DALTON, Mass. — Elected town officials encouraged the Central Berkshire Regional School District to work on reducing its budget and being more open to collaboration with the towns that fund it.
"We want to get ahead of that so you're aware of what we want to have as a town," said Select Board Chair Joseph Diver at Thursday's public hearing on the fiscal 2024 budget. "And I think the other general comment is I heard over the years that the School Committee members serve students and not the residents of the town who you have been elected by.
"I believe that you need to represent the towns that you're elected by and understand the things that we have coming at us as a town."
The regional district is proposing a $30,078,694 operating budget that is up 3.42 percent, or $994,646, from this year's $29,084,048, and a capital budget of $2,110,239, down $51,354 over this year. Together, they total about a 3 percent increase over this year.
Dalton, as the largest of the seven communities in the district, is responsible for more than half the operating budget, or 61.72 percent, base on enrollment. Its assessment is projected at $9.1 million, up about $220,738, or 2.48 percent over this year. Its portion of the capital budget is expected to decrease by $22,124 to $1,269,442.
The Select Board and Finance Committee, at a joint meeting last week, raised concerns over escalating school costs and the constraints of Proposition 2 1/2 as it tried to address other needed projects such as a new fire station and road maintenance.
"We're going to be faced with a lot of challenges financially over the next couple of years of trying to figure this out," Diver said, noting the town has no control over the school district or Fire District.
He also held out hope that the passage of the so-called Millionaires' Tax passed last year would start bringing revenue into the schools. The 4 percent surcharge on earned income above $1 million is targeted for education and infrastructure.
Dalton Finance Committee Chair William Drosehn echoed Diver's concerns, encouraging the school to consider limiting its annual increases to 2.5 percent and dip into its excess and deficiency fund to relieve taxpayers.
"And I don't want to say fortunately or unfortunately, but as circumstances have presented, the school budgets have become roughly 60 percent of the overall budget of the towns," he said. "That 3 1/2 percent doesn't happen just this year, that 3 1/2 percent compounds to the next year — and then to the next year and to the next year, because we keep adding on to it. ...
"So living within the guise of Proposition 2 1/2 becomes rather difficult for the town side of this equation."
Town of Washington Select Board Chair Ken Lew said he had a lot of respect for the challenges being faced by the school district and its staff and believed the administration was taking "great care" to be aware of the impact of the assessments.
But, he said, "it does feel often that these assessments are handed as a fait accompli."
"We have to basically rein in our funding of our other responsibilities," Lew said. "We've had to basically underfund our other responsibilities, primarily highway and such, over time."
The seven-town advisory board should be brought in earlier in the process, he said, for greater collaboration.
The school district's Director of Finance Gregory Boino said he had suggested at the last advisory board meeting to add a "tickler" to calendar to notify the towns that it's budget season.
Two and half percent is always the goal, he said, but with contractual lines it "tough to get there."
Officials said they had been rebuffed when they had reached out to the administration to set up a seven-town meeting. Superintendent Leslie Blake-Davis said the district didn't have good figures at the time and School Committee Chair Richard Peters said it's "not a mystery" of when the committee meets.
After some back and forth between town and school officials, they all agreed that open lines of communication were important for the process and to begin earlier next year.
Peters pointed out that the building costs for the new Wahconah Regional High School will be moving out of the operational budget next year and that some towns have already voted to exclude the annual payment from Proposition 2 1/2.
"Don't think that this committee and the administration aren't aware of the impact on taxpayers, that comes up in Finance Committee, we have talked about that and that has affected part of the numbers that you see here now," he said. "I'm certain that will be addressed again but will never be as low as you would like, but I'm certain that that will be addressed."
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Berkshire United Way to Massachusetts: Early-Learning Educators Need Better Wages
By Katherine von Haefen Guest Column
As reported in iBerkshires, state education officials met with Western Massachusetts childcare and early education advocates at Berkshire Community College recently. I had the opportunity to share the following testimony on behalf of Berkshire United Way and our community partners.
Early childhood education provides tremendous benefits to our region. High-quality child care dramatically influences brain development and the future health and success for children in school and life, as well as provides a safe and secure space for our youngest community members so their parents or caregivers can work and provide for their families.
Berkshire United Way has invested in improving early childhood development opportunities in the Berkshires for decades. We fund high-quality nonprofit child-care centers that provide slots for income-constrained families. We also support the sector by co-hosting monthly child-care director meetings to work on shared challenges and collectively propose solutions. We advocate for early childhood education and have a great partner in this work, state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier.
Staffing is a key component of high-quality care. The research shows that skilled and consistent educators in a classroom create long-lasting change for children. However, wages are stagnant and frequently do not provide educators with basic financial stability. We often hear that educators have left the field because they are unable to make their finances work. Wages need to improve to better reflect the expertise and indelible impact teachers have in the field.
When we look specifically at our region, our data is concerning.
As Berkshire County emerges from the pandemic, we are struggling with transportation, affordable housing and lack of mental health resources, much like the rest of the state. We are also seeing a rise in economically challenged households.
After nearly 10 years of decline, Berkshire County has experienced a significant jump in income inequality, now exceeding the state and national trends and far above comparable counties, according to the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. Over half of our population are "economically challenged," meaning they are working but struggling to make ends meet. A single parent with a school-aged child needs between $70,000 and $80,000 in income and public benefits just to meet their basic needs.
A large limb from a 32-foot sugar maple in the park fell next to the fountain area over the weekend. Caution tape and traffic barrels now surround the aftermath.
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The last estimate for construction was overly optimistic because, at the time, it was unclear how long obtaining the two easements would take, Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson said.
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Full cost estimates have not been completed but based on recent repairs made to the Clapp Park splash pad, it is estimated to cost between $350,000 and $450,000.
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King Kone had a soft opening at the end of the week, offering the frozen treats on a "pay what you will" basis while employees perfected the craft.
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