Gill-Montague School Committee Approves $21.8 Million Preliminary FY22 Budget

GILL — January 26, 2021 — Gill-Montague School Committee unanimously approves a preliminary $21,838,204 operating budget for fiscal year 2022. The committee voted Tuesday to adopt the unbalanced spending plan, which draws $150,000 from the district's excess-and-deficiency fund and counts on the state to use pre-pandemic enrollment figures when calculating Chapter 70 aid — a factor business staff said could shift the revenue picture by hundreds of thousands of dollars once numbers were released the following morning. Superintendent Brian Avitabile announced full hybrid learning across the district would begin February 8, two days later than planned, pending completion of air-exchange upgrades at the high school and middle school. The committee also heard that homeschool enrollment has more than doubled during the pandemic, rising from a historic average in the low 40s to more than 80 families. Member Haley warned against the district "telling secondary students that they're failing courses," calling academic backslide "an unavoidable side effect of the pandemic" and urging a shift in focus toward student well-being.