This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

School Budget Cuts Won't Up Class Size

A smaller budget and bigger enrollment won't increase Westfield class sizes next year; district still bracing for state cuts.

The Westfield School District still expects to keep classroom sizes within their existing range for the coming school year, even as enrollment edged up and teachers had to be cut due to budget constraints.

While the district’s budget was finalized and approved in March, there are still likely to be some changes in funding from the state.

Westfield High School’s enrollment is also expected to be the highest it's been in 30 years, superintendent Margaret Dolan said at the Board of Education’s meeting Tuesday night.

Find out what's happening in Westfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Even though we increased enrollment, we don’t have the money to increase the staff,” she said.

The district is still waiting for an update from the state on funding to help cover debt service.

Find out what's happening in Westfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The state’s aid will likely be at least 20% less than the $503,000 approved earlier, Dolan said in an interview. Last week the district was told the cuts would be “wealth based” and would be more than 20%.

The district has not officially heard how large the cut will be and doesn’t know when that will be determined, she said. 

School board member Ann Cary told the board that at a meeting with state officials, “while they said education was still a top priority, the news was not good for districts like Westfield.”

“The forecast for us was grim,” she said.

The next public school board meeting is scheduled for June 30.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?