Many thanks to Bill Dwight for his guest column providing background info about the school budget [“How to make sense of Northampton’s school budget dilemma,” Gazette, April 20].

We now all know the school has added 99 positions since 2014 (including 46 since 2020). Budget override and pandemic funds were used to pay for these new positions and new programs, without plans to support these positions and programs long term.

I will add another key piece of information — school enrollment has steadily declined, by 9% over the past 10 years, and by 5% over the past five years. Declining enrollment (just like declining customer base for any business) means less revenue to support operations and facilities.

Another override is just a short-term solution. The added programs and positions should be scrutinized and considered for cuts. Or learn from the recent partnership between Easthampton Theater and Williston Northampton School to collaborate with other organizations for mutual benefit.

Another option — rather than waste billions of taxpayer dollars forgiving student loans, the federal government could use part (all?) of the loan repayment to increase funding to public schools. After all, students had full knowledge these loans needed to be repaid before taking the loans. Wouldn’t we all like to have our loans forgiven?

Lesson to be learned. Don’t take on new/expanded programs without long-term funding plans. This should be top-of-mind for the School Committee at all times.

David Kirk

Northampton