Rising insurance bills, pay increases, transportation expenses, and other routine costs left districts in Franklin County, Massachusetts, trying to balance budgets for the 2027 fiscal year without reducing support for students.
In many cases, that meant shrinking school staffing.
Here's what to know
The Greenfield Recorder found that Franklin County's public schools started the 2026-2027 year with more than 40 fewer educators, administrators, and staff members than they had in the previous school year.
To make budgets work, some districts laid off employees, others reduced hours, and others saved money by leaving open jobs unfilled.
At Franklin County Technical School, budget cuts eliminated a librarian, a carpentry instructor, two paraprofessionals, and a public relations coordinator. Erving School Union 28 also removed four student-facing positions at Swift River School, including two roles that were already vacant.
Principal Brian Spadafino said the remaining staff is stretching to cover the losses.
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"Most of our staff, we all wear many hats, so people pitch in, and where there might be a need for an extra section here or there, people will step up and take that section to keep our class sizes down as much as possible," he said.
Seven positions were cut at Frontier Regional School, including the librarian; a part-time library aide later covered the role. At Sunderland Elementary School, kindergarten and fourth grade classes were combined, leading to staffing cuts and six teachers switching grade levels.
Principal Benjamin Barshefsky said: "Obviously, jumping from one grade level to the next, there's a learning curve in the curriculum that is taught at that particular grade level. The anxiety attached to that is rooted in professionalism and wanting to do well and provide an exceptional experience for the students."
More background
The cuts affect libraries, special education, reading intervention, counseling, music, health instruction, and classroom support services that can determine whether students get individual help or go without.
Mohawk Trail Regional School District cut 21.5 positions, including teachers, paraprofessionals, an administrator, and a secretarial employee. In Gill-Montague, restructuring affected special education, music, reading and math intervention, library services, English learner support, health education, and theater.
Mohawk Trail Superintendent Sheryl Stanton said remaining staff members are being asked to take on more because "teachers and principals want their students to be really successful, so they will pick up the slack."
Shannon White-Cleveland, superintendent of Erving School Union 28, said: "Our communities want to support education, but they're impacted by the rising costs, and they have to make decisions about funding resources."
Warwick Community School added two roles, while Greenfield restored two positions using savings from vacancies and revolving funds. It still had 20 open positions listed, including a school psychologist and substitute teachers.
What's being done?
A lower-than-expected health insurance increase gave Franklin Tech enough room in the budget to hire an additional special education teacher. Greenfield tapped $2.7 million in revolving funds to preserve "level service," and Gill-Montague hopes grant funding will allow it to restore the middle school health instructor.
Mohawk Trail's member towns passed the FY27 budget and avoided a one-twelfth budget that, Stanton said, would have meant "every extracurricular for students is removed." In Sunderland, voters passed an override that spared art, music, and library programs, along with a school adjustment counselor, instructional assistant, and math interventionist.
After Sunderland's vote, Frontier Regional and Union 38 School Districts Superintendent Darius Modestow noted: "We avoided catastrophe there."
Where can I learn more?
Some districts are trying to ease budget pressure by cutting energy and facility costs. These articles look at schools using solar, geothermal, and grant funding to free up money for operations and staff.
• An Illinois district turned a capped landfill into solar and freed money for salaries and upgrades.
• In northern Illinois, Harlem schools approved a districtwide solar project to ease long-term campus costs.
• Pennsylvania districts are set to save millions through solar as utility costs keep climbing.
• In New Bedford, Massachusetts, officials found geothermal wells and solar could cut school operating costs fastest.
• Federal grants are sending $190 million for school upgrades to lower energy bills nationwide.
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