LONGMEADOW — After a public hearing and several weeks of review, the Longmeadow School Committee voted on Feb. 11 to send a budget request of $44.85 million to the town manager ahead of the town budget presentation to the Select Board on March 3.
The level service budget is $1.42 million more than fiscal year 2025 due to contractually obligated salary increases, transportation costs, special education and services. The 3.2% increase is a smaller percentage than what was requested last year. To keep the increase manageable, vacancies from retirements and attrition will be filled with new personnel who have lower compensation rates. A preschool section, along with its teacher and assistant, have been eliminated due to lower enrollment. Some special education services will be provided through a partnership with area colleges and there is an expected reduction in the need for deaf and hard of hearing student services.
Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea noted that the 3.7% increase in special education out-of-district tuition, while substantially lower than last year’s 14% hike, is still more than the year-over-year average of 2.5%. School Committee member Michaela Fitzgerald said that since the coronavirus pandemic, the number of children being evaluated for special education services has nearly tripled. Across the state, she said, 20% of students are categorized as having disabilities.
School Committee Chair Nicole Choiniere pointed out that the “big disparity” between the foundation budget — the state-set minimum amount required to provide a basic education — and the Chapter 70 state aid. This year, the state allocated $75 per pupil, the minimum increase to Chapter 70 allowed by law. While this equals a $204,675 increase in aid, the foundation budget is $1.37 million more than last year. Choiniere said there was “significant space between the two” numbers and that the gap represents “a weighty part of the budget increase.”
O’Shea said the widening delta between foundation budgets and Chapter 70 funds was a “key systemic challenge.” A letter to the state signed by 15 education and education adjacent organizations stated, “We know that education budgets — at the federal, state and local levels — reflect our commitment to public education. We often say, ‘What we fund, we value.’ If Massachusetts is committed to remaining a national leader in public education and we are all committed to doing what is right for students, we must find creative ways in this difficult fiscal environment to provide schools and district with the funding to meet the growing needs of students and families.”
Other factors may also impact education funding. At the Jan. 28 School Committee meeting, O’Shea said that an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Jan. 30 “directs federal funds to student and families directly in a way that would promote greater School Choice.” He said it could shift funding away from Title I and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Federal Special Education Entitlement Grant grants for public education and toward families.
The order “requires the Department of Health and Human Services to issue guidance on how states receiving block grants for children and families can use those funds to support educational alternatives, including private and faith-based options.”
O’Shea said, “It would be, frankly, damaging to public education across the country if some of these School Choice provisions were put in place. I think it would really undermine our ability to support special education students, particularly.” There has been no guidance on the matter from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Grinspoon winners
Four Longmeadow educators were selected as winners of the Harold Grinspoon Excellence in Teaching Awards. Daniel Stratton, an art teacher at Williams Middle School was recognized with an award for beginning teachers. The three other educators that were chosen for the awards — Glenbrook Middle School sixth grade social studies teacher Kyle Noonan, Longmeadow High School Counselor Michael Rosemond and Center School third grade teacher Jill Bombardier — are from an array of disciplines and schools.
“They sort of represent the excellence in all of us,” O’Shea said. The educators will be honored at an awards ceremony at The Log Cabin in Holyoke in May.
