ADAMS, Mass. — The Selectmen and Finance Committee heard from both Adams-Cheshire Regional School District and McCann Technical School on their fiscal 2108 spending plans and aired concerns about both budgets. 

 

Wednesday was the third of four joint budget hearings held at the Adams Visitors Center. The two regional school budgets make 39 percent of the town's proposed $15.5 million the fiscal 2018 budget.

 

Adams-Cheshire Superintendent Robert Putnam said the town's proposed allocation of $4,940,421 does not include debt and is a $143,896 increase from this year but stays within the 3 percent increase Adams said it could provide.

 

In order to fit into this 3 percent, the total $19.3 million budget was compromised. Even though the School Committee voted to close Cheshire Elementary to lower expenses, the district was unable to include all of the positions recommended in a recent study to improve student education.

 

The district budgeted for a three interventionist and a special education coordinator but to do this, had cut into current staff and did not fill stipended positions.

 

Putnam said four positions will be needed to increase the district's state level and to save money.

 

"What happened over the past couple of years is that all regular education interventionists have been cut so what that means is  ... if you are a regular education student you can't get that extra help," Putnam said. "We want to maximize resources for children that may not be covered under SPED ... but when SPED is the only game in town, that is where they often go." 

 

Finance Committee member Sandra Kleiner said she thought that by closing a building, there would be more staff cuts.

 

Putnam said there really is nowhere else to cut and cutting anymore would not help attract students to the district.

 

"Over the past few years, we have cut so much that we now cannot provide some courses. We can't provide for the students we have and a lot of them spend time in study halls," he said. "We don't have the staff to offer courses all of the time."  

 

Finance Committee member Craig Corrigan said he thought by closing a school the district should be able to cut administrators and hire more teachers.

 

Putnam said currently there are nine administrators and the district through the years has already cut this down. A curriculum coordinator, technology coordinator and facility manager have been cut and reducing staff by anymore, the school district will not be able to provide the proper guidance in the classroom.

 

"My intent is that by having administrators in the classroom observing and guiding the teachers we will be able to improve instruction," he said. "I make the argument that the most important thing for an administrator to do is to be in the classrooms ... we are a Level 3 ... I need to change that and part of that requires administrators."

 

Finance Committee member John Cowie said he did not feel comfortable voting on a budget with estimated salary increases for faculty because currently, the district is negotiating with all its unions. He felt these increases needed to be lowered.

 

Kleiner went as far to ask if there was a way to wipe the contracts away and eliminate step increases. 

 

"The educators are used to having these step raises but the district is in crisis," she said. "Is there any way to wipe it clean and negotiate something the district can afford."

 

Putnam said currently everything is on the table but he is unaware of any district that has eliminated step increases. He agreed that step increases need to be equalized but feared he would be unable to attract new educators if he cut too deep. 

 

"I am in competition with everyone around us for talent and when I am looking for talent, I have people around me that are paying more and giving more lucrative packages," Putnam said. "We have lost a number of teachers who have headed off to other districts where they are paid more."

 

Selectmen Chairman Jeffrey Snoonian said the schools and the towns will have to find some sort of compromise but that he trusted Putnam to use the town's resources to try to turn the district around. 

 

"In the end, we all want a better school system and I think we have to find the balance of what we can pay and how we can employ it," he said. "We have to find a middle ground but just the lift if I would get to say, 'we are on our way to a Level 2' would be unbelievable."  

 

The School Committee will vote its budget next week; any further increase would trigger a Proposition 2 1/2 override in Adams.

 

McCann Superintendent James Brosnan presented the Northern Berkshire Regional Vocational School District's $9.3 million budget with an assessment to Adams of $1,030,016 that represents a 27.34 percent increase over the fiscal 2017 budget.

 

With 14 more students are attending McCann, Adams' enrollment is now 144 making it the largest contributor to the student body.

 

Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco said he wanted McCann to understand that municipal employees have taken cuts in their benefits and have made sacrifices. He added that Adams is a poor community and wanted to make sure McCann was willing to share this burden.  

 

"I keep cutting the municipal budget and benefits just so we can afford both schools who have fundamentally different benefit packages than my employees," Mazzucco said. "So now as the largest contributor to McCann, our ability to continue funding is limited and it is on my employees' backs in addition to the property taxpayers' backs."

 

Snoonian said McCann has to make changes to its benefits packages sooner than later. 

 

"It has to change now because in two years' time, town meeting is just going to say no and that will be armageddon," he said. 

 

Brosnan said he understood the concern and everything will be brought to the negotiation table eventually. He said McCann does its best to be good stewards of the communities' money and run a lean operation that is re-examined every year to provide the lowest assessment to the towns.  

 

"We will look at everything because in 2017, this is what it costs and we also recognize that many communities in the county have hit their levy ceiling or are close," he said. "Communities are running out of money and the ability to raise money and when you run out, we run out so we are in this together. We have to look at it because it would be ignorant not to and we would consume ourselves" 

 

Finance Committee Chairman Timothy Burdick asked what happens if Adams' enrollment continues to increase and the town cannot afford to fund McCann.

 

"We are going through some tough decisions with Adams-Cheshire with cutting staff and closing a school," he said. "We tell them we can only give 3 percent but we sit here and say OK to you and we don't have a choice. There is going to be a point where there is no more money."

 

Brosnan said six out of the nine communities in the district would have to vote down the budget to send McCann back to the drawing board. If that were to happen, he would be forced to cut programming and staff.

 

He said currently the enrollment is at a level where there is not a need to cut programming because it is equal to the number of students the district educates.

 

"We do it as lean as possible ... but if we come to a point where we are unable to do certain things we will have to end some programs and shrink but right now enrollment is there," he said. "If it drops, then we have serious issues."  

 

Mazzucco said projecting into the future both school districts are unsustainable in Adams and it may come to a point when, although McCann provides a great product, the town may not be able to afford it and it may be more advantageous to use those funds toward Adams-Cheshire.

 

"At what point are we spending $1.8 million on McCann, when looking globally down the road, when is it not worth it to the community? If that money were to go over here, what could ACRSD offer for 144 more kids and $1.8 million? Quite a few vocational tech programs," Mazzucco said. "This is a huge investment for a great product but could we get a pretty darn good product if we did something else?"

 

Brosnan said he understood the concern and reiterated that McCann is committed to being economically responsible while providing the best education possible to the students that choose the school.

 

"We are invested. Our graduates are here they are the community that keeps things moving," he said. " Adams is an original charter member and we do our best to steward and right the ship and be as economical as possible ... it is not a number that we wanted to see go up but we are doing our very best."

 

The fourth and final review will be held Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Visitors Center for the public safety and the library budgets. All budget documents can be found here.