NORTHAMPTON — A mid-year request from the School Committee that the City Council appropriate $600,000 from the city’s Fiscal Stability Fund to the school budget so the department can rehire some of the 20-plus jobs cut last summer, has created another debate on the status of the schools.
While discussed during the City Council’s Feb. 20 meeting, the council ultimately decided to refer the request to the Finance Committee, which will review the order before the council meets again on March 6. This came after much continued debate stemming from the School Committee’s Feb. 13 meeting where Superintendent Portia Bonner introduced the request for funding.
Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra has consistently made the case between the two meeting discussions that this request may be short-sighted for the city and while she understands and sympathizes with the desperation many are feeling regarding the cuts made in the school department, she once again tried to explain that spending this extra money on recurring costs like staff hirings only would further drain the city’s resources, leading to potentially more cuts in future fiscal years.
“I think I speak on behalf of every individual in city government when I say that we do hear and we care and acknowledge the pain that has followed the loss of Northampton Public Schools positions this year. It is exactly the sort of disruption that we should never risk repeating again,” said Sciarra.
This funding transfer request comes following the state’s certification of the city having $11.6 million in free cash in December, with $6.8 million of that coming from new surplus funds from 2024. Sciarra noted the schools are currently operating on a fiscal year 2025 budget that is nearly 9% higher than the year before, but the loss of COVID-19 relief funding meant the city still needed to make cuts last season.
Sciarra also pointed out that due to one time funding sources as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the School Department invested much of those funds into schools, and that moving cash to fill some of these positions for the final three months of the school year would be a one-time use of funds on positions not even guaranteed to be funded again for the next school year.
Bonner reiterated this point during the discussion and explained that if the order was approved and the positions were filled, they would only likely work for 11 weeks until the end of the school year.
“When we do our interviewing process, we post for two weeks but we can interview during that posting time,” Bonner explained. “We would post it in terms of a temporary position with the potential or possibility of becoming full-time.”
Bonner said if there was a need in the department, it was not only for the moment but also a long term concern, and that while this specific request was a short-term resolution, focus needed to be kept on the long term impacts.
“This request is something that needs to be thought out and looked at in terms of long-term, it should not be a limit of what’s remaining for schools,” she added.
Many public commenters during the meeting spoke in favor of the order, citing desperation for the department to receive this funding. Members of Support Our Schools, a political action committee, came out during the council meeting to express disappointment toward the city for allowing the department to be in this situation.
“This is an urgent situation in which there’s no excuse for ignorance. Harm from the mayor’s cuts to public education were loudly predicted by many who spoke to you,” said Al Simon, chair of Support Our Schools. “Time is of the essence. The power is in your hands tonight to finally act.”
Another resident expressed support for the order saying the special needs services of the department has become dire with these cuts.
“The crisis in our schools particularly as related to special education has reached emergency status,” said the resident. “Anyone on the council even remotely denying it at this point is not fit to hold an elected position.”
Many public commenters shared similar sentiments, seeking city officials to act on the urgent matter. The issue has caused a noticeable tension between constituents and officials, as well as amongst constituents themselves.
“You’ve heard from the School Committee, families and teachers about the devastating consequences of the lack of funding in our school district,” said another resident. “When you remove resources from struggling children, they get hurt and you are the one who will be doing the hurting.
Speaking in favor of the appropriation was Ward 7 Councilor Rachel Maiore, who pointed out if the funds could not be used to fill the positions by the end of the school year, the money would be returned to the city.
“I’m not really hearing what the downside of doing this is, except that you possibly won’t be able to fill them, and then we will begrudgingly take that money back if we need to. I’d love to give our school children and schools that opportunity,” she said.
Ward 3 Councilor Quaverly Rothenberg motioned to vote on the measure during the meeting, to which it failed. Quaverly has been often critical of the mayor and the budgeting process regarding the school’s needs during what many residents are saying is a crisis for the department.
“We just want you to put your votes on the record. We don’t want to wait another two weeks, or however many weeks, to hear you say no again,” Rothenberg said. “I know you really say that it’s not about how you feel about the kids, and you feel very maligned when anyone says anything that insinuates you feel a certain way, but you feel a certain way about financial orders related to kids and we just want to move it along.”
Ward 2 Councilor Deb Klemer sided with Sciarra, saying people were not accepting the reality of the situation the department faces.
“We just need to face reality. You [Sciarra] have given more money each year and people refuse to hear it, and people are snickering behind your back when you’re talking about it,” said Klemer.
The current fiscal budget passed by the city last year gave the highest increase to the district budget in the city’s history, a 14% increase in total. Sciarra called for more dialogue among city officials, school administrators, teachers and parents on how to effectively utilize their existing resources.
“It breaks me to be put in a position where I can’t advocate for additional appropriation for the schools. Does that mean there’s nothing else we can do for the schools? No,” Sciarra said. “We need more than gestures and we can’t repeat past budgetary mistakes. We need less confrontation and more collaboration.”
The City Council is expected to resume discussions on the order on March 6. Coverage of that meeting will be available in the March 13 edition of The Reminder.
