CHARLEMONT — The Hawlemont Regional School District School Committee corrected a transportation error in the fiscal year 2023 budget during Wednesday’s meeting, allowing for excess money to be spent in other areas.
TMS, the district’s former business management service that it shared with the Mohawk Trail Regional School District, counted the transportation line twice when calculating a total budget, according to the districts’ new Business Manager William Lataille. He said this error led the entire budget to be over its allotted amount by $118,398.
On Wednesday, the School Committee approved moving money from the transportation budget to various other line items, correcting this original error.
Committee member Cheryl Handsaker asked if taking this money away from the transportation budget will affect the bus system. Lataille explained the bus company was chosen and contracted through a bidding system, and this money was simply counted twice and is not needed to provide transportation for FY23.
The committee allocated $12,545 for the two-district agreement, or 2D, to cover the cost of shared expenses between Hawlemont and Mohawk Trail. The school board also moved $12,930 and $29,799 to two different line items to cover the cost of special education teacher positions. This money finishes funding one full-time educator, and allows the school to hire a second full-time teacher. While they are partially funded by grants, Hawlemont Principal Amber Tulloch said she was unable to create a job posting for the two roles because there was not enough money in the budget.
Additionally, $25,000 had erroneously been taken out of the line item for district contracts. The School Committee reallocated this money for its original purpose.
Money for a literary and math coach was also placed back into the budget. Of the money placed back into these lines, $5,537 is for the literacy coach and $3,000 is for the math coach. The rest of these budgets are funded by grants.
The committee also added $4,176 for custodian wages and $2,250 for teacher supplies. These budget categories were both underfunded, according to Lataille.
An English language learning position was cut from the FY23 budget because the school district thought it did not need this teacher. However, students arrived at the school needing this service, so the teacher was brought back. The committee approved $12,545 to fund this position.
Additionally, the committee changed the budgeted amount for substitute teacher wages, raising their pay from $12 per hour to $15. These wages will align with the rate for the rest of the schools in the Mohawk Trail Regional School District.
“This is long overdue,” School Committee member Elizabeth Billings said about the pay raises.
Also to align with Mohawk Trail, the Hawlemont School Committee raised the cost of lunches for teachers to $4.02. This raises the cost of lunches by about 40 cents.
All of these changes do not alter the FY23 budget total of roughly $2.64 million.
“These changes only solve the error of the areas that were underfunded or had no funds,” explained Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont Superintendent Sheryl Stanton.
Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.