WILBRAHAM – How many jobs in the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District are in danger of being cut next year?

About as many as there were residents in the audience to hear the district’s fiscal year 2018 budget presentation on March 22.

In front of a nearly empty Minnechaug Regional High School auditorium, Superintendent Albert Ganem Jr. and Associate Superintendent Beth Regulbuto laid out the district’s financial situation and the resultant impacts of a $1.2 million gap between what they called a “working budget” and the proposed $46.5 million FY18 budget, including a combined loss of 18 full time equivalent (FTE) positions.

The hearing’s low attendance may have been impacted by its timing, which coincided with Planning Board meetings for Wilbraham and Hampdent and the Wilbraham Democratic Town Committee caucus.

The presentation was made two days after discussing the budget with representatives from the Hampden and Wilbraham Boards of Selectmen, the Wilbraham Finance Committee and the Hampden Advisory Board in an open and posted roundtable discussion.

Of the 18 FTEs that could be cut, 17.4 could directly affect classroom learning. Ganem explained 7.4 FTE positions could be cut from Collective Bargaining Unit 1, which includes teachers and counseling personnel. Another 10 FTE paraprofessional positions may be affected as well. A 0.6 FTE administrative position is also in peril.

These cuts, Ganem admitted, would have an impact on class sizes, especially at the elementary level. Grades 4 and 5 could see the greatest increase with up to 28 students per class.

“That’s our biggest impact,” Ganem said. “We appreciate that at the lower grade levels we want smaller class size, but we want lower class sizes all the way up.”

Third grade classes project to have between 24 and 26 students. While due to requirements for a grant the district receives for its pre-K program capping class sizes at 15, kindergarten to grade 2 could jump to classes of 20 to 24.

At the middle school level, teachers could have 25 to 31 students in front of them at a time. High school classes project to average anywhere between 18 to 26 students, but there could be a reduction in Advanced Placement courses.

“Those are huge class sizes. We do not want those. We know it’s not the educational thing to do,” Ganem said. “The principals and directors that sat for days with my leadership team making these cuts and deciding what’s best, none of us agree that this is the right thing to do. But one pledge we do know is any money or changing or if there’s any fluctuation at all, the one thing we’re going to be putting it into is reducing this. We know that is where we need to put this funding if there is any fluctuation in funding.”

At the middle school level, HWRSD will engage in “some sort of teaming” during the 2017-18 school year, which would be a “hybrid” of the middle school and junior high school models.

Ganem stressed the district would protect professional development, instructional coaching and curriculum writing in order to maintain equity in teaching and consistency with the state’s educational standards.

“Those are a huge piece of developing high quality professional learning and high quality instruction,” he said. “We are committed to maintaining these.”

Regulbuto noted the budget was developed using very preliminary funding numbers for the state, namely Gov. Charlie Baker’s budget proposal.

Explaining the challenges in drafting the budget, she observed for districts like HWRSD “the pressure is falling locally” to fund programs.

Among the issues facing the town is the continued slide in enrollment.

Overall, the district anticipates a drop in district-wide population of 105 students in FY18 from 3,107 to 3,002, a decrease of 3.4 percent.

Regulbuto said she has documented an 11.4 percent decline in enrollment in the past five years.

According to the proposed budget packet distributed at the hearing, as of October 2016, the district had seen a reduction in enrollment of 48 students – 22 fewer from Hampden (a decrease of 3 percent) and 26 fewer from Wilbraham (a 1.1 percent drop). The October enrollment is utilized to calculate each town’s assessment, resulting in a slight shift in each town’s contributions for FY18.

Wilbraham’s assessment increases to 76.4 percent compared to 76.1 percent in FY17 and Hampden’s has dropped from 23.9 percent to 23.6. All told, Wilbraham projects to be responsible for $24.3 million for schools, while Hampden will contribute $8 million.

The district also continues to struggle with regional transportation costs. The anticipated reimbursement rate is approximately 60 percent, yielding $1.3 million in funding coming back to the district. However, not all of the district’s transportation costs are eligible for reimbursement, including special education transportation, Regulbuto explained. Transportation liabilities are projected at $3.3 million, meaning state reimbursement covers only 39 percent of the total cost.

While negotiations are ongoing, contracts for all five collective bargaining units also expire June 30. Salaries and benefits make up the greatest share of the district’s financial liabilities.

HWRSD was able to negotiate a lower health insurance rate increase with the Scantic Valley Regional Health Trust. While initially slated for a 12 percent increase, the district will now face a 5 percent increase, a mitigation of approximately $75,000, Regelbuto explained.

Funding for supplies, materials and equipment was level-funded, marking the third straight budget cycle in which there was not an increase in support for classroom resources, she also noted.

With that said, Ganem stated there would also be an increase in STEM programming at both middle schools.

“We know that’s where we should be going in terms of education,” he said. “We’re going to have a slice of that going on at both middle schools next year.”