Pittsfield Schools Get Additional Chapter 70 Funds
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Pittsfield schools received almost $459,000 in additional Chapter 70 funds, and officials are looking to restore some positions.
On Tuesday, the City Council accepted an additional $458,660 for the Pittsfield Public Schools fiscal year 2027 budget. Mayor Peter Marchetti confirmed that they were Chapter 70 funds, the primary source of state aid for public elementary and secondary schools in Massachusetts.
"What I can tell you is, during the budget process, [State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier] was talking about two different pots of money that she was looking to get, and so some of this came from the per pupil aid amount. That's what the increase in our funding was for,” he explained when asked about how it will be spent.
"It was her intent, and it was the intent of the superintendent, to save positions. Positions that we were cutting from the budget. But I can't give you a definitive answer because the School Committee has not engaged in the conversation of where that money will go inside the school budget," he said.
The School Committee can appropriate the funds at its discretion. Marchetti, also School Committee chair, agreed to notify councilors where those monies went in the budget, per Ward 7 Councilor Kathy Moody's request.
The Pittsfield Public Schools' original $86,855,061 budget included $68,886,061 in Chapter 70 funding. PPS faced a more than $4 million deficit during this process.
Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Bonnie Howland on Wednesday told the School Committee that they have discussed adding at least four paraprofessionals.
"We're going to try to stretch the money as far as we can," she said, explaining that they talked about maintaining the assistant principal of teaching and learning and Reid but were notified that it will be grant-funded.
"…We wanted to have a [Career Technical Education] content lead to help lead the different shops at Taconic, and four additional CTE paraprofessionals, and then of course curriculum. School-based curriculum is quite expensive, so we would just keep quite a bit of money in there so we can continue purchasing high-quality instruction materials for the schools.”
PPS also received a $400,000 earmark from the state, which state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier had lobbied for; $300,000 can be used for out-of-district transportation and $100,000 can be used for technology.
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