CLARKSBURG, Mass. — School officials are looking at the elimination of three teaching assistants, prekindergarten for 3-year-olds and a two part-time positions to reduce the fiscal 2027 budget. 

 

Business Manager Jordan Rennell on Thursday went through the latest draft of the budget during a joint meeting of the School Committee, Select Board and Finance Committee, explaining the figures behind a projected spending plan of $3,299,206, up $213,563 or 6.92 percent over this year. 

 

"This budget reflects what has changed since March, when I showed you a 6.8 [percent]," said Rennell to a packed classroom of residents and teachers. "Unfortunately, it went to 6.9 [percent]."

 

Rennell, who's new in the position, explained before she could even begin comparing this year's and next year's budget, there was a $151,000 difference "between what we voted on and what we needed to survive."

 

The bulk of that was employee health insurance, which has become a major factor in school and municipal budgets across the state. 

 

"I took those true numbers from FY26 and I dumped them into FY27 and if we kept everything the same, every program, every teacher, every TA, the same our bottom line budget would increase 11.2 percent," she said. "Between the collaborative work between the town and the principal and Superintendent [John] Franzoni and all of the pieces of the puzzle, we were able to make some hard, gut-wrenching cuts that got us to that 6.9 percent."

 

That includes Rennell's former position as the preK 3 teacher, the three assistants, a 0.2 speech position and a 0.2 occupational therapy assistant. 

 

Pupil services, which includes transportation, and maintenance and operations are each going up about 6 percent but benefits and fixed charges are up 30 percent, or $169,484; benefits and fixed charges include insurance and leases, with employee benefits up $170,000. 

 

The school department was asked to cover FICA and retirement insurance several years ago, and school officials have said that doesn't allow for a clear picture of the cost of educating students. Rennell pointed out that even with contracted and step wage increases, direct instruction is only going up 0.07 percent.

 

Assistant Superintendent Tara Barnes said the school has for years tapped into its school choice account to cover those lines, but can't anymore. 

 

"Your Chapter 70 money has gone up significantly, and that's based on your resident population. And at the same time, your school choice incoming money has gone down and this school has historically lived on school choice. It's been the bread and butter of how we've helped fund this school for many, many years that I've been here," she said. "But the thing is, the school choice money comes into the school, the Chapter 70 money goes into the town ... But what I'm saying is there's been that shift, and so we have to ask for what we need."

 

Barnes said it was the line items that the school couldn't control like insurance and tuition that are "making this budget go over the top."

 

What is down is the percentage the town pays to the Northern Berkshire School Union after its partner towns agreed to take on an extra 2 percent of the costs for this year, saving Clarksburg close to $50,000. 

 

Kyle Hurlbut questioned if those funds were really a savings or used to fund the business manager position. Barnes responded that the past year had been a "Hail Mary" with she and the administrative assistant trying to cover the post with a consultant while also doing their regular full-time jobs. 

 

"You can't have a person being a SPED director, a curriculum director, part-time business manager and everything else," she said. "It was unsustainable to not have a full-time position there in the long run, because you can't run a district office on a skeleton crew."

 

Town officials are hoping for more reductions, with Town Administrator Ronald Boucher warning at the outset of the meeting that the town's $3,800 below its levy ceiling, which could mean a Proposition 2 1/2 override vote. The town budget is up $47,575, or 2.5 percent. He called for the elimination of the dean of students as a way for the school to cut costs.

 

"I'm not looking to cut a teacher's position, but the dean of students position, I feel it could be cut," he said at the beginning of the meeting, proposing it could cut the budget to about a 4 percent increase. 

 

Principal Kimberly Rougeau objected, saying the teachers are running "bare bones."

 

"They're doing everything they can to make do and I'm taking TAs away from them," she said. "My dean of students and I have been inundated with student needs this year that you can't even fathom."

 

The dean works with students with behaviors and if she's not there, the students stay in the classroom, which means the teacher has to disrupt other children's education to support the student in distress. 

 

"I love that we've done things like the roof and we're doing [mini] split units and all of that but I need staff. I need people to run this school, and I need I need students to get the best experience here," Rougeau said. "And if we keep taking things away while our numbers keep increasing."

 

Boucher acknowledged that he didn't know what the dean of students but had heard from a lot of people that the position was "useless." Rougeau said she would have been able to inform him if he'd asked.

 

"I just think to start off the meeting with here's the budget, and this is the person we should cut, and you have no idea what she does is just inappropriate from a community perspective," said parent Jennifer Breen. "And it's patronizing to Kim."

 

Select Board member Seth Alexander said it was just a necessary conversation about expenses, not about the students or the changes in education and behavior.  

 

"I think it was just conversation about, clearly, a budget conversation," he said.