Hadley superintendent warns of tough choices as schools face $745,000 deficit
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HADLEY — Hadley’s public schools face a budget shortfall of approximately $745,000 in the coming fiscal year, the district’s superintendent told the School Committee Monday.
Superintendent Nicholas D. Young outlined a proposed $6.6 million spending plan that provides no new programs or services for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Projected increases in special education, personnel, maintenance and vocational school costs mean that the district will have to pay more next year to provide the same level of services it offered this year, he said. Revenues are not expected to keep pace with the rising costs, he said.
"I have never seen a budget that started this difficult in the Hadley public schools," Young told committee members. "I have never seen a budget that started as close to this difficult in the Hadley public schools. We have to lower expectations for what we can achieve together."
The $745,000 shortfall represents the difference between the proposed $6.6 million budget and the $5.4 million Town Meeting approved in school spending last year, Young said. His calculations assume the town will receive the same money to help narrow what would otherwise be a $1.2 million gap, including $316,000 in grant funds, the sum the district received this year, and $144,000 in prepurchased school supplies.
Young's presentation came as school officials prepared to begin budget negotiations with town officials this week. Mindful of those negotiations, School Committee members sought to establish a preliminary figure that would represent the town's share of the proposed $6.6 million budget.
Last year, for instance, $5.4 million of the school's $6.1 million budget was paid by the town, including state aid. The remainder was covered by $416,000 in school choice funds and $316,000 in grant funding.
On Monday, school committee members noted that Young's budget did not include funding for five new positions. Those positions, which include an elementary media specialist, a world language teacher and a third-grade teacher as well as two part-time positions - a remedial math teacher and a district-wide mathematics coordinator - are estimated to add $223,000 to the $6.6 million plan outlined by Young.
The committee ultimately settled on a preliminary figure of $6.2 million as the town's share of the budget, which, in addition to the new positions, would include a 3 percent cost of living increase for the district's teachers and increased special education costs.
Committee member Molly Keegan said the board wanted to provide the town with an estimate of its needs.
"We felt like we had to put a stick in the ground," she said. "We need to do a lot more analysis on this."
The $6.2 million figure represents an increase of approximately 8 percent over the $5.4 million that Town Meeting approved in school spending for fiscal 2012.
Young expressed doubts that either an increase in town appropriations, school choice funding or some combination of the two would be sufficient to cover the projected gap in school funding.
"There is no fat in this budget," said Young. "In fact, it's too lean."
Young announced two weeks ago that he has accepted an offer to become superintendent of schools in South Hadley. There was no talk Monday of Young's impending departure. He has said he is in the process of negotiating a contract with South Hadley officials.
