GRANBY — A budget shortfall is forcing the School Department to eliminate 8.5 positions next school year, bringing the district’s total staff losses to 18.5 positions in three years.
The schools will operate at a reduced service budget of $12,450,413, which is an increase of 3.37%, or $405,621, over fiscal year 2025. The staff cuts and other reductions to services and supplies, coupled with an additional $600,000 on top of minimum local state aid from the town, has enabled the district to plug a deficit that was originally projected to be $1.49 million.
“I want to thank the town because they’ve worked really well with us this year, and they heard us,” interim Superintendent Mary Jane Rickson said during an April 1 School Finance Committee meeting. “We always want more for our students.”
All 8.5 positions cut from the budget are from resignations or retirements. The cut positions include paraprofessionals, a special education teacher, a social worker, administrative assistants and a teacher at East Meadow Elementary School.
“We’ve been running a lot leaner than a lot of other places, so I think a lot of extras and bonuses are starting to catch up with people,” said School Committee Chair Jennifer Bartosz. “We were predicting this when COVID first started and we were making adjustments because we knew as soon as ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) money ran out, we would going to be potentially in the lava.”
In fiscal years 2024 and 2025, the district cut a physical education and wellness teacher, a social studies teacher, and a library media specialist at the Granby Junior Senior High School. Additionally, a special education teacher, an administrative assistant, a couple of paraprofessionals, contracted special education services and a band teacher were reduced in both buildings. Rickson said the band teacher was reinstated for the current school year.
Rickson identified raising costs in special education services and transportation, a rise in student needs, increased maintenance at Granby Junior Senior High School and inflation as drivers of the budget shortfall.
Nearly every one of the school’s departments will lose funding besides athletics, nursing and transportation under the fiscal year 2026 budget. The result is less money for professional development, extracurricular staff stipends, contracted special education services, supplies and technology upgrades in the coming school year.
During the School Committee’s initial budget hearing on March 25, Bartosz inquired into how the school department could raise revenue to offset the shortfall and future budget deficits. She proposed charging for bus use for general education students, which Rickson said could generate a maximum of $20,000, but the charges could not occur until after the district’s current general transportation contracts expire.
“This number scares me. It’s devastating,” Bartosz said. “I know the town is doing what they can and I’m just trying to think if there’s something we can do.”
In addition, Rickson said the special education coordinator is working on a social emotional education program for the elementary school that might attract more out-of-district students to Granby.
School Committee member Liz Lafond also pointed out that as Granby’s enrollment decreases, the district will proportionally lose state education aid. Yet, the services provided to those students do not proportionally decrease.
“If you lose two kids per grade, and you lose 24 kids overall, and you lose that funding, does it mean you stop providing those services?” Lafond said.
Granby received a $96,545 increase in state aid for fiscal year 2026, a 1.98% increase from last year.
Both budget meetings ended with gratitude toward Granby’s school teachers and staff, who worked hard to create a balanced budget under tight fiscal constrains and continue to do more with less.
“It’s one of the worst times to be doing the best work in any community, and I think we are fortunate enough to have folks that are dedicated to the work and trying to do their best,” Lafond said. “It’s heartbreaking when you think about how deserving every student in all of our schools are, and the magic that the people who work in these schools manage to do with less.”
The School Committee will vote on their budget during their April 14 meeting, after which it will go to Town Meeting in June for approval.
Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettenet.com.
