WILBRAHAM — Putting the budget together is in full swing and the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District School Committee is beginning to see what their finalized budget might be looking like with reduced numbers from state aid and estimates that are too high for the towns.
Gov. Maura Healey released the Chapter 70 state aid numbers for fiscal year 2027 on Jan. 28, and a main bullet point is the minimum aid for students being at $75 per pupil, which Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Operations and Human Resources Douglas Slaughter estimated originally to be $100. He said this reduces revenue by about $68,000. The minimum state aid per pupil in FY26 was originally set at $75 by the Healey, but the Legislature approved $150.
Slaughter said the Chapter 70 formula involves a complex calculation with a whole host of factors taken into consideration, such as enrollment, low income students, special education needs, community income and property values. The district is considered a hold-harmless district if those calculations end up less than the amount given in the current year.
Superintendent John Provost said there are 272 districts — or around 85% of the districts in Massachusetts — in hold harmless status, of which 69 are regionals.
“In my opinion, the fact that we are quickly reaching the point where almost all districts in the state are in hold harmless status signals an urgent need for significant reform of the Chapter 70 funding formula,” Provost said.
Slaughter said from a good news standpoint, the projected 13% increase in health insurance is instead looking to be a 11.2% increase, which reduces insurance cost by around $135,000.
Committee member Rich Rediker asked Provost and Slaughter how many full time equivalent employees were in jeopardy from the estimated budget being too high for the towns to completely provide. Provost estimated somewhere north of 20 FTEs with a $2 million gap in the budget estimates.
Committee member Sean Kennedy said that putting the budget together is a long, drawn out process. He said that best estimates are made to get more information on exact costs, then it is either adjusted up or down depending on how the costs differ. He said the amount being asked from Wilbraham is north of $3 million extra from last year, and $1 million extra from Hampden.
He added that Wilbraham has made it clear the number is too high and it may be a difficult year for Hampden with other things happening in town, so the committee is in a difficult position coming up with a budget that will fund the “excellent education that we have in this town,” Kennedy said.
Slaughter said there are multiple factors to consider, not just salary, but benefit impacts too. He said they have to go through their work and think about changes they’ll need to make.
“We’ll continue to refine and review all aspects of the budget to look for any savings we can find in any other places,” Slaughter said. “The challenge is, the parts of the budget that aren’t directly students don’t have a lot of movement. Our buildings take the same amount to heat, to light, year over year, so those don’t change much. The materials we need for the curriculum in our classrooms don’t change much.”
He said there are a lot of non-personnel things that make a significant impact in the budget, so it will be hard before finalizing the budget.
Kennedy asked how much of that $2 million could be found, and Slaughter said there is a small amount that could be from Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative and that there’s a lot of uncertainty with contract negotiations with staff, which is a critical piece of the puzzle.
“If it comes in differently than what I’ve estimated, then we’ll adjust accordingly,” Slaughter said. “It could go either way. We’re having those honest and forthright negotiations in good faith, and we’ll see where that lands and materialize those particulars into this as we move ahead. Depending on where that lands could make a big differnece in what we’re dealing with.”
He said that he wouldn’t begin to suggest settling contracts will solve the problem, and there is some level of reduction work likely to be made. He said there will need to be tough choices ahead because where the bargaining lands might not be a level the towns can supply, even if they want to or not.
Provost added that the budgeting process isn’t over, but he is disappointed by the numbers from the governor’s budget.
“Many people in this room were part of an effort to notify the governor and the legislature of the dire, fiscal consequences of towns and districts all across this commonwealth,” Provost said. “I hoped that would generate some more positive momentum starting the state budget process, but it seems like it hasn’t because we basically started the same place we were last year.”
Slaughter said revenue from the excess and deficiency and School Choice accounts could help but it only solves anything for the coming year and not systemically. Kennedy said that it’s important to many committee members to keep the E&D fund healthy, but he would have a hard time laying off anybody with money in the bank.
Once the E&D is spent, it doesn’t carry over into the next year. Committee member Michael Tirabassi said this creates a bigger deficit going into the next year. He said he’s been advocating for a more responsible use, such as turning the funds around for capital projects. Kennedy said to put it towards running the schools and keeping everybody around as long as they can.
School Committee member Tim Collins said that if taxes weren’t cut by the governor, there would be money available to support the school districts in the commonwealth that are underfunded by the state. He said he encourages people to communicate with legislators and let them know children of the vast majority of school districts are being shortchanged.
“Shame on the governor for reducing her Chapter 70 money in times like this,” Collins said. “The kind of situation you put school committees and employees in, puts us at odds with one another. We’re trying to thread the needle, but the needle is too big. We need help wherever we can find it, and I urge the community with the people in the Legislature to tell them to do the right thing.”
