WESTFORD — A proposed budget for the school district includes expansions to Westford’s special education programs, while cutting nearly 40% of interventionists among the town’s schools.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Christopher Chew presented the district’s FY26 proposal to the School Committee during a Dec. 9 meeting.
To create a balanced budget, the district is requesting $69,388,572 for FY26 – a 2.67% increase, approximately $1.2 million lower than a level service recommendation of approximately $70.5 million.
Preventing future layoffs
Amid a failed $6.8 million Proposition 2 1/2 override which would offset budget shortfalls through 2027, an additional 21.4 full time equivalent positions, valued at $70,000 per year, were cut. Some positions, such as two elementary school teaching roles were preserved through a transfer of one-time funds from the food services account earlier this year.
Even had the Proposition 2 1/2 override had passed, 30.2 full-time equivalent staff reductions were planned for the district due to a decline in enrollment.
As of May 13, 60 employees were impacted through layoffs or reassignments, including 20 teacher and three administration layoffs, as well as 22 teacher and two administration reassignments.
“I am still very proud of our staff that our schools are still places of joy, but to think this hasn’t come at a cost would be naive, I would say although our teachers do a tremendous job still meeting the needs of our students, that the morale is low,” Chew said. “I think that continued reductions only plays into that.”
He later added, “It was something, to my knowledge, the district has not seen before. So that has an impact on the staff, and I think it’s important that we all remember that.”
Aside from interventionists, several roles are slated to face reductions FY26. However, most positions will be absorbed by retirements, including two elementary positions and the Westford Academy audio-visual specialist. Others, like two part-time music roles in the elementary school, will be combined into one full-time position amid a resignation earlier this year.
New requests
The district has additional requests for this year including $98,531 for an expansion to its REACH program for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. This expansion would establish a program at Nabnasset Elementary School, including two new full-time equivalent positions.
Committee member Marisol Garcia questioned why Day Elementary School was chosen for the program.
“One of the things we were looking at was the space at Day School,” Chew said. “We were also considering the students that are transitioning from the Miller School to the Day School, so students could stay with their general ed peers, so they could stay with their cohort.”
The district is also requesting $70,001 to expand its special education programming for medically fragile students by establishing an elementary-level program at Day Elementary School, as well as $98,531 to extend additional special education programming for social-emotional learning to one of the middle schools.
“We have students who would be transitioning to the middle school so we think it should be a priority to us to extend the current programming and establish it at one of the middle schools,” he said. “We haven’t decided which one of the schools it should be establish of as of yet.”
Changes to sections
District-wide, administrators are recommending that one section is cut for both first and second grades at Robinson Elementary School, two sections cur for fourth grade at Abbot Elementary School and one section cut for both third grade and fifth grade at Day Elementary School.
However, administrators are recommending that two sections added for fifth grade at Abbot Elementary School and one section is added for third grade at Crisafulli Elementary School.
No changes to sections are recommended at both Blanchard and Stony Brook middle schools and Westford Academy.
Reductions to interventionists
Administrators recommend reducing the district’s Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports services, or interventionist positions, by approximately 39%, leaving 15 interventionists across the district. Voters in April opted to appropriate an additional $378,000 to preserve interventionist roles through FY25, which were originally slated to be cut without an override.
“If we make adjustments to our MTSS model, we could realize a reduction of $292,905,” Chew said. “Our recommendation is to reduce that number to 15 and have those 15 individuals across the six elementary schools and we think looking at the current data, we’d be projected to continue to meet the student needs.”
The district could have one reading and one math interventionist among each of the six elementary schools, with the remaining three interventionists used as supports across the district.
“As we look at the data, I think we have more flexibility, we can really place them where they need to be,” he said. “We could look at using some of the three as support to the middle schools if necessary.”
204 of the district’s elementary-level students currently utilize at least one of the mathematics, reading or literary interventionist services.
Offsets
The district aims to use increased funding from several revolving accounts to offset budget increases. However, in a presentation to the school committee provided by Chew, administrators say that as these accounts inch closer to their targets, offset funding will no longer be available within three to four years.
Chew said the district aimed to add a “stable funding source” with the proposed override.
“What we’re looking at is limited funding, and yes it’s funding but it’s certainly not strong. It’s not stable,” he said. “We now need to develop a plan to figure out how can we get to that stable situation in three to four years.”
A public hearing on the district’s budget will be held on Jan. 6 during the committee’s regular meeting.
