NORTHAMPTON — The City Council voted to approve a $290,317 midyear appropriation to Northampton Public Schools during its Feb. 5 meeting.
The approved request came in just under $500,000 less than the original request that was voted on and approved by the School Committee during its Jan. 22 special meeting. At that meeting, the committee unanimously approved a mid-year appropriation request for $790,175 that was presented by member Tiffany Jewell.
In preparation for the special meeting, Superintendent Portia Bonner was asked by the committee to come to the meeting with specific recommendations based on current requests from the schools. After speaking with school principals and the administrative leadership team, Bonner brought forth items that were directly expressed to her as prioritized needs and presented a list created from the schools’ current needs. She said that list yielded a $586,992 appropriation proposal.
School Committee members Anat Weisenfreund from Ward 2 and Ward 3 member Renika Montgomery-Tamakloe also presented a midyear appropriation request during the special meeting of $925,000. Eventually, the committee voted for the request made by Jewell for $790,175.
The School Committee’s approved $790,175 midyear appropriation request was to give funding to two critical functions: proof of essential service levels and immediate stabilization. The items on this request, as well as the items remaining in the approved request by the council, are linked within the council’s agenda for the Feb. 5 meeting.
When the discussion opened during the Feb. 5 council meeting, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra explained the discrepancy between what the School Committee voted on and what ultimately made its way to the council.
The voted upon list from the School Committee included $123,000 from student services that the district is already anticipating will be covered by the Commonwealth Special Education Reimbursement Program, or Circuit Breaker funds, and were therefore not included in the request presented to the council. The original list of items also included items that are already accounted for through the city’s Capital Improvement Plan, totaling $91,050. That money was also removed from the initial request.
“The financial order you have before you includes the items that were listed, that were voted on by the School Committee, and our current request: to fund these one-time requests for the remainder of the FY25-26 school year with free cash,” explained Sciarra. “So, this order is for $290,317 from free cash, then with the $123,000 that will be covered by circuit breaker, and the $91,050 that will be covered by capital, the total $504,367 is being covered.”
Sciarra said that the items from the School Committee’s list that were not on the superintendent’s list in the final order.
With the changes made, the new $290,317 midyear appropriation request for the school district that was passed through a 9-1 council vote will be funded with one-time free cash for the remainder of the school year.
“That is how I came up with this list. Midyear appropriations are really not how budgeting should work. A mid-year appropriation should be a process — if it’s used at all — for addressing unexpected needs or costs that arise, not for regular budgeting,” said Sciarra. “We are in the process of preparing for the FY27 budget as we’ve all talked about already. I know the schools are. If there are new programs or initiatives that are being proposed, they should be discussed as part of the budget discussion for the next year, including how their funding will be sustained and not with one-time funds. Free cash is one-time funds.”
The meeting began with a bulk of public commentors, including School Committee members Montgomery-Tamakloe and Michael Stein, who expressed displeasure with the difference between the requests made by the School Committee and what made it to the council. At Large Councilor Meg Robbins voted to approve the request, but added that she wished the School Committee were made more aware of the changes that were being made, and why they were made prior to the meeting.
Ward 6 Councilor Chris Stratton was the lone no vote on the mid-year appropriation because he felt this number was too low, based on the initial request it stemmed from.
“I sort of believe that the differing explanations for it have been part of the excuse for reducing it,” said Stratton. He added he felt there was a lack of communication between Sciarra, the School Committee and Bonner, between the committee’s special meeting and the Feb. 5 council meeting.
Councilor Aline Davis said she thought it was important that the midyear appropriation include items that reflect what administrators expressed to Bonner.
“If we all profess, and I think that we do, love and respect to our schools, and our teachers, our children and the principals, and the secretaries, the everything, then we would care what they say they need in their building. The itemization helps us see,” said Davis.
At Large Councilor Garrick Perry said that while he wasn’t placing blame on anyone specifically, when the city does rushed work, they don’t do effective work.
“I think some things could have been explained with clear explanations, like seeing the difference between what was requested. The mayor here today has explained it to us, but I think part of what we do is talk to the public and try and disseminate this information,” said Perry. “Just having the knowledge to tell people that some of these things are covered by capital project, some of these things are dealt with through circuit breaker, goes a long way.”
Perry also asked for clarity on how much of last March’s midyear appropriation was utilized. The School Committee and City Council compromised on the committee’s $600,000 request then and approved $294,883.02 to cover lost positions from the previous summer’s cuts. Bonner told Perry they spent $128,427.45 of that allocated funding.
Bonner confirmed that her list was developed based on the discussions she had with administrators about the needs of individual buildings and departments. She said that she tried to reiterate to principals that this would be a one-time request, and these should be items that they do not expect will follow into the next fiscal year.
To review the full Feb. 5 City Council meeting and discussion, visit the Northampton Government Video Archive YouTube channel.
