HADLEY — The Hadley School Committee is endorsing a budget that would preserve almost all of the existing staff and programs at Hopkins Academy and Hadley Elementary School, even though the spending plan depends on passage of a Proposition 2½ tax-cap override.
The committee, in a 4-0 vote Monday, with one member absent, recommended that Superintendent Anne McKenzie and Christopher Desjardins, director of finance and operations, continue developing a $10.33 million, level-services fiscal year 2027 budget.
The vote in support of the budget comes even though it is estimated to be $707,454 beyond what the town can afford.
But with McKenzie describing potentially “catastrophic” cuts, and concerns about reductions even should an override pass with about half of what is needed, committee members said they would like to see residents support full funding.
“I think we should advocate for level services,” said member Christine Pipczynski. “We’re doing such amazing work and I think we just need to keep reiterating that.”
Pipczynski said the committee owes it to the students to fight for level funding. “There isn’t a lot of fat to be trimmed,” she said.
Committee member Tara Brugger, too, said any override needs to support the full needs of the schools.
“I think it’s important for our town, I think it’s important for our schools, I think it’s important for other departments in the town,” Brugger said.
A push for level services means protecting opportunities for all children, said committee member Ethan Percy.
“I think it’s fair to say that the human capital we have here in Hadley, at Hopkins Academy and Hadley Elementary School, will allow the schools to continue to do really good things, but it’s important for people to understand we need the financial part of it,” Percy said.
Chairwoman Humera Fasihuddin also endorsed pursuing level services.
“I do not want to be in a position where we’re doing the same thing next year,” Fasihuddin said. Fasihuddin said she worries about “hacking” the budget too early and not keeping the budget structurally sound.
Fasihuddin asked that voters trust that the schools need to maintain programs and staff, which have come to define the district and attracted students from communities throughout the region.
The budget proposal is a 2.3%, or $233,236, increase over this year’s $10.1 million spending plan, but comes in the face of an anticipated $600,000 or more drop in what the town is likely able to provide for education spending.
Already, McKenzie said 2.6 full-time equivalent staff are being lost, through attrition, along with a cut in summer custodial hours, due to the midyear fiscal year 2026 $200,000 in cuts needed to address rising health insurance. But the proposal is to otherwise maintain all programs and extracurriculars.
The committee prefers full spending over only getting between $399,676 and $438,374 from an override, which would lead to an additional 2.6 to 3.1 full-time equivalents being eliminated, and a change in bus routes for money savings. This would maintain all programs, but with fewer staff, mostly through eliminating duplicate positions.
McKenzie said the aim is to not eliminate whole programs but find savings that are not directly classroom teachers. “Maintain all programs, just with fewer staff,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie called the no full or partial override scenario the worst case that would have “pretty programmatically catastrophic consequences.”
This would include losing 10.6 full-time equivalents and reducing extracurriculars and athletics, as well as having a significant impact on both preschool and special education. The early intervention and personalized small group targeted instruction for students who have significant needs would both be diminished.
Fasihuddin said this is not something she can support.
“From my mind, that’s an absolute non-starter, not at all tenable to eliminate 10.6 FTEs and reduce extracurriculars and athletics,” Fasihuddin said. “Everything we’ve built will come crumbling down.”