NORTHAMPTON — Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra has signaled she intends to give the school district $43.8 million in the city’s upcoming fiscal 2026 budget, a 5.8% increase from the current year but likely not enough to appease advocates of higher school spending.

Sciarra announced the amount on Monday, nearly three weeks before the entire budget will be released, so that the superintendent and School Committee will know as soon as possible exactly how much the city is able to provide in preparation for next school year.

In a related development, the City Council on Thursday is expected to discuss an order that, if approved, would give the council more control over how much funding is appropriated to the schools.

Earlier in the year, Superintendent Portia Bonner presented three different budget scenarios and how they would impact the district: a $46.6 million “strong” budget that allows the school to add additional resources, a $44.3 million “level services” budget that avoids any staff cuts, and a $42.6 million “fiscal target” budget, which would result in staffing cuts.

The mayor’s increase is more than the fiscal target budget but less than the level services, meaning some staff cuts may be likely under the mayor’s proposal.

In setting the school budget amount, Sciarra said she sought to balance the demands of the school district with keeping the city’s finances in order.

“Since Northampton voters entrusted me with this position, every year I have kept my pledge to support our public schools while keeping the city on solid financial ground,” Sciarra said in a statement. “As Mayor, I have a responsibility to support our schools as fully as we sustainably can, while also ensuring that Northampton remains a well-functioning and financially stable city for all residents.”

Last spring, the mayor originally proposed a 4% increase for the school budget for the current fiscal year, but ended up doubling that amount following significant public pressure from advocates — which have since coalesced into a group known as Support Our Schools — of higher school spending. That budget still led to more than 20 staffing cuts, although many of those jobs were later restored.

Sciarra also said that the strong budget, recommended by the School Committee, would require a $5 million general override vote in two months, along with another general override in fiscal year 2030. With the budget proposed by Sciarra, a $3 million override is anticipated for fiscal year 2027.

“Even some of the School Committee members who voted for the recommendation acknowledged that in practice it would be fiscally irresponsible,” Sciarra noted in the statement.

Political fallout

The debates over the school budget for the last two fiscal years have led to the city facing a significant political upheaval. Six of the city’s nine school committee members (excluding the mayor, who chairs the committee) have declined to seek reelection in November, with another committee member, Ward 2’s Karen Foster having resigned earlier in the year. Three city councilors have also announced they will not seek reelection, including Council President Alex Jarrett.

Johanna Radding, a member of Support Our Schools and an admin on the group’s Facebook page, decried the mayor’s budget proposal in a post on the page on Tuesday.

“This is not a plan, this is the wanton defunding of public education in Northampton,” Radding wrote. “Let’s show our current elected officials who refuse to fund the schools that they do not represent our city values and priorities, and vote for candidates that value public schools.”

A political action committee, known as the Support Our Schools PAC, has pledged to support candidates who support greater school spending, having raised more than $20,000 to do so. Several new candidates who have pulled nomination papers to run for council and school committee have voice support for greater school spending.

Council order

The order to be introduced at Thursday’s council meeting by Ward 7 Councilor Rachel Maiore could give councilors more control over school funding amounts.

The order would have the city opt in to Chapter 329 of the Acts of 1987. That law allows the council, by a two-thirds majority vote, to increase a school budget beyond what is requested by the mayor. Presently, the council only has the ability to reduce budget items.

To go into effect, the order must be approved by both the council and the mayor.

Even if such an order were to pass, it’s not clear where such additional funds may be appropriated from. At a joint Committee on Legislative Matters and the Committee on Finance meeting last year, City Solicitor Alan Seewald indicated that under Chapter 329, the council could raise additional appropriations from the city’s general stabilization fund.

However, Seewald said in a April 9 memorandum to Jarrett and Maiore that he now believes the council could not appropriate more funds beyond the tax levy limit, meaning they could not appropriate funds that would require an override.

Seewald cited an FAQ sheet put out by the state’s Division of Local Services in 2019 that says under Chapter 329 the city council may increase the school budget provided that “the increase does not make the total budget exceed the property tax limitations.”

“That means the city council must reduce other items in the mayor’s budget by the amount of the increased school items unless the mayor agreed that the overall budget, as increased, can be funded within the levy limit,” Seewald wrote. “In my opinion [Chapter 329] does not authorize a city council to increase the mayor’s proposed school budget in an amount that cannot be funded within the levy limit.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.