Southampton may ask voters to approve override to restore Norris School positions

SOUTHAMPTON — Residents could again be asked to decide whether to approve a Proposition 2½ override to help fund next year’s budget for Norris Elementary School, a spending plan that would restore cuts that equal nine full-time positions lost after voters rejected an override request last year.

The Southampton School Committee on Wednesday agreed to request an approximately $7.32 million budget for fiscal 2027 following a budget hearing that drew more than 50 people to Town Hall.

That budget would reverse the cuts made in the current fiscal year, but only if voters agree to a spending increase of about $700,000 above the current fiscal 2026 budget. Should the request fail again this year, further cuts will have to be made to the school budget.

In the middle of Wednesday’s meeting, the beginnings of a grassroots group began to take shape with parents who have seen the negative impact the cuts have had on their children’s education.

“I have a first grader that comes home and wants to give his money to the principal to pay for art to come back,” School Committee member Jennifer Johnson said, whose child attends Norris. “I’m failing him right now and I’m personally not voting for anything that’s not at bare minimum, level service.”

Johnson was one of several parents who echoed similar sentiments that they are worried that Southampton residents will not vote for an override, but they cannot continue seeing their children’s education slipping away.

Norris School is currently operating under a $6.62 million budget including school revenues, which officials said last spring was about $668,000 short of level services. That shortfall led to the elimination of the school’s only art teacher, a first grade teacher, a kindergarten teacher, two paraprofessionals and at least one math interventionist. Additionally, hours were reduced for a school nurse, a reading specialist, an administrative assistant and several other positions.

Other budget cuts included school supplies, meaning teachers now have to pay for key items like pencils, scissors and paper.

“These reductions are not simply numbers on a budget sheet,” said Lauren Ames, co-president of the Southampton Teachers Association at the meeting. “They drastically change the daily experience of children in our classrooms.”

Over the coming weeks, the Select Board will discuss the School Committee’s proposed budget for Norris.

The committee began Wednesday’s meeting considering a $6.84 million budget that would restore a small portion of what Norris School lost and would still require an override. But parents and some School Committee members asked how much money would be needed to fully restore the budget and bring back positions lost.

Dawn Scaparotti, business administrator of the Hampshire Regional School District, did some mid-meeting number crunching and came up with $7.32 million.

School Committee Chair Kim Schott originally asked for a more conservative budget, knowing that besides Norris’ situation, the town of Southampton faces its own “dire” fiscal situation.

“I was trying to figure out what kind of an override could pass in Southampton and then one of the concerns is that if the number is too high, it won’t pass and then this doomsday scenario that we just talked about would happen,” Schott said.

Schott’s skepticism over Southampton’s likelihood to pass an override was shared by many in attendance.

“We need transparency. We need simple, straightforward budgets,” said parent Kelley Labrie, adding that in order for an override to pass there needs to be clear information about the affect it will have on resident’s tax bills and the impact it would have on schools if it didn’t pass.

Currently, the town is facing an approximately $1.7 million override that would meet a level-services budget for fiscal 2027. If that override passes, Southampton would be able to meet the preliminary budget from the Hampshire Regional High School, restore a small portion of what was cut for Norris School last year and also cover hikes in operational expenses for the town, mainly from health insurance increases.

That means the School Committee’s desired $7.32 million budget would force the overall override amount to go up, or lead the Select Board to float separate overrides for the town and school.

Scapparotti said at the meeting that the average single-family home in Southampton is assessed at about $489,000, with an average property tax bill of $6,400 a year. She said a $1.7 million override would add another $675 a year to that bill.

Last year, there were two override questions proposed, one asking for a $897,000 override for Norris and the other asking for a $3.2 million debt exclusion for a new public safety complex. Both were shot down by voters.

School Committee and Select Board member Jon Lumbra said there is a possibility for multiple override questions again, potentially splitting the $1.7 million into different sections. But he noted it is up to the Select Board to ultimately decide how that would be presented to voters.

School Committee member Dylan Mawdsley warned that splitting an override has potential to pin departments against each other who are in need of funding and it is also not a permanent fix to affordability. Mawdsley said this is only one of the first steps in the budget process for Norris and there is still a lot of work to do.

Overall, School Committee members supported asking for the restorative budget and said that from last year’s override attempt, they learned that information needs to be relayed sooner and more clearly about what impact an override would have on residents and the town.

“This conversation that we’re having now is happening much earlier this year than it happened last year and that was one of the takeaways from last year,” Schott said.

School Committee member Margaret Larson noted that Southampton has passed overrides in the past and this year. She said Southampton is modeling the way they share information after communities that have passed overrides recently, such as Belchertown last year.

After Hampshire Regional High School (HRHS) sets its budget on Monday, March 16, the town will have a better picture of how much money they will need to give to the high school. Mawdsley stressed that the work the administrative team is doing this year has been “tremendous” and they are working together to figure out best options.

“As a community member, I’m pretty committed to do everything that I can to encourage that [an override] and I would invite everybody to join me in some grassroot movements to spread the word around our town about how important this is,” said parent Ashley Stone.

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