Officials in Pittsfield are a county mile apart when it comes to choosing a budget for the school district.
Like towns across the state, funding for education remains a thorny and unsolved problem for Pittsfield. The budget committee, with taxpayers in mind, approved an operating budget of $10.53 million.
Meanwhile, the school board, always seeking money to help the town’s struggling, outdated schools, is banking on their dollar figure, a $10.92 million default budget, which is the operating budget as last year.
With the budgets nearly $400,000 apart, residents, based on their votes, will have a profound effect on what their schools can and cannot afford next term.
Bea Douglas, chairwoman of the school board, has her fingers across, convinced that cutting the budget will be a bad choice for voters after their curtain closes on voting day.
“The only thing we can hope for,” Douglas said, “is that people see that the cuts are so deep, and they see how detrimental it is to our school system. Vote it down and let the default budget kick in.”
Douglas said she sympathizes with residents, knowing full well that Pittsfield’s budget has already burst and is taking on water.
“They look out for taxpayers,” Douglas said, referring to the budget committee, “and I understand where they are coming from.”
Cuts in school funding are nothing new. Douglas said the $800,000 the district received last year from an adequacy fund, which had dried up in years before, is gone again.
Beyond that, Douglas described a dizzying cost-cutting procedure that saw officials slice the budget by $197,000, then $470,000. More chopping, $500,000 worth, surfaced at the deliberative session, leaving educational officials in town dismayed.
“We are a property-poor district,” said Douglas, echoing the concerns from other residents, like those in Franklin.
“The reason we are in this position is because we are not getting the state funding, and it’s also because of the way that the state is funding education,” Douglas said.
Elsewhere, both the Pittsfied School Board and the town’s budget committee agreed to request $300,000 for the lunch program.
The town will also address the $850,000 earmarked for educational improvements. The bill is contingent on the town receiving federal grants and private donations.
On the town side, the operating budget of $4.78 million means a tax rate of $7.97. If rejected, the default number of $4.7 million will kick in.
At the deliberative session earlier this month, residents approved a series of zoning ordinances on the warrant, seeking amendments to loosen restrictions and thus expand housing opportunities.
Also, Pittsfield will vote on money needed for fire equipment, sidewalks, and education.
But nothing carries the magnitude of the two budgets, so far apart.
“This is an uphill battle we are on,” Douglas said. “We’re in dire straights.”