GRANBY — On Tuesday night, Granby residents will decide whether to shift up to $186,576.64 of available town funds to Granby Public Schools during a special Town Meeting.
The money is necessary, Superintendent Sheryl Stanton said, to handle unanticipated expenses.
“These are not things we could have anticipated when we finalized the budget,” Stanton said. “As you are aware the budget is tight here in Granby.”
The first of four articles would authorize the transfer of $84,085.61 to fund tuition of a special education student who is changing schools. Special education students may need a change of placement for many reasons related to their progress in the classroom, including a change in their environment or a reassessment of their Individualized Education Program, or IEP, Stanton said.
“As a school district we have to be flexible to meet the needs of our students,” Stanton said.
Article 2 would transfer $33,828 from available funds to pay the tuition of a Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School student who recently moved into the Granby district. Because Granby’s sister vocational school, Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School, does not offer the student’s course of study, the student is allowed by state law to continue studying at Smith.
Article 3 would transfer $49,163.03 from available funds to help pay the salary of a new second grade teacher. Stanton said the second grade was close to needing a third teacher at the beginning of the academic year. Since then, seven new students have come in and classes have been overfilled.
“We didn’t have an option but to open the third classroom,” Sheryl said.
The town will also be voting on Article 4 to transfer $19,500 from available funds to pay for “required transitional services” for some special needs students. These additional education services, provided to special needs students aged 18 to 22, are required by the Massachusetts Transition Planning Law.
A “No” vote on any of the articles would require the school system to find another way to pay for the change of placement, vocational school tuition, teacher’s salary and transitional services, Stanton said.
Voting will take place on Feb. 13 at the Granby Junior-Senior High School on East State Street at 7 p.m.
Sarah Robertson can be reached at srobertson@gazettenet.com.