The Pittsfield school district’s $10.1 million budget for next year eked by voters on Thursday, passing in a secret ballot by just four votes, 91-87.
But a three-year deal for teachers didn’t make the cut, failing to pass by secret ballot, 81-95.
“Obviously, it was a very difficult year,” budget committee Robert Schiferle told the crowd gathered in the Pittsfield Elementary School gym in his opening remarks.
To head off a hefty tax increase, the budget committee had whittled down the budget another $125,000 from the school board’s proposal, Schiferle said, which itself already included cutting eight full-time positions.
The budget committee used $100,000 from a special education reserve fund to pay for services and nixed a plan to convert one part-time position to full-time.
The decision to use the reserve fund was a tough call, budget committee member Louis Houle told voters.
“That’s an emergency fund,” he said. “It is not just a savings account that we spend willy-nilly.”
The district was faced with a 17 percent increase in health insurance, less aid from the state, and over $1.1 million in out-of-district special education placements this year. Ultimately, the operating budget before voters Thursday will require an estimated $2.49 increase on the tax rate, or around $500 extra per year for a home valued at $200,000.
Some, like resident Amanda Masse, worried about what the staff reductions would do to class sizes.
“Is my child going to be in a class with 40 students?” she asked.
Superintendent John Freeman said the cuts likely would increase class sizes – but exactly which classes would be affected hadn’t yet been determined.
“You can’t eliminate 8 positions without impacting students,” he said.
But others believed the cuts didn’t go far enough. Resident Randy Severance motioned to cut the proposed budget back down to this year’s spending plan of $9,846,477. That motion failed in a floor vote, 70 to 96.
School board vice-chairwoman Bea Douglas, who lead negotiations for the district, pleaded with voters to approve the teacher’s contract, and district officials told residents that teachers in the district were paid the third-lowest starting salary in the state.
The contract included one percent annual raises along with “continuity increases,” or additional salary bumps depending on how long teachers stayed with the district. With significantly lower wages compared to surrounding districts, retaining staff is a huge problem, district officials said. Twenty-three percent of the district’s teaching staff turned over last year.
But some, including a few budget committee members, argued that health insurance benefits were too generous.
Thursday’s meeting will be the district’s last traditional annual meeting. On Tuesday, Pittsfield residents voted to move the district to an SB 2 format. That means that the re-negotiated contract will go before voters at a deliberative session and then by paper ballot.