GREENFIELD — As the full City Council prepares to take up budget discussions on May 15, School Department Superintendent Christine DeBarge recently gave the Ways and Means Committee some insight into what the city would get in her proposed $24.12 million school budget for fiscal year 2025.

The district’s FY25 budget represents a roughly 5.86% increase from last year, or approximately $1.3 million, including additional funding for the district’s 12 counselors, $428,332 for physical education staff, $303,087 for music staff and the Strings for Kids program, $362,480 for art staff, and $38,000 for stipends to run extracurricular activities.

The budget increase would also fund stipends for instructional leadership teams, academic staff and materials, field trips, new library books with a focus on equity and inclusion, and free before-school care at the elementary schools.

By comparison, Mayor Ginny Desorgher earmarked more than $23.69 million for school funding in her proposed FY25 budget. She said this reduction from the school district’s proposal was unavoidable given the city’s insurance and debt expenses. Desorgher’s proposal would represent a 4% increase over the current school budget.

“I had to make a reduction to the school budget, and that was very difficult for me … but I see no other options unless we increase revenue,” Desorgher said.

According to DeBarge, Greenfield’s public schools have been able to make significant improvements toward lowering chronic student absenteeism and academic growth in math and English among Greenfield’s English language learners and students with disabilities.

“Our students need to grow to eventually hit the performance targets at their grade levels, and we’re very pleased to see the number of students who are meeting those growth percentiles,” DeBarge said. “We have data to support that what we are doing is having a positive impact.”

Precinct 3 City Councilor and Ways and Means Committee member Michael Mastrototaro asked DeBarge to explain the need for funding a combined six principal positions between the middle and high school — a more than $600,000 expense. In response, DeBarge said statewide changes to schools’ student discipline processes, along with “substantial attendance issues,” social and emotional health needs, and vaping issues bring about an increased need for administrative staff.

“When you are in the buildings in the day, you see the needs of the students we’re dealing with,” DeBarge said. “We have students who have a lot of needs and we need adults in the buildings to support them. … It is not a large number at all when you look at the day-to-day needs in all of our buildings.”

Mastrototaro inquired about ways to trim the budget, such as combining the line items for the superintendent and assistant superintendent positions or brainstorming ways to offset transportation and parking costs.

DeBarge noted that while the district will undergo a cost analysis by the Department of Transportation, there is a limited quantity of special education bus vendors in the region, putting the school district in a challenging situation after F.M. Kuzmeskus Inc., the district’s bus company, increased its rates by 11%.

“As you know, we are close to the bone,” Mastrototaro said. “We have seniors that are struggling to pay their taxes and anything that we can find to make things a little bit more comfortable for people would be much appreciated.”

Near the end of the Ways and Means Committee’s discussion last week, Precinct 7 Councilor William “Wid” Perry congratulated DeBarge on the district’s improvements and suggested that the School Department be more outspoken about its successes in the future.

“It’s amazing to me that we never hear the success stories. We hear all the problems, all the negative stuff,” Perry said. “We all want to save money, but we have to run the schools, too.”

The school budget will next be discussed at the full City Council meeting on May 15.

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.