CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Hoosac Valley Regional School Committee on Monday night unanimously approved a document "strongly" endorsing the school district's fiscal 2025 budget.

 

"This budget is a fiscally responsible plan that keeps the increases well below inflation and focuses on maintaining the district's financial health without drastic cuts or tax hikes," the position paper reads. "Much of the increase is driven by unavoidable costs, including state mandates and necessary contractual costs, ensuring the district remains competitive as an employer and service provider."

 

The endorsement comes a week before a districtwide meeting that will vote the $23 million spending plan up or down. 

 

Cheshire rejected a Proposition 2 1/2 override last month that would have fully funded its portion of the budget and instead passed a motion that would level fund the town's fiscal 2025 school assessment. Adams had approved the budget in June. 

 

All registered voters from Cheshire and Adams, the two towns in the regional school district, will meet on Monday, Sept. 30, at 6:30 p.m. in the Hoosac Valley High auditorium to vote on the budget, the only item on the warrant. This will be a majority vote. 

 

A joint meeting of the School Committee and the select boards chose Thomas Bernard as moderator. Bernard, president of Berkshire United Way, is the former mayor of North Adams and was considered a neutral selection. 

 

"I've started to familiarize myself with the warrant and the relevant section of MGL, and I'm boning up on my Robert's Rules of Order just to make sure that we do everything as clearly and transparently as we can next Monday evening," Bernard told the committee Monday.

 

Superintendent Aaron Dean said the town clerks will set up their tables for checking in the voters in their towns and providing them with cards.

 

"We're going have everybody come in the main door for the auditorium," he said. "Inside the auditorium, we'll have an area sectioned off for non-voters, a section for town officials and the School Committee will be set up on the floor in front of the stage. The projector screen will be down in case a presentation needs to happen. The moderator will be on the stage. 

 

"We went through a lot of the logistical pieces and just talked through different pieces of the meeting."

 

He anticipated making a brief presentation. Committee member Fred Lora though the committee should make some statement since it could "set the tone" of the meeting. He argued that this could be as simple as thanking the voters and throwing the meeting to Bernard.

 

There is only one question on the warrant, the budget, but there is a procedure to follow and there may be changes in the voting, which right now would be with cards shown, similar to regular town meetings. It's possible there could be a call from the floor for a secret ballot, which would require a two-thirds vote. 

 

Committee member Michael Henault said the towns tended to differ in their town meetings with Cheshire looser and Adams on the more structured side. Bernard said he would direct it more toward the structured side. 

 

"We talked about a two-minute time limit for discussion items within that we could anticipate ... there may need a comment through the through the moderator, or response through the moderator from the superintendent or a member of the committee," he said. "Some things may need a little more response, but really trying to stick to that timeline."

 

Bernard said they had discussed the potential for a secret ballot also how to stage manage the sections to ensure how the count is done. 

 

The clerks were confident in the capacity of the 500-seat auditorium based on previous town meetings but Dean said the cafeteria was ready to be utilized as an overflow space just in case. 

 

The position paper and its summary approved Monday night was set to be discussed last week but that meeting had to be canceled because the agenda had not been properly posted. 

 

The seven-page document lays out the reasoning for the spending plan, the timeline up to date, frequently asked questions regarding the upcoming vote and its impact. 

 

Erin Milne, vice chair of the committee and one of those developing the document, said the position paper was structured to allow for snippets to be taken out for use on social media. The committee acknowledged it couldn't advocate for the budget but it could support the position paper laying out reasons for supporting the plan and direct voters to it. 

 

If the budget passes, Cheshire will be forced to dip into its reserves to cover the $150,000 shortfall in its assessment; if it fails, the school district will have to cut $600,000 out of its spending, which is likely to affect staff, extracurriculars, technology and student support systems, say school officials. 

 

A two-page summary of the paper is available directly on the district's website and here.