WILBRAHAM – If Wilbraham Middle School (WMS) and Thornton W. Burgess Middle School (TWB) are unified this year, the district could end up saving $201,805 during the first year and those funds could be used to offset potential budget woes, Superintendent of Schools M. Martin O'Shea said.

O’Shea said the district has yet to determine its budget for fiscal year 2017 (FY17).

“I suspect that we will be facing another budgetary challenge, but it’s too early to quantify that,” he explained. “Our revenue assumptions are beginning to take shape and we’re starting to identify what are FY17 costs would be.”

During the FY16 budget process, the district initially faced a $1.3 million shortfall, which was later brought down to $1 million.

“I think we have tried to be creative in our efforts to ensure that we are providing appropriate services to kids,” O’Shea said. “Each year we’ve tried to respond to the budget challenges that we’ve faced and one of the major budget factors for FY17 is the middle school unification initiative and we believe that’s an opportunity to enhance services to children, but also a significant way for us to contain costs.”

The FY17 school budget would likely be presented to the School Committee at its March 8 public budget hearing, he noted.

“The School Committee will likely vote a budget that night,” O’Shea said. “We have to put a budget together 45 days prior to the first Annual Town Meeting.”  

In order for the two middle schools to be unified, a regional agreement between Hampden and Wilbraham would need to be amended by residents during each town’s respective Annual Town Meeting.

O’Shea said the School Committee has asked the Board of Selectmen of Hampden and Wilbraham to include placeholders in the warrants.  

“I can’t definitively say that it will be in front of the voters at the April [25] Hampden Town Meeting and the May [16] Wilbraham Town Meeting because I think that conversation needs to be had by the School Committee, the Hampden Select Board, and the Wilbraham Select Board,” he added.

According to information from the district, the Middle School Task Force is looking into including a “sunset provision” with the regional agreement, which would allow students to be assigned to WMS until 2021. After that point, the unification decision would be reconsidered.

During the sunset period, the district would focus on examining whether a long-term goal of potentially building a new unified middle school would be feasible.

O’Shea said it would be unfeasible to create a unified middle school at TWB and the only option would be WMS, which would also include temporary modular space.

According to information provided by the district, it could save $603,805 annually during the second and third years of a unified middle school model.

The startup costs for installing modular space would be $391,000 for the first year only.

He said the district would be receiving a small increase in Chapter 70 funds for FY17, which would amount to approximately $62,000.

“That’s on a $11.4 million revenue line,” O’Shea added. “It’s a negligible increase and again it doesn’t reflect rising costs … That’s roughly a 0.5 percent increase. That’s a significant factor as the FY17 begins to take shape.”

He added Chapter 70 revenue – the district’s main source of state aid – has flat lined in recent years.

“Meanwhile, it’s put more pressures on the towns of Hampden and Wilbraham to contribute to the budget,” O’Shea noted.

He said he believes the state’s budget formula for determining Chapter 70 funds, which was developed in 1993, is antiquated.

“It is not at all reflective of the costs of educating children in 2016,” he noted.

O’Shea said the district’s ongoing decline in enrollment would mean Chapter 70 funds would likely continue to see reductions as well. Enrollment is a significant factor in regards to calculating how much Chapter 70 money a district receives.

“We’re expecting our enrollment to drop next year and the only reason Chapter 70 aid is going up is because all districts – whether your enrolment’s declining or not – would under Gov. [Charlie Baker’s] budget get a $20 per student allotment.”