Adams-Cheshire Officials Approve 'Devastating' Budget
CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee lamentably voted to Thursday to approve a $18,995,762 school budget that cuts a dozen positions.
After review of the 14th iteration of the spending plan last week that accounts for nearly $1 million in reductions, committee members decided they had no choice but to pass a budget they did not feel was educationally sound.
It was a far cry from last year, when school officials went to bat for a higher budget, which forced a Proposition 2 1/2 override in Cheshire, in an attempt to keep teachers, staff and programs. Instead, next year's budget drops $110,767 from fiscal 2016.
Superintendent Kristen Gordon said she did not feel comfortable with the fiscal 2017 budget but knew the towns could only pay so much.
"It is not a sound budget for students in our district; it is a devastating budget," Gordon said. "I can't stand here as the educational leader of the district and say that I support this budget, but having said that, I know that towns are in a difficult position with their own budgets."
The budget includes a $5,446,707 assessment to the town of Adams, which is a reduction of $74,763 from this year. Cheshire's assessment is $2,640,064, which is a $53,587 increase from this year. Both assessments include the debt exclusion from the Hoosac Valley High School renovation.
Initially the budget was cut $800,000, then reduced by another $110,000 to bring it down to what the towns could afford.
Business manager David Hinkell said state Chapter 70 education aid and regional transportation reimbursement do not keep up with the district's needs. He added that increases in health insurance and issues with the charter school funding formula continue to hurt the budget.
He added that the district has nowhere else to cut and can either reduce staff or ask the towns to fund more.
"Both towns are up against their levy limit and there is nowhere for either town to go to," Hinkell said. "This is nothing that we wanted to do. It was driven by the fact that the numbers just do not work and the only place we can go to reduce the budget is staffing."
Gordon outlined how the staff cuts would affect the district and said class sizes will increase even more with the six teacher cuts. She added the loss of support staff will also dampen progress in the classroom.
She added that the loss of the technology director will limit the tech department to two people and the district will not see the progress it saw this year.
The loss of the curriculum coordinator and the elementary special education coordinator will place more work on principals and administrators, and she said there will be compliance issues in the special education department.
Cheshire Advisory Board member Bill Craig asked why the curriculum coordinator was being cut when the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has threatened to knock the district down to a level four if it did not hire one
School Committee Vice Chairwoman Darlene Rodowicz said that the committee's priority was to protect the classrooms.
"We felt our priority was to protect as many classrooms as possible, which led us to taking out positions that we fought really hard for last year with the override vote," Rodowicz said "In a perfect world, we would continue to keep them but when we are faced with cutting teachers or support staff we are forced into this position."
She added that, hopefully, DESE takes into account the progress the district made this year and does not knock it down to a level four. Also, she said there is potential in the future to share a curriculum coordinator with another district.
Gordon concluded by thanking staff that had to be let go and said she believes the towns do support the schools. She urged them to continue to support the district.
"I would ask that the communities continue to support the students, staff, and the district in positive ways," she said. "Such as positive discussion about the work that they do in the district, the extreme dedication of the staff who are always asked to do more with less, and positive feedback for the work that has been done."
The School Committee has looked at closing a school but it would take more time and officials were simply not ready. However, in the next few years, this will be an inevitable option.
"That is something going forward we just are going to have to face the reality, given the economics," Chairman Paul Butler said. "We may really have to become a two-school district. How that will come about, we don't know."
Adams Selectman Joseph Nowak said towns financially cannot support the district's needs and things will only improve if the funding mechanisms change at the state level.
"Our purse strings are tight and last year we did what we could and we compromised," Nowak said. "I just don't see it getting better and that bothers me because I don't see light at the end of the tunnel or resolution to this situation that is so pressing."
Butler said the future of education in Berkshire County will definitely look different in coming years because of shrinking resources and population. He said much of this vision will come out of the Berkshire County Education Task Force, which is studying possible new education models.
Rodowicz added before adjourning the meeting that much of the school budget is based on estimates from the governor's budget and if resources are found to bring back a teacher or a program, they will.
Tags: ACRSD_budget, fiscal 2017, school budget,
