HATFIELD — Hatfield public schools next fall could either add programming and staff to its two buildings, or reduce services and the number employees, depending on the outcome of a $1.25 million Proposition’s 2½ general override that will first come before voters at annual Town Meeting on May 9.

On Monday, the School Committee approved a spending plan that calls for the town to contribute $5.97 million to the schools’ budget, a $731,837 increase over this year’s $5.24 million in spending, which Chairwoman Christy Boudreau said would mean keeping existing services and not risking a loss of school choice students, and the money they bring, to other districts.

“If we keep having attrition and our enrollment falls, we’re going to lose more revenue,” Boudreau said. “We’re already fighting against population decline, and we have to be more competitive to keep our school choice students.”

Based on the plan endorsed unanimously by the committee, the budget asks for $264,300 in “investment spending,” allowing the district to add foreign language instruction at the elementary school and keeping the average class size at 12 students. At Smith Academy, the average class size of 10 would be preserved, and additional performance arts and computer science classes would be available.

The investment plan would add two teachers and one licensed support professional, an on-staff school psychologist, to the 35.6 full-time equivalent teachers and 17.6 licensed support staff. Two preschool groups would also be maintained, as well as keeping electives at Smith Academy, all sports teams and rigorous professional development for staff.

The small sections and class sizes are important to Hatfield schools, including those who choose to come to town. “It’s what Hatfield is known for: small personal attention, small groups,” Boudreau said.

With this, the hope is to expand school choice enrollment from 100 students to 140 students, which would pay for the investment. Already, 26 new applicants are in line to be enrolled for next fall. If the district achieves its goals, elementary school enrollment would go up from 218 to 238 students and Smith Academy enrollment would rise from 139 to 159.

The projections show that the school budget needs an additional $467,537 just for level services, though if the override doesn’t pass Town Meeting, or a ballot vote the following week, the budget will actually be reduced by 2%. The override will also support other municipal services.

If override fails

Under the failed override scenario, the elementary school would lose music and art specials and half the students would be in larger classes, while at Smith Academy class sizes would double and there would be a significant cuts to electives. This would be a dramatic change for a district already losing services.

“There was an attrition of services over a long period of time, it wasn’t a big cut, it was a lot of small cuts over a long period of time,” Boudreau said.

Historically, about 20% of the budget comes from revenues associated with school choice students, but the $830,000 next year is just 11.5% of spending, after school choice students dropped from 117 to 100.

Meanwhile, budget savings have included using solar power at Smith Academy, reducing phone costs at both schools, participating in group purchasing, while also seeing rising preschool revenues.

“Most importantly, we were fully staffed at the start of the year, and we have a stable bench of administrators,” Boudreau said.

The programs supported through the override spending appear to have support from families.

Hatfield Elementary School Principal Melissa Pitrat said recent surveys show that 66% of families would like more outdoor learning, 58% want their children to study Spanish language and a large number want more coding taught to primary students. Pitrat said these are believed to entice more families to enroll.

Smith Academy Principal Conor Driscoll said the feedback he has seen support for the small class sizes and students getting to be known as individuals in the community. Driscoll said theater arts and chorus are important to offer, along with the possibility of middle school sports, and a video gaming league under the auspices of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.]]>