Members of the Adams Finance Committee participate in Tuesday's school funding forum at BArT.
ADAMS, Mass. — Three school districts with different financial models had a common message for attendees at Tuesday's forum at Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School: The commonwealth should do more to fund education.
Administrators from the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District, McCann Technical School and BArT gave a slide presentation to talk about how each of their budgets are funded at a joint meeting/workshop of the Adams Board of Selectmen and Adams Finance Committee.
Although each of the schools is funded differently and each has unique expenses, the school officials all agreed they each spend about the same portion of their budget on instruction cost. In each case, the direct cost of educating students made up the bulk of the school district's expenditures.
And each of the schools received the majority of their revenue from Massachusetts' Chapter 70 state aid allocation.
But that is one of the areas where state aid is deficient, the administrators agreed.
James Brosnan, the superintendent of the Northern Berkshire Vocational Regional School District [McCann] explained that the Chapter 70 formula came from the commonwealth's Education Reform Act of 1993, which sought to ensure equitable education for all state residents.
"The wealth, income of the community's population and value of property are two key drivers," Brosnan said, adding that the formula is so complex few people in the state can explain it completely. "The categories of spending in education — ELL [English Language Learners], special education students, students in poverty, vocational students — all these categories go into a complicated formula that puts out what the state's going to pay and what the local community is going to pay."
The formula has changed very little since 1993, although there is a committee reviewing the formula, Brosnan said.
"One thing is the formula is always behind," Brosnan said. "The numbers in there don't reflect the true cost, especially for special needs students. Homeless, ELL students — the cost is not adequately reflected in the Chapter 70 budget."
"It costs more to educate a student of low income," Adams-Cheshire Superintendent Kristen Gordon said. "That doesn't mean that a student can't achieve like any other, but it costs more.
"The communities that spend the most in Berkshire County are the ones that don't have the low-income students."
Another big area where the state should do more: transportation aid.
Gordon explained that regional school districts like hers, which were promised 100 percent reimbursement for transportation costs, can only qualify for 61 percent of cost of transporting students who live more than a mile and a half from their school.
In the case of Hoosac Valley, that is most of the students. In the case of Adams' Plunkett Elementary School, most of the pupils live inside that 1.5-mile radius.
"We don't get reimbursed for most of our kids at Plunkett," Gordon said. "It's a very frustrating topic that we're working with [Sen. Benjamin Downing, D-Pittsfield, and Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, D-North Adams] on.
"[State officials] entice people to be regional school districts with the promise of transportation reimbursement."
When a member of the two dozen community members in attendance asked what one message voters could send to legislators, Adams-Cheshire Business Director David Hinkell did not hesitate.
"One hundred percent reimbursement for regional transportation — as promised," he said. "That would include transportation for special education. We have four buses to transport special education students and get zero reimbursement for that.
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This was a very useful article. I'd like to see more like this - explaining important local issues, giving voice to those who know what is needed, and giving citizens a way to help. We will not all agree on all voices, but this is a good conversation to have.
ADAMS, Mass. — Award-winning pastel artist Gregory Maichack will present three separate pastel painting workshops for adults and teens 16+, to be hosted by the Adams Free Library.
Wednesday, April 24 The Sunflower; Wednesday, May 8 Jimson Weed; and Thursday, May 23 Calla Turned Away from 10:00 a.m. to noon.
Registration is required for each event. Library events are free and open to the public.
These programs are funded by a Festivals and Projects grant of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
This workshop is designed for participants of all skill levels, from beginner to advanced. Attendees will create a personalized, original pastel painting based on Georgia O’Keefe’s beautiful pastel renditions of The Sunflower, Jimson Weed and Calla Turned Away. All materials will be supplied. Seating may fill quickly, so please call 413-743-8345 to register for these free classes.
Maichack is an award-winning portraitist and painter working primarily in pastels living in the Berkshires. He has taught as a member of the faculty of the Museum School in Springfield, as well as at Greenfield and Holyoke Community College, Westfield State, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
The Adams Beautification group, which has been quietly sprucing up the town since 2022, hopes to bring in more members of the community during a community cleanup day scheduled for Saturday, April 27. click for more
Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School history teacher Alla Chelukhova has been selected as the April Teacher of the Month. click for more
Desroches graduated from the Police Academy on March 22 in the top tier in his class. He's currently in the field training program and assigned to Sgt. Curtis Crane.
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Michael Wynn, who was selected in January to run the center, submitted a level operating budget of $57,500 but said he could pull funding from different lines to ensure there was money for advertising this fall.
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