CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Hoosac Valley Regional School Committee saw a preliminary $20 million budget for fiscal 2021 that is essentially level with this year's budget but means the loss of 22 positions.

 

The $20,100,111 spending plan presented Monday by Superintendent Aaron Dean represents only a $625 increase over fiscal 2020.

 

"This budget while painful on a personal level coming back to a community and the first thing I do is cut," Dean said. "It's not what anybody wants to do but it is what we have to do but it does not diminish our programming, our course offerings or our opportunities for students."

 

 

Total assessments to the towns are in close range of this year's assessments and under the draft budget, Adams will be assessed $5,925,237 and Cheshire will be assessed $2,855,411.

 

For Adams, this is a $132,678  increase or a 2.2 percent increase. For Cheshire, this is a $127,358 or a 4.6 percent increase.

 

Within the levy limit, Adams' assessment will be $5,298,433 and Cheshire will be assessed $2,616,120.

 

Dean said he worked both with his administrative leadership team and Adams and Cheshire during the budget process to build the budget that took into consideration services the district is obligated to provide as well as services it is morally obligated to provide.

 

He said the district was faced with a near $400,000 budget gap that Business Manager Erika Snyder was driven by contractual and retirement contribution increases as well as a new Special Education Assessment.

 

She added that out-of-district students and school choice out students have also contributed to the increase.

 

Dean said the district is already working with limited staff with a student-teacher ratio of 14.6 to 1. He said there are few places to cut.

 

"The state average is 12.9 to 1 and we need to maintain what we have to be able to serve the students that we have," Dean said.  

 

He said cuts were also made in the custodial department and he was able to eliminate almost $30,000 in unused programs. 

 

Dean said although these support positions will be cut he said they hope to still offer the same support to children and find cost-effective ways to provide the same services.

 

He said the district needs to create universal supports and focus on a smaller group of highly trained individuals. He said they also need to develop districtwide "Multi Tiered Systems of Support" aimed at early intervention.

 

Dean said the district's reliance on excess & deficiency funds over the years has put it in a tough position and has cut the amount used in this budget from $647,000 to $300,000.

 

"We used it over the years to kind of falsely reduce the assessments and it has created what I would call dead money in our budget," he said. "... We have to find a way to reset and get to a point where we can be sustainable and maintain what we are doing." 

 

Dean added that one of the district's issues in terms of budgeting is enrollment that is directly tied to state Chapter 70 education funding. He said although the elementary school is seeing an increase in enrollment, there are challenges at the high school level.

 

In general, Dean was optimistic about the district's future and ran through a list of student opportunities. He also thanked the communities for their continued support.

 

"I think the district has a bright future with their support and collaboration," he said.

 

The Audit and Evaluation will take one more look at the budget before submitting it to the full School Committee for approval later this month.