I am splitting the recap from our March 13th Meeting into two parts, one just on the budget presentation and one on everything else during the meeting.
Budget Presentation
Superintendent Curtis and Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Behnke presented the administration’s FY25 budget proposal.
Budget Drivers
The proposed budget was developed based on the following budget drivers and cost increases:
| Driver | Amount |
| Contractual Obligations | $4,500,000.00 |
| Special Education Out of District Tuition | $1,080,600.00 |
| Electricity Cost Increase | $120,000.00 |
| Natural Gas Increase | $45,000.00 |
| Tuition Revoling Acount Decrease | $20,000.00 |
| Speical Education Transportation | $500,000.00 |
| Homeless Transportation | $30,000.00 |
| Foster Transportation | $30,000.00 |
| 7D Drivers | $100,000.00 |
| Total Budget Drivers | $6,425,600.00 |
Budget Factors
The proposed budget is being based on the following factors:
- Budget drivers totaling $6,425,600
- An increase of $649,248 in Chapter 70 State Aid to the district (which is significantly lower than in past years)
- An increase of $2,733,080 in the total budget amount (3.5%), resulting in a anticipated city appropriation of $80,821,096 (agreed upon with the Mayor)
This leaves a budget shortfall of $3,692,520 not including the end of ESSER COVID grant funds.
End of ESSER Funding
With the end of ESSER funding, the following positions will be ending after this school year (about 44 full time equivalent positions):
- Literacy Coaches @ 5 Elementary Schools
- SEL Interventionist Teacher Pilot @ Conte
- Emergency and Safety Coordinator @ District*
- Dean of Students @ PHS*
- Teacher of Deportment (3) @ THS*
- Additional Content Teachers (5) @ THS
- Family Engagement and Attendance Coordinators @ MCS, CCS, CES
- School Adjustment Counselors 8.0 FTE*
- Social Emotional Learning Coordinator
- Teachers of Deportment (2) @ Reid
- Paraprofessionals (2) @ Allendale
- Assistant Principal of Teaching and Learning at Egremont
- Teachers (2) & Paraprofessional @ Stearns
- Computer Technician @ District
- Special Education Instruction and Accountability Coordinator @ District
- Early Childhood Coordinator @ District*
- Dean of Students @ Allendale
- Dean of Students @ Herberg
- Main Office Secretary @ District*
- Additional Math Teacher for Multilingual Learner Support @ PHS
- Academic Interventionist @ Allendale
Additionally due to the end of ESSER and the high rate of damage of Chromebooks at the middle school level, middle school students will no longer be able to take a Chromebook home for use.
* This position is being carried over to the general fund, in part or in whole, see the Budget Requests section for more information
Budget Reductions
In order to address the budget shortfall, reductions will have to be made.
The following are the budget reductions to be made, with more specifics to come at our budget workshop on March 27th, and to be pulled back as necessary if other funding becomes available.
Position reductions (approximately 79 positions not including central office reorganization):
| Position Reduction | Amount |
| Teachers (27) | -$1,350,000.00 |
| Teachers of Deportment (8) | -$400,000.00 |
| Academic Interventionist / Coach (4) | -$200,000.00 |
| Paraprofessionals (26) | -$686,660.00 |
| School Counselor (1) | -$65,000.00 |
| Dean of Students (3) | -$255,000.00 |
| Instruction and Accountability Coordinators (7) | -$630,000.00 |
| Curriculum Department Member (1) | -$90,000.00 |
| Cultural Competency Coach | -$29,570.00 |
| Return to Single Principal at Morningside | -$105,000.00 |
| Central Office Reorganization | -$251,340.00 |
| Total | -$4,062,570.00 |
Line item reductions:
| Line Item Reduction | Amount |
| Safety and Security | -$200,000.00 |
| Reduce School Based Budgets (10% Reduction) | -$49,000.00 |
| Recruitment | -$10,000.00 |
| Legal Services | -$10,000.00 |
| Code of Conduct PD Training | -$100,000.00 |
| Reduce Funding to PCH | -$75,000.00 |
| Reduce curriculum line item | -$145,000.00 |
| Reduce co-curricular line item | -$20,000.00 |
| DEI expense line item | -$100,000.00 |
| Total | -$709,000.00 |
| Position Reductions | -$4,062,570.00 |
| Line Item Reductions | -$709,000.00 |
| Total | -$4,771,570.00 |
Budget Requests
The district administration is recommending the following budget requests to address student and program needs:
| Request | Amount |
| Early Childhood Coordinator* | $90,000.00 |
| Pittsfield High School Dean of Students* | $90,000.00 |
| Teacher of Deportment THS (3)* | $150,000.00 |
| School Adjustment Counselors (2.2)* | $198,000.00 |
| Multilingual Educators (3) | $195,000.00 |
| 21st Century After School Program Coordinator (.5) | $34,000.00 |
| Student Support Paraprofessionals (5) | $132,050.00 |
| ASL Interpreter | $60,000.00 |
| Mercer Secretary* | $40,000.00 |
| District Safety and Attendance Coordinator* | $90,000.00 |
| Total | $1,079,050.00 |
* This position is being carried over to the general fund from ESSER, in part or in whole
Budget Summary
| FY24 City Appropriation | $78,088,016.00 |
| Anticipated Increase FY25 | 3.50% |
| Increase Amount | $2,733,080.00 |
| FY25 Anticipated City Council Appropriation | $80,821,096.00 |
| Anticipated Increases | $6,425,600.00 |
| Shortfall | -$3,692,520.00 |
| Total Reductions | -$4,771,570.00 |
| Total Requests | $1,079,050.00 |
| Total Reductions and Requests | -$3,692,520.00 |
| Shortfall After Reductions and Requests | $0.00 |
What the School Committee is Doing to Alleviate Our Budget Issues
The School Committee and district administration are taking steps to address our budget issues:
- The district administration and Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier are working with the State to ensure that all of our low income students are counted properly. We are 2 low-income students away from receiving about $2 million more from the state, which would help our budget issues. Our list shows that we have the 2 students, while the state list shows we do not. We are hoping to have this issue resolving in the coming weeks.
- The School Committee will be voting Wednesday to adopt a resolution sent to us by the Haverhill School Committee to call on the State Legislature and the Governor to adjust the inflation factor of the Chapter 70 funding formula to take in account all inflation since the passing of the Student Opportunity Act, and to fully account for inflation (instead of capping inflation at 4.5%) in future years. If the State Legislature did introduce an inflation adjustment factor, we could get an additional $3 or $4 million from my really rough calculations, which would also help alleviate the budget issues.
- The Massachusetts Association of School Committees, the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, and the Massachusetts Teachers Association are all calling for the State Legislature to add an inflation adjustment factor to this year’s budget.
Upcoming Budget Hearing on March 20th, 2024
Click here to view the agenda for the budget hearing
The Pittsfield School Committee will hold their budget hearing on Wednesday, March 20th at 6pm in City Council Chambers (70 Allen St). The meeting will also be broadcasted on PCTV Channel 1302, PCTV’s Facebook page, and PCTV Select.
Any member of the public may wish to speak during our public hearing in regards to the budget. Public comments are limited to 3 minutes per person.