The East Longmeadow School Committee all voted in favor to move on to the next step in the level service budget
Photo credit: ELCAT01028
EAST LONGMEADOW — The East Longmeadow School Committee voted to formalize step one of its fiscal year 2027 budget at its meeting on Feb. 9.
The district will be requesting a level services budget, which takes the same services from the current year and projects them into the next.
At the meeting, the committee needed to vote on level one of the budget so it can be brought to the town to move on to level two.
With everything totaled for FY27, the projected level service budget is a 6.24% increase in the budget, which comes out to around $2.3 million. The committee has already had conversations with the town on the budget, and Assistant Superintendent for Business Pamela Blair said that the town will most likely not be able to afford that increase.
Blair said that she needed a directive from the committee on what she and Superintendent Gordon Smith can submit as the level services budget. She added that last year, there was an 8% increase that ended up being reduced.
“There’s two ways to go about it,” Blair said. “Level one is to show, what are your level services, and that is the true number. We’re not gonna get that, as we all know. I don’t think it’s time now to start on anything we can reduce yet. I think we need to digest this and bring it to the town manager because they are ready to flip.”
Smith said the town can look at getting to 3.2%, which leaves a difference of around $1.12 million. For the past few meetings, the committee has been discussing ways to reduce that budget to be more affordable.
One thing that can be done surrounds the curriculum renewal, which is already on hold from FY26 to reduce the current year’s budget. It is a placeholder of around $80,000. Smith said in past years, there were attempts to raise it to $100,000 but it wasn’t achieved, and now the committee is freezing it again.
The current sports fee for the district is $199, which was raised for the current year from $149. Blair said there were conversations about putting the $8,500 sports insurance back to the parents, but after a survey, it was suggested against.
“The higher sports, such as football, can be very costly, like $200 in addition to the sports fee,” Blair said.
She added that after looking at strategies, there is still a shortfall of about $370,000 to $400,000, if they were given the 3.2% increase by the town. Smith said it might be easier to be under $400,000 to avoid a situation from last year’s strategizing, where there was still about $850,000 to reduce.
He added that some positions may need to be reduced in the coming year, which can be done by looking at positions that have a vacancy or retirement and not filling it. He said those do need to be looked at carefully because some might have an urgent need.
