CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Hoosac Valley Regional School Committee approved a fiscal 2026 budget of $23,136,636 on Monday. 

 

The budget consists of a foundation budget of $21,038,650, a transportation budget of $1,013,986 and a capital budget of $1,084,000.

 

The vote was 5-1 with member Fred Lora voting in opposition. 

 

"Between those two pieces alone, we're about a $1.5 million increase in our budget," said Superintendent Aaron Dean. "That doesn't take into account any of our obligations contractually, and things like utilities. So the bottom line is we have limited resources."

 

The town assessments will be within their levy limits with Adams seeing a 2.3 percent increase of $135,391 for a total of $5,958,203, and Cheshire a 3.623 percent increase of $104,773 for a total of $2,996,643.

 

"I will point out that both of these assessments are lower than the municipal minimum that was put out by the state," said Dean. "So we did a lot of work and continue to do to get these to a range that I think was respectful to the towns. As you look around, there's a lot of towns that are that are going to go up, 7, 8, 9 percent."