SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Public Schools received nearly $1.79 million in state Fair Share funding.
The School Committee approved the expenditure of the funds at its Jan. 29 meeting.
More than half of the money will pay for school improvements, multilingual learner supports and arts education. Another major portion will be used on safety and security upgrades at several schools.
In 2022, Massachusetts voters passed the Fair Share Amendment, which placed a 4% tax surcharge of income over $1 million, with the revenue dedicated to education and transportation. In fiscal year 2026, the state allocated $1.59 billion in Fair Share funds to education programs and earmarks. Springfield received three earmarks containing funding for several projects, expenses and programs.
Improvement will be made at four schools, including flooring at Indian Orchard Elementary School, painting at Dorman School, refinish the floor and upgrade the divider in the gymnasium at Boland Elementary School and the first phase of upgrades to Chestnut Accelerated Middle School’s automated building management system.
A new fire alarm system is needed at the High School of Science and Technology, an accessible sidewalk replacement project must be design for Margaret Ellis School and new communications systems and infrastructure will be installed at Mary Pottenger and Elias Brookings elementary schools, and Kensington International School.
School Committee member LaTonia Monroe-Naylor said schools were chosen for upgrades based on their technological needs and what equipment is at the end of its useful life.
A total of $200,000 of the funding will go to supporting multilingual students throughout the city with translation devices, multilingual dictionaries and headphones for ACCESS English language proficiency testing. The funding will also support Springfield Public Schools’ plan to expand visual and performing arts education to every school. This will include purchasing supplies for art, theater, dance and pottery.
Finally, funding will go to a program designed to procure local food and educate students about nutrition and food systems, including field trips to farms and classroom gardens.
On the topic of food, Superintendent Dr. Sonia Dinnall thanked Chief Financial and Operations Officer Patrick Roach for his work to organize the distribution of nearly 1,000 meals to families the day before a major winter storm on Jan. 25 and Jan. 26 led to schools being closed the first two days of the week. Dinnall, anticipating that the schools would be closed, had asked Roach about sending children, many of whom rely on school lunches, home with extra snacks. Instead, she said he coordinated with Homegrown Springfield, the company that provides meals to the city’s schools.
“We met a need we probably didn’t know we had,” Dinnall said.
