AGAWAM — The school budget in Agawam will likely increase by less than 2 percent for FY23, and federal COVID-19 emergency relief funds for public schools are an important factor helping to offset increases in the proposed budget.

Superintendent of Schools Sheila Hoffman publicly unveiled the School Department’s preliminary budget during the School Committee’s April 12 meeting.

If the budget is adopted as requested by Hoffman, school spending will increase by just under $900,000 and existing education programs would be maintained.

Hoffman’s proposed budget for the 2022-23 school year is $48,730,006. The budget for the current school year is $47,830,861.

That difference would mean an increase of 1.95 percent, which would be one of smallest budget increases for the district in several years. In early versions of the proposed budget, the increase had been 2.47 percent, but schools found $469,645 in reductions, including technology and special education costs, to bring the increase to below 2 percent.

One key reason the district was able to keep budget increases lower this year is the continued use of federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds.

Hoffman discussed the impact of the funds on the budget at joint meetings between subcommittees of the School Committee and City Council. They met last month and again early this month as the preliminary budget was being finalized. She told them that schools in the district will use ESSER funds to offset costs for technology, mental health resources and to narrow opportunity gaps in learning inequities.

The superintendent explained that the purpose of the federal funding, which was part of the three large pandemic relief bills passed by Congress in 2020 and 2021, is to address the impact of COVID-19 on elementary and secondary schools. The funds are intended to help school districts reopen schools safely, with a focus on acceleration rather than remediation.

Although the three federal bills that contained ESSER funds were passed in 2020 and 2021, schools have several years to spend the money. Hoffman said several local priorities will be funded from ESSER grants in FY23:

ESSER I and II

Software: $267,700 (Mindfulness, and English learners regression programs, manipulatives and software renewals)

Staff: $851,515 (three teachers and two adjustment counselors, in two-year positions; summer program staffing and family resource center, a three-year position; stipends for response-to-intervention and multi-tiered systems of support)

Mental health: $417,280 (onsite services, referrals, coping skills interventions and transition back-to-school support)

Other costs: $44,865 (tent rentals and storage container)

ESSER III

Staff: $860,000 (grant coordinator, IT technician, and 3½ instructional coaches, in three-year positions)

Stipends: $310,000 (tutoring, as well as afterschool, weekend and winter programs)

Technology: $2,100,000 (student and staff devices and presentation equipment, software, math curriculum, assessments, and intervention programs, part of a three-year plan)

Professional development: $150,000 (response to interventions, reading, and new math curriculum)

Other costs: $115,000 (personal protective equipment and additional busing for after-school programs)

In addition to providing money for educational services, ESSER funds totaling more than $1.2 million are being used by the district for capital projects at schools. Those projects include replacement of energy and air circulation systems, asbestos abatement, phone and camera systems, and a town-wide assessment of school buildings.

ESSER funds are being used for instructional hardware and software as well as library technology at the high school library. Hoffman explained to the subcommittees that the funds have helped to lower the budget increase this year, but will expire in September 2024.

Hoffman also told the subcommittees that the district continues to actively seek competitive grants that could make up for the loss of ESSER funds in the following year’s budget. The FY23 budget includes a three-year grant-writer position.

She added that any positions being paid for through ESSER funds would be eliminated through attrition and retirements when funding expires. There would “most likely be increases” in other line items where ESSER funds are being used — especially in the building-based and instructional technology department line items — when the federal funding runs out.

At the School Committee meeting, Hoffman said the projected budget includes a decrease in five full-time employees — one social studies teacher, one elementary teacher, and four special services paraprofessionals. However, the district does plan to add one full-time special services teacher. She said the district is scrutinizing enrollment as a way to reallocate or reduce full-time employees through attrition.

The largest increase in the budget is $1.2 million for salaries and contractual obligations under collective bargaining agreements. Other increases include $54,630 for transportation costs and $108,559 for out-of-district tuition for regular education students.

Committee members are expected to adopted the budget, since none of them raised any objections following Hoffman’s presentation. If the budget is adopted, it will go to the City Council to be incorporated into the town’s FY23 budget.

The public can comment on the budget at an open hearing at 6:30 p.m. on April 26 in the auditorium of Agawam Junior High School, 1305 Springfield St., Feeding Hills. After the hearing, the committee will vote at its regular meeting on adopting the budget.