Support our Schools (SOS) celebrates victory in the city’s mid-year appropriation of almost $300,000 to schools. Since November, SOS has worked on a “Restore the Jobs” campaign for additional funds to address the underfunding crisis in public schools.
March 6, 2025
Northampton, MA – Support Our Schools (SOS) claimed success of its “Restore the Jobs,” campaign when the City Council voted at its March 6th meeting to approve a mid-year allocation of $294,833 that would allow the city’s schools to hire additional staff. The months long campaign led by the grassroots advocacy group called for a mid-year appropriation for the Northampton Public Schools after the city announced an $11.6 million dollar surplus in November 2024.
SOS member Amber Clooney said, “Support our Schools has been working since November to get a mid-year appropriation in front of the city council. There have been many ups and downs, but our community kept pushing it, kept reminding the city that we had to repair some of the damage the staff cuts created.” She added, “We are grateful to Councilor Maiore, who brought the first mid-year proposal to the city council back in January, to the School Committee, who heard and saw what the community was demanding and acted on it, and especially to NPS School Committee Members Mike Stein and Emily Szerafy-Cox who sponsored the Order to the city council.”
“We believe in the city, and in our ability to counter what is happening at the federal and local level that seeks to destroy public education. There is much more work to do, but this is a start.”.
SOS member Al Simon remarked, “We want people to know that everything they do to help keep this issue in front of the mayor, the city council, and the school committee has an impact. That’s emails, letters to the editor, getting friends to join, even stacking up boxes at city council meetings and dressing up in costume at rallies–all of it keeps the needs of children visually and mindfully alive in our city. That’s what democracy looks like. We believe in the city, and in our ability to counter what is happening at the federal and local level that seeks to destroy public education. There is much more work to do, but this is a start.”.
The School Committee originally requested an amount of $600,000 at its February 13 meeting. That figure was based on how much had been cut from the FY25 budget and the need for interventionists to address literacy gaps at the middle and high schools. After consulting with school administrators about their most immediate needs in light of short term funding, Superintendent Bonner instead brought the figure of $294,833 to City Council.
Councilor Maiore, citing the “lack of appetite” of the majority to pursue the larger allocation, put forward a motion to request the $294,833 instead of the $600,000. The motion passed unanimously.
Support Our Schools, city councilors, and the mayor herself, have identified a “crisis” in the schools due to the mayor’s budget cuts last year paired with ever-increasing student needs. The approved funds are intended to address needs identified by the School Committee and, as Dr. Bonner stated, “will help us have some normalcy in our schools.” Superintendent Bonner will bring her recommendation for short term hires to the School Committee for approval and send it to building administrators to begin the hiring process ensuring that new hires are in place as soon as possible. New staff will be pink-slipped at the end of the school year, as is the practice with any school employee hired after September 1st. The number of positions that may be hired back for the fall of 2026 depends on Mayor Sciarra’s proposed FY26 budget.
“Predictably starving public schools is something I associate with the current Republican administration, not the mayor of a progressive city like Northampton.”
The mayor has not provided a plan to address unmet educational needs caused by cut positions, and maintains that the city will submit a 4% increase in keeping with her current Fiscal Stability Plan, likely resulting in additional layoffs next school year. Although the mayor says that this consistent 4% budget increase is her way to stabilize the school budget after years of fluctuation in city allocations, critics say that’s not enough. “Should we be grateful that we have a predictably inadequate budget increase every year? I don’t think so. Under this model, we’ll always know that each year we’ll lose 4 or 5 more teachers. Predictably starving public schools is something I associate with the current Republican administration, not the mayor of a progressive city like Northampton,” says local parent Andrew Kloosterman.
In the Public Comment of the March 6th meeting meeting, Buju Dasgupta, professor of psychology in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at UMASS Amherst, told the councilors, “… the thing about human development is that you cannot rewind the clock. Later intervention is much more difficult, costly, and sometimes impossible, and that’s why the mid-year appropriation for the $600,000 is far better than waiting until next September.”
Additional Public Comment was also provided at the March 5th Finance subcommittee meeting. Jackson Street Principal Lauren Brown spoke at the meeting, stating: “I implore you to support this midyear appropriation as a means of literally putting your money where your mouth is, which is to say, as a way of standing up against the longstanding history of disrespect for public schools, as evidenced by budgets that do not reflect the brilliant, intense, complex, generative, powerful, intellectual, loving, personal, gut-wrenching, world changing, life-saving work our teachers do every day.”
According to SOS member and parent, Brian Wilby, there is still valuable time left in the school year for newly hired staff to help students bridge gaps in their learning and to provide much needed supports and interventions. “Tonight was a win for the students and staff of Northampton Public Schools. The City Council finally agreed to work towards addressing the gap in school services. There is still much work to do, as more than 30 positions have been eliminated in the last two years, and student needs have skyrocketed coming out of the pandemic. We will keep advocating for prioritizing public education and choosing to properly invest in our children’s education.”
Johanna Radding of SOS says the organization is grateful to the community. “We thank the friends, neighbors, NPS staff, NASE, school committee and council for continuing to work towards providing the equity in city educational funding that our children desperately need. Northampton Public Schools have been underfunded for far too long, SOS will continue to fight for our schools until they are fully funded, because a thriving community requires thriving schools.”
“We will keep advocating for prioritizing public education and choosing to properly invest in our children’s education.”