Westfield Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski and Finance Director Shannon Barry present the FY26 budget to the School Committee on April 7.
Photo credit: Westfield Community TV
WESTFIELD — Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski and Director of Finance Shannon Barry presented the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget to the School Committee at a special meeting on April 7, prior to the regular School Committee meeting.
The proposed budget of $75.5 million contains a 4.3% increase of $3.1 million over the FY25 budget of $72.4 million. The budget depends on an increase in revenue of $1.1 million in Chapter 70, and an additional $2 million from the city’s general fund.
Barry said the district would have needed $80 million to maintain a level services budget in FY26. The proposed $75.5 million budget contains reductions in both programs and personnel.
A public hearing on the budget that had been postponed based on the availability of School Committee members has been rescheduled to Monday, April 28 at 6 p.m. at Westfield Intermediate School.
During the presentation, Czaporowski said the priorities of the district remain consistent. “Each year, when we develop the budget, we identify key priorities to guide our planning.” He said priorities in recent years have included low class sizes. expanding behavioral and mental health supports, strengthening academic intervention services, increasing access to preschool, preserving robust art and music programs and expanding career-technical education, early college and innovation pathway opportunities.
Factors impacting the budget include the expiration of federal pandemic relief funds, the continued need for behavioral and mental health support for students, and continued investment in reading and math interventionist staff. “The good news is that students receiving these interventions are showing significant growth. However, due to limited capacity, some students are currently on a waiting list to receive these services,” he said.
Czaporowski said Westfield’s administrative costs are about half those of similarly sized districts and, where feasible, they have consolidated schools and programs to reduce overhead, and minimized maintenance spending, which he admitted has long-term costs.
He said the two biggest drivers in the budget are expenses for special education and transportation, with state-approved out-of-district special education tuition going up 3.7%, in some cases by increases of $50,000 to $60,000 per student, and student transportation increasing by 36%, while state reimbursement programs such as Chapter 70 and Circuit Breaker “don’t keep up.”
Czaporowski then thanked Mayor Michael McCabe, who chairs the School Committee, for what he called his “out-of-the-box thinking on how to make the budget better,” before turning the presentation over to Barry.
Among the reductions in the proposal are 43.6 positions across all categories and schools, with seven positions being added due to consolidation of programs.
Some of the personnel cuts are due to the closing of Fort Meadow and include the principal, a nurse, adjustment counselor, psychologist, a principal clerk and two full-time custodians.
“Staff reductions are always very difficult, and we certainly wish we didn’t have to reduce staff. They are very difficult for everyone involved, and we understand that,” Czaporowski said.
Full-time districtwide positions being reduced include two float nurses, two elementary instructional coaches, a Title I supervisor, technology supervisor, a principal on special assignment, and a full-time transportation manager to be replaced by a half-time transportation consultant.
Half-time librarians at Westfield Intermediate School and Westfield Middle School and four full-time library paraprofessionals at Paper Mill, Highland, Munger Hill and Southampton Road elementary schools are also among the projected cuts.
Other personnel and programs on the list to be cut are two teachers and a teaching assistant for the Children’s Corner Early Childhood program, two virtual program teachers and five academic teachers in ELA, math, social studies, science and foreign language at Westfield High School.
Westfield Technical Academy will be losing a manufacturing teacher, electrical wiring assistant and a business tech shop assistant.
Being added are a full-time district wide elementary music teacher, a full-time district physical education and health teacher, and a full-time math interventionist at Westfield Middle School, pending Title 1 funding. Also being added is a half-time library paraprofessional at Westfield Intermediate School and Westfield Middle School, a full-time manufacturing assistant at Westfield Technical Academy, and a full-time early childhood coordinator, half-time transportation consultant and half-time data/assessment specialist for the district.
The complete list of proposed reductions and additions is detailed in the presentation at schoolsofwestfield.org by going to the menu and clicking on the business office.
After the initial presentation, McCabe, who serves as chair of the School Committee, talked about the big picture. “When we’re looking at this budget, at the big picture — there are several very, very difficult hurdles within this budget. I’m hoping to get a lot of help from the City Council. The budget assumes that there will be a tax increase. Last year, there was a tax decrease, which meant $3.3 million not spent in the budget. Quite honestly, if we don’t see a tax increase, this is only the beginning,”
School Committee Finance Chair Bo Sullivan said the driver of this year’s FY26 budget is expenses, many of them required by the state, and not personnel. He thanked the Westfield Education Association members in the room for working alongside the School Department. He also said the mayor should be thanked for his commitment to education compared to previous administrations, adding that he has never before seen increases in expenses outweigh contractual increases for personnel. “That’s what’s driving this year’s budget,” he said.
McCabe said he’s been working with the state, the governor, lieutenant governor, the secretary of education and legislators to increase Westfield’s Chapter 70 reimbursement, but said everybody across the state is underfunded by Chapter 70. He also said the city’s success in increasing the distance between the levy limit and the levy ceiling to $12 million may actually work against them when it comes to getting more aid from the state.
McCabe said state officials are telling him that Westfield is in good shape, and the city needs to spend some of its own money.
Sullivan then made a motion which was approved to move the budget to the Finance Committee.
At the meeting, McCabe asked that public comments on the proposed budget be reserved for the public hearing, now scheduled for April 28 at 6 p.m. in the Westfield Intermediate School auditorium, 350 Southampton Rd.
