Northampton Public Schools — Financial

The budgeting season for Northampton Public Schools opened with a sobering financial picture. At the March public hearing, the Mayor told the School Committee that the district's preferred budget would grow spending by $6.7 million over this year and use $6.2 million in reserves for FY27, yet still leave an estimated $7.7 million deficit in FY28. Closing that gap, the Mayor said, would take at least a $10 million property-tax override.

In April, the School Committee voted 9-1 to adopt the $56,744,495 "strong budget" for FY27 — the higher of the two options on the table. That budget adds a new third-grade classroom at Bridge Street Elementary School, extra special-education teachers, and staffing for the district's new phone policy.

In June, the Committee took a step aimed at giving the city more flexibility. It voted 7-1 to recommend that the City Council opt into a 1987 state law that would let the Council raise the school budget rather than only cut it. Any increase would still be capped at the level the School Committee itself had already recommended and would need a two-thirds Council vote.