Superintendent Anthony Soto shared an encouraging budget update to School Committee members when they met on Monday, April 8, noting that he plans to present a balanced budget for their review in early May. Although there is still a $700,000 gap to fill between projected revenues and expenses, Superintendent Soto said the district can balance the budget with careful planning and strategic cost-saving measures—and without any major layoffs or cuts to programming.
Next year’s budget will include both School Choice and Turnaround grant funding from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. “These funds will allow us to bridge another year until we will receive increases in Student Opportunity Act funding next year,” Mr. Soto explained.
HPS has not needed to use School Choice funding in recent years, because the district had been receiving additional federal funding through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER). The federal government began offering ESSER funding in March 2020 to help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it ends in 2024. School districts everywhere are now facing a so-called “funding cliff” as they build budgets for the coming school year without this additional federal funding.
“This is the year that the funding gap will be hitting hard,” Mr. Soto said, “but we have had some strategies in place that will allow us to support our priorities without major layoffs or cuts to programming.”
HPS Executive Director of Finance Sean Mangano noted there are still a few budget hurdles to work through, in addition to the $700,000 gap that school officials are working to close. “We anticipate budget challenges related to transportation and the impact of the increased local contribution on the City of Holyoke,” he said.
During Monday’s meeting, School Committee Vice Chair Erin Brunelle expressed her gratitude and appreciation for Superintendent Soto’s strong financial background. “We knew ESSER money would be going away. I feel like as a district, we planned ahead for this really well.”
While surrounding school districts may have to layoff staff in order to balance their budgets, she noted, Holyoke Public Schools is not planning any major teacher or staff layoffs and does not anticipate any gaps in the district’s academic options.
“Other districts are losing staff to layoffs, so this could be our opportunity to pick up some great staff from throughout the region,” Ms. Brunelle said.