NORTHAMPTON — Residents, teachers and high school students are raising concerns about looming cuts — including the loss or reduction of hours for 15 teaching positions — to the Northampton Public School district for the coming school year.

NPS is facing a potential budget shortfall of more than $2.75 million next fiscal year, with school administrators signaling that staffing cuts will be needed to close the gap. Superintendent Portia Bonner has blamed the current budget gap on an overuse of school choice funds, an increase in staffing in the district, and union contracts over the past three years exceeding the school’s revenue growth.

Adding to the budget woes are the loss of federal ESSER dollars, or Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund money, given to the school district during the pandemic.

 Bonner’s first proposed school budget for next fiscal year, which begins July 1, came in at more than $40 million, an increase of 8% from the current budget of about $36.5 million. Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra has said the increase must be kept at 4% next year.

At the last two meetings of the school’s Budget and Property Subcommittee, Bonner laid out additional details regarding what positions may be facing elimination. Among those 15 full-time teaching equivalent positions across the district. The proposal does not necessarily signify the elimination of a position, but rather a budgetary reduction that is equivalent, such as relegating several full-time members to part time.

Other FTE reductions are in place for four paraprofessional positions in the district’s elementary school and three clerical positions in the district.

Other positions, such as an academic coach and tech integrationist at JFK Middle School, will be eliminated via attrition, or not replacing staff who have left those roles. District-level funding will also end or be reduced for line items such as custodian uniform allowances, professional development stipends and translation services.

Bonner has noted however, that such planned reductions are far from finalized. She is expected to further outline potential steps to close the deficit at the School Committee’s Budget and Property Subcommittee meeting on Monday.

“Although we are making reductions, we know that things could shift,” Bonner said during a February subcommittee meeting. “We’re projecting and forecasting the best we can. We are planning for the inevitable of what may happen down the road.”

Adding to the funding issues, the school district’s student population has been declining over the past several years, from 2,738 students in the 2019-2020 school year to 2,498 for the current 2023-2024 year. That has coincided with an increase in the number of students who qualify for special education services, with 26% of students found to be eligible in the current school year, six percentage points higher than the state average.

Bonner also noted that the school district consists of 22% of students of color, and that 5% of students are English language learners. More than 21% of students in the district have some form of disability and more than 31% are from low-income households.

At recent School Committee meetings, teachers and community members have continuously urged the district to find a way to stave off cuts.

Jenny Lucine, a teacher at Jackson Street Elementary, said during the School Committee’s March 14 meeting that she believed the proposed budget cuts at the school “simply can’t happen.”

“While on the one hand I can’t really in good conscience come before you and suggest that anybody should lose their job, on the other hand I have to urge you to not cut teachers or [paraeducators] or people who work directly with children,” Lucine said. “At this point, after all the years of cutting back and cutting back and cutting back, there’s simply not enough resources for the students we currently have.”

Suzanne Strauss, an English teacher at Northampton High School, also spoke out against the cuts.

“We cannot call ourselves a caring, progressive city and then slash services to 2,500 children,” Strauss said. “If we decimate our schools, we fall right into the hands of those who claim that public education is an epic failure and messing up our country.”

Members of the Northampton High School Student Union have also expressed concerns about the coming budget. In a statement, the union expressed what they see as concerns affecting high school students as a result of reduced staffing, such as increased class sizes, closed school bathrooms and reliability of busing. The union also noted that elective classes, likely to be the first to be eliminated by cuts, make a positive impact on many students.

“NHS is meant to prepare students for a variety of different paths after high school like trade careers, the military, as well as college,” the statement said. “Cutting elective classes fails students. Without these options, students are unable to take classes that support their interests and explore other disciplines.”

The School Committee’s budget is folded into the city’s budget, which the mayor is expected to submit to the City Council on April 16.

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