained unfilled, Curtin said instructional coaches are among the first positions to be cut when budgets are tight, and the uncertainty makes the role less appealing to candidates. She said a qualified candidate had not yet been found.
Committee member Michael Tirabassi said he was “not happy” about the withheld funding, but he was more willing to see the position go unfilled since a candidate had not been identified.
Kennedy said using consultants when there are vacancies becomes a “crutch.” He suggested using money from the district’s excess and deficiency account to fund the position. The account is similar to a municipal free cash account, which contains money not spent in the previous fiscal year.
Tirabassi disagreed, saying the district is “way over-committed” on next year’s budget and will need the excess and deficiency funds.
Pushing back, Kennedy referred to excess and deficiency as a rainy-day fund.
“It’s raining. Let’s try to stay afloat,” he said.
Committee member Lisa Murray said she was in favor of keeping the position vacant and using the district’s other coaches to pitch in at the other schools. The lack of funding will scare off any qualified candidates, she said.
Superintendent John Provost later told Reminder Publishing, “It was clear that there was a shared dissatisfaction” among the School Committee members, “but there wasn’t a clear alternative pathway.” He and Slaughter are examining the budget to see if funding can be transferred from other areas to cover the withheld federal funds.
Turning to the topic of an updated regional agreement, Tirabassi explained that the towns are at an impasse. The draft agreement would see the middle school be treated as a regional school since it is the only middle school in the district. With regional schools, the towns split the cost of capital projects. However, Wilbraham owns the school, and Hampden has stated it should not have to share in the cost of pre-existing capital needs.
“We need an acceptable path forward,” Tirabassi said.
Complicating matters further, Provost said the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has proposed changes to the way regional districts are governed. While the district is waiting for more information, he said it will likely affect some sections of the drafted regional agreement. He was unsure what any changes would mean for the goal of passing the updates at the fall Town Meetings.
