Schools draft budget proposes 6% increase

BELCHERTOWN – The school district presented its draft fiscal 2024 level-services funded budget of $33 million, an increase of 6%, to the School Committee last week.

School Superintendent Brian Cameron said the district prioritized operational expenses, especially around mental health. He said the district still has need for additional growth as well.

“I want to be clear that a true level service budget – there are no new positions, no new services,” Cameron said.

Belchertown Business Manager March Chapulis reviewed the different categories of the budget.

There is a slight decrease in administration due to changes in buybacks for retirements.

Salaries for educators, paraprofessionals and others saw a 5% increase which is due to negotiated contracts and step increases.

Health and transportation saw an 11% increase. Chapulis said this is due to new bids on the transportation contract, which expires in June.

One of the larger increases is a 19% increase to the operations/maintenance budget, going from $2.3 million last year to $2.7 million in fiscal 2024.

“The main drivers for this are oil rates, and even though we’re only paying four cents more than the last contract, the transportation fees have gone up for that,” he said.

The new electricity contract that was signed by the town also saw a significant increase over last year.

“These factors are driving this increase that none of us want to see,” Chapulis said. Benefits increased by 6% over last year’s budget, due to a 60 cent increase to insurance.

Of the total increases, the non-discretionary expenses, like electricity, oil and transportation, make up about $1.7 million of the proposed $2 million increase. That is about 5% of the proposed 6.2% increase. “It’s the oil going up by 50%,the electricity going up by 69%, transportation going up almost 12%,” Chapulis said.

The district anticipates receiving about $2 million in federal and state grants, less than fiscal year 2023’s $2.4 million.

The district also receives about $159,000 in school choice, and the “district is using a little more than that, number one we need to offset more of the tuitions in the budget, so it can be an acceptable percentage.”

Chapulis said the goal is always to reduce the school choice balance.

The district is also putting $110,000 against technology cost, as well as administrative and teaching positions. “What’s new this year is tuition offset, which is $314,000 of the school choice budget. Areas of need include updating technology, instructional resources, handicap accessibility, fire safety and others.

The School Committee approved the budget to go before the Finance Committee and Selectboard at a meeting on March 22.