NORTHAMPTON — A public hearing on the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget was opened during a Northampton School Committee Special Meeting on March 27 and residents continued to express their desire for the committee to properly fund the schools.
Superintendent Portia Bonner had released three prospective paths for next year’s budget at the committee’s prior meeting with each offering a different scenario for the school district’s budget going forward.
The “strong” budget, the popular choice among residents who spoke during the hearing, would give the district a 13.24% increase from the current year, bringing the total budget to $46.6 million. The “level services” budget would be a 7.7% increase to a $44.3 million budget, and the “fiscal target” budget produces a 4% increase to $42.6 million.
Last year the City Council adopted the school budget at an 8% increase from the previous year. This was more than twice what Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra had originally proposed but still lead to more than 20 school jobs cut in the district. Some of these positions are set to return to finish out this current school year as the city approved a $294,883.02 mid-year appropriation to schools last month.
Bonner broke down the budget options following public comment and the investments or reductions each would bring. Under the strong budget, many of the jobs cut from the last budget would be restored, including math and reading interventionalists, special education teachers and a school psychologist at Northampton High School.
“These are the requests that have come from our administrators in terms of looking at the needs that are in their building and so from that we have a 13.24% increase request, and it does capture some of the positions that were cut last year, but it also captures some new positions based on the changing needs of our students,” Bonner explained.
Some of the outcomes that come as a benefit to the strong budget is it would bring an implementation of specialized programming for students with severe disabilities and who are medically fragile, expands STEM and digital literacy at the elementary level, reduction of special education caseloads, reduces class size and allows for more student choice, and more, working overall to meet the growing needs of students in the city and to accurately report current expenditure.
For the level services budget, the district would be able to increase wages of staff but does not consider any other changes in monetary figures included in the budget.
“We will be able to continue with our work towards reaching the goals of our district improvement plan,” Bonner said of the level services budget. “We will be able to restore some specialized programming, and we will also be able to maintain all of the staffing we currently have now with the exception of what we just recently incurred with our mid-year appropriation.”
The fiscal target budget would most likely leave the district in the same situation it current faces as it would cause a further reduction of staffing and the elimination of all requested new positions with the exception of special education staff. Course offerings at Northampton High School would also remain limited and serve as a continuation of students not being able to receive desired courses.
Ward 7 committee member Kerry LaBounty asked Bonner to detail how these budgets are actually addressing the concerns of the district.
“The phrase that really stuck with me is ‘we can’t intervene our way out of this,” LaBounty said. “I want to make sure that whatever we’re doing is more than a band aid to the situation if possible so I’m wondering how does this speak to that?”
Bonner said for clarity there will not be direct line items matching up with specific goals as much of the budget is all encompassing.
“For instance, our goal to improve children’s reading, as well as mathematics. It’s for all of our children, even though we have spelled out specific cohorts we want to address because that’s where we see the biggest academic gaps, but it is about all of our children,” Bonner said. “So right away in the strong budget, you will see that not only did we maintain our reading and math interventionist, but there is a request for additional interventionist, so again starting to address some of those needs.”
Residents, many being parents of Northampton students, directly spoke once again to the committee seeking that they account into the new budget the dire needs for special needs students and other student services in the district.
One resident opened the hearing by saying he has faith in the collaboration of committee members and city officials in figuring out a budget best suited for Northampton at this time.
“I am in the business of believing what I hear from students and parents and staff, because there is no reason they would tell us something that isn’t true.’ These words from my Ward 2 School Committee member [Anat Weisenfreund] really resonated,” said the resident. “This is exactly how I feel, and I would take it one step further: I would apply this philosophy to everyone. Concerns we have heard from parents are real, the work being done by educators are real, challenges of budgeting the schools and our city are real. I have seen the budget presentation multiple times, I believe the strategies that are being used are solid and smart, and I believe the mayor, the finance director, the city council and the school committee truly want to do what is best for our children.”
Another resident echoed the consistent plea from parents for the city to properly fund its schools and meeting educational equity for high need students in the district.
“Where I struggle is with the focus on the current city and school leadership that they can fix these challenges alone. These are systemic inequities in our schools that long proceed this administration. If anything, our schools have seen a lot more city funds in the years since the pandemic compared to prior years under other mayors and superintendents,” said the resident.
Resident Brian Wilby was clear he felt the strong budget was clearly the best option forward for the district.
“I’d like to voice my support for the strong budget,” he said. “Just a few weeks ago the committee voted to add additional funding this year which was really a recognition that what we have right now is inadequate, its unsatisfactory. So just by the process of elimination, that means level services for next year would be unsatisfactory and inadequate. The 4% budget would cut services so that would be even more unsatisfactory, so really the strong budget seems like the only option that is viable for us.”
The strong budget was the most discussed of the options by residents during the public comment and many noted they were pleased to see the option presented by the district.
The meeting concluded with the committee breaking out into executive session. To watch the full public hearing and committee discussion, a recording of the meeting is available on the Northampton Government Video Archives YouTube channel.
With the proposals now presented and public hearings opened, the Budget & Property Subcommittee will discuss the different approaches before the committee meets at their first April meeting as they continue the FY26 budgeting season.
