NORTHAMPTON — The School Committee on Thursday approved a recommendation for a massive increase in school spending in the upcoming fiscal year budget, although some members acknowledged the prospect of actually doing so represented a nearly impossible financial challenge for the city.

The “strong” budget, approved by an 8-2 vote, would increase city spending on the schools by about 12.5% in fiscal 2026 over the current year, for a total budget of $46.6 million. That spending plan would allow the district to add more than a dozen positions across its six schools.

It’s one of three prospective budgets presented earlier in the year by Superintendent Portia Bonner, with the other two being a “level services” budget that would increase spending by 7% and stave off cuts, and a “fiscal target” budget that constitutes a 4% increase but would likely lead to staffing cuts.

Anat Weisenfreund, the interim committee member representing Ward 2 after Karen Foster stepped down earlier this year, made the motion to recommend the strong budget.

“We’re at the bone right now,” Weisenfreund said, speaking on her view of the current state of the schools. “Overwhelmingly, our constituents are asking us to pass a strong budget so that there’s finally some relief, and so that children and families and staff can get back to having the necessary resources that make our schools productive and joyful places of learning.”

Weisenfreund acknowledged that to pass such a large spending increase would require a “rethinking” of the city’s budgeting strategies and priorities, but said she still felt the strong budget was in the city’s best interest.

“I do challenge the binary that has been created that meeting the needs of children and families will weaken our city,” she said. “On the contrary, I believe that it is only when we strengthen our schools that our city will continue to thrive.”

Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra ultimately has the final say in how much money the school receives in the city’s fiscal budget. Sciarra, who chairs the school committee, was one of two “No” votes on the strong budget, the other being at-large member Aline Davis.

During the committee meeting, Sciarra said that if the strong budget passed, it would require a $6 million override for the city to meet its legally-required balanced budget. She also alluded to current nationwide economic anxieties and federal policies under President Donald Trump that may affect the city’s spending power in the future.

“None of this takes into account any loss of federal grants or loss of state aid or anything that may be coming in the next year,” Sciarra said. “So we’re pushing our revenues at a time where there’s a lot of uncertainty.”

Sciarra noted that one of her campaign promises prior to being elected mayor was to increase the school budget by at least 4% every year in office, a promise she has so far kept, and vowed to give as much support to the schools as she felt she could do while avoiding reckless spending.

“My budget, when it’s finished and submitted next month, will provide every possible dollar that we can have responsibly and sustainably put into it for the Northampton Public Schools. That is the pledge that I make,” Sciarra said. “But these have to be sustainable dollars and we have to know that next year, we’re not going to have a bigger deficit.”

Other committee members, while voting for the strong budget, expressed doubt that such a measure was financially realistic or even feasible.

“I don’t know how we’re going to fund it. I think it could break the bank,” said Ward 1 Member Holly Ghazey. “The School Committee has no power, really the City Council doesn’t have a lot of power. The person that is fiscally responsible for everything is probably going to end up making the decision one way or the other. So I’m going to throw my hat in with a strong budget, but I think it’s going to wreck us.”

School Committee Vice-Chair Gwen Agna, while also voting in favor of the strong budget, thanked the mayor for her municipal funding plan and called for an overall review of the district to determine a better path going forward.

“It is a rigged system. And we’re not playing with a full deck,” Agna said. “I do wonder, especially when it comes to looking at our net-zero demands, our declining enrollment and the number of buildings that we have, if we shouldn’t engage a professional firm in reviewing our current data and what we can project into the future.”

Public weighs in

The discussion among members of the recommended budget was preceded by a litany of public comments, enough that members voted for an extension of the 90-minute comment period so that all those physically present who signed up to speak would be allowed to do so.

Most of those commenting spoke in favor of the strong budget, including Leeds Elementary School Principal Chris Wenz.

“The strong budget is not a wish list. It’s a needs list,” Wenz said. “Over the last six years, I’ve watched the budget process put a huge strain on everyone in this district. Staff morale plummets, which impacts student learning and staff well-being. As principals, we seek to hire staff who want to stay and are vested in our district, and then we lose them through the fear of cuts.”

Erica Caron, a director of the drama program at JFK Middle School, also spoke in favor of the strong budget, calling the fiscal budget proposed by Sciarra “offensive” to educators.

“To continually expect us to work harder with less and less, in a time where things cost more and more is not only inappropriate, it’s untenable,” Caron said. “If we are continually slashing the budget, which this ‘increase’ essentially does, we are doing the opposite of what stakeholders want for our children in our schools.”

Others, however, defended the fiscal target budget supported by the mayor, including Benjamin Spencer of Ward 2.

“I would encourage the School Committee to look at how we can best use money that comes about from a targeted budget,” Spencer said. “We need to be planning on using money that we actually have, not money that we wish we had.”

Other supporters of the fiscal budget, while not speaking at Thursday’s meeting, sent letters of support for the fiscal target budget to the committee, such as Tina Ingmann of Florence.

“We can’t print money here, and the schools exist within our city system of funding and spending. If you send over the highest budget without stating which funding option you support, seems to me that’s kicking the can down the road,” Ingmann wrote in her letter to the committee. “This creates false hopes, lots of wasted time, and setting up more confusion and antagonism in the community with little basis in reality.”

The mayor will include her recommended amount of school spending in the upcoming 2026 Fiscal Year Budget, which will be presented to the City Council next month. Only the mayor can propose additional increases during budget deliberations, with the council only able to reduce budget items.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.