Pittsfield School Committee Sees $78M Budget Proposal

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The district is seeking a budget increase of more than 8 percent in fiscal year 2024, with a majority of the funding going to special education, career technical education, and contractual obligations.

The School Committee got a first look at the upcoming budget request on Wednesday.  The $78,310,016 ask is an 8.17 percent — or $5,911,754 — increase from FY23's budget of $72,398,262.

"Our goal continues to be to create meaningful and most importantly, sustainable change for the children of our city," Superintendent Joseph Curtis told the committee.

"Meaningful and sustainable change takes time. We are impatient because our decisions affect children's lives every day but any rush to change is reactive and typically is not embedded systematically. Changes that do not impact our systems are prone to quickly revert back to prior practice."

There will be a public hearing for the school budget at 6 p.m. on Monday at City Hall, the committee will make recommendations on April 12, and there is an expected budget adoption on April 26.

No later than June 1, there will be a joint meeting with the City Council to discuss the proposal.

Eighty-three percent of the increase, about $4.9 million, is allocated for special education instruction and support, CTE/career pathways, and contractual obligations.

This includes a $527,000 increase for CTE, a $1.3 million increase for special education, and $3 million for pay increases to the United Educators of Pittsfield, the American Federation of Teachers, the Pittsfield Educational Administrators Association, and non-bargaining staff members.

Last year, the committee passed memoranda of agreements for its bargaining units that include "substantial increases."

The governor's budget has a Chapter 70 increase of $6,592,719 and the district is requesting $680,965 under that increase.

A variety of staff members attended the meeting to provide details about budget increases in their departments.

Mayor Linda Tyer appreciated this.

"Your expertise means a lot to me when I'm thinking about how I'm going to support this budget or recommendations for reductions that I might make," she said.

"So really appreciate that you, Mr. Curtis invited your staff to be part of this process and I know we're going to have even more opportunities to do that."

Car Fire Briefly Shuts Down Section of North Street

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
04:18PM / Monday, June 22, 2026

The street was briefly shut down. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Firefighters responded to a car fire on Eagle Street at about 4 p.m. Monday.

 

The 1986 Chevrolet Camaro was parked next to Persip Park when it "blew up," according to a passerby. Firefighters swiftly put out the engine fire but the northbound lane of North Street was briefly shut down and traffic redirected.

 

The blaze that started in the engine compartment was small but smokey, with smoke visible looking north from Fenn Street. 

 

Fire Capt. Mitchell Keller said there were some flames, describing it as a "well involved car fire." He estimated it took about 10 minutes to put out. 

 

"The initial response was Engine 6, right here, because Engine 3, the closest engine was was on another call because of the close proximity to headquarters," he said, referring to the Columbus Avenue station. "Our deputy car two and truck company responded to make sure that the car was unoccupied and that there was no people requiring aid. And then they waited for the engine to get here to for fire extinguishment.

 

He said the cause was undetermined but not suspicious. No one was injured in the fire and authorities were trying to track down the owner.