By Polly Mikula
Over 100 district residents attended the last Mountain Views Supervisory Union (MVSU) board meeting Monday, Dec. 2, to object to the proposed elimination of 17 teaching and staff positions, including both full- and part-time roles, five of which are in unified arts programs — visual and performing arts, music and world languages — which also sees cuts to resources for those programs.
MVSU serves over 995 students preK-12 from Barnard, Bridgewater, Killington, Pomfret, Plymouth, Reading and Woodstock.
“Our district was required to make significant budget cuts from FY25 due to the reintroduction of the excess spend threshold,” explained Ben Ford, board vice-chair and chair of the finance committee.
The penalty for excess spending was suspended in 2022, but beginning in July 2025, every dollar a district spends above 118% of the state average of per-pupil spending will be taxed double — meaning that every $1 over, $2 must be raised.
To stay below the penalty threshold, the district must trim $2.5 million of spending from its budget. By restructuring its debt, the district will save $1.1 million, Superintendent Sherry Sousa and Ford explained at the last board meeting. The remaining $1.4 million of proposed cuts are spread between the five elementary schools ($730,764), the middle/high school ($332,990) and the central office ($311,944).
The majority of Monday night’s meeting was dedicated to hearing passionate pleas from district residents concerned about the effect such cuts would have on the unified arts programs across the district. About 40 people attended the board meeting in person, and another 86 tuned in via Zoom.
Several speakers noted a lack of cuts to administrative positions and salaries, with raises for administrations budgeted at 5%.
“Any administrator who is looking at a pay raise when they’re cutting staff should be ashamed of themselves,” Pomfret resident Quincy Saul said.
After over an hour of public comment, the district board voted in favor of a motion to find out how much keeping the current art programs would cost and would consider alternative savings before voting whether to approve the proposed budget cuts at its next meeting, Dec. 16.
Additionally, as of Tuesday, Dec. 10, 148 parents, students, teachers and community members had signed a letter directed to Superintendent Sherry Sousa and School Board Members dated Dec. 5, that encourages more creative alternatives to budget savings.
“The School Board’s vote to re-examine the numbers related to unified arts is a step in the right direction. It demonstrates an eye towards responsible management, shows the Board is willing to integrate feedback from representatives in the community and experts in the field, and begins to center on student needs,” the letter said. “We need to continue to see these indicators of success from both the Board and the Superintendent if we are to create a passable budget: one that is pragmatic, responsible, and student-centered. It is not too late to rebuild trust and move into collaborative partnership.”
The letter went on to request the cost analysis proposals be re-calculated for the least significant negative impact on whole-child education, and re-calculated to demonstrate the potential cost-savings and offset by cuts at the leadership level. “The first cuts to be considered in public service are reductions in salary and travel at the senior level, alongside the freezing of raises of administrative positions,” the letter requested. “We thank the Board for your willingness to listen and respond to concerns raised regarding non-viable budget cut scenarios. We look forward to a whole-child, student centered, solutions-based analysis reflected in a budget cut scenario that is viable for vote passage,” it concluded.
Keri Bristow, chair of the MVSU district board, responded to the community letter on Tuesday, Dec. 10, with a document addressing top concerns with the budget and the boards decision-making process.
“Everything was on the table and the principals were charged with looking at all options and prioritizing what they believed needed to be kept, including coordinators, coaches, interventionists, directors, and other support personnel,” the document stated.
Cuts outlined
Barnard Academy: 1/2 classroom teacher
Barnard Academy: 1 para educator
Killington Elementary School: 1 classroom teacher
Killington Elementary School: 1 para educator
Woodstock Elementary School: 1/2 interventionist
Woodstock Elementary School: 1 para educator
Woodstock Union Middle/High: 1/2 science teacher
Woodstock Union Middle/High: 1/2 math teacher
Woodstock Union Middle/High: .17 library assistant
Central office:
1 accounts payable clerk
1/2 grants manager
Elementary unified arts
.2 Music Teacher
.4 Art Teacher
1 full time STEM teacher
1.6 Spanish teacher (.6 position currently open)
Woodstock Union Middle/High School: unified arts
.5 French teacher
1 Latin teacher and program
Other cuts/savings
In addition to the positions outlined above resources such as field trip transportation, literacy and music supplies, textbooks and other equipment faced reductions.
The board also offered a buyout option to teachers and staff who had been with the district for at least five years. Those who opted to leave the district would receive a one-time payment of 50% of their base annual earnings for the current school year.
A total of 11 district employees accepted the offer, Fenn said. Six were licensed educators, whose resignations/retirements the board accepted at the Dec. 2 meeting. Those educators were:
Nancy Stockwell- WES teacher
Ann Bahlenhorst- WES teacher
Marcia Gauvin- RES, TPVS, WES teacher
Betsy Frates- WES teacher
Marie Anderson- WUHSMS teacher
Lisa Laird- KES teacher
The district also offered a one-time payment to faculty and staff willing to relinquish their health insurance benefits.
Currently the district offers $2,000 per employee that does not participate in MVSU health insurance, but beginning July 1, 2025, it will increase that offer to $6,000 per employee, Director of Finance and Operations James Fenn explained.
Currently, 21 employees currently opt out of health benefits, Fenn said that the district won’t know until the 2026 open enrollment period how many more employees will decide to opt out. “We need three more people to take advantage of this offer to break even and then each additional employee saves us money,” he said.
The building and grounds budget was also reduced by $100,000. “This was possible because we were able to get caught up on some major projects during Covid using ESSER funds,” the explained the MVSU board in its response Tuesday. “It does mean that continued progress on building renovations and updates will be at a slower pace due to the reduction in funding.”
Administrative costs defended
In response to community letter asking the board to seek cuts that don’t directly affect student education, such as administrative costs, the board responded: “Administrators, like teachers, have signed multi-year contracts. These are legal documents, similar to the Teacher CBA, and must be honored. The administrative personnel work in the MVSU central office and also includes all principals across the district. Administrative salary raises are the same percentages as the teachers have negotiated, without the step increase that teachers also receive. They work through the school year and summer. The total cost of the raises is $89,000 for 16 positions, barely the cost of one employee.”
Administrative positions include:
Eight principals and assistant principals
The superintendent
The director of curriculum
The director of facilities
The director of finance
The director of food services
The director of human resources
The director of student support services
The director of technology
“In FY25 [current year] teachers eligible for steps received an increase of 11% while teachers at the top of the scale received an increase of 8-15% depending on which track they were on. Administrators received an 8% raise,” the document continued. “For FY26 teachers eligible for a step will receive an increase of 7.9% while teachers at the top of the grid will receive a 4.5% increase. Administrator raises are budgeted at 5% for next year. In many cases, as Sherry [Sousa] explained at the board meeting, at teacher at the top of their grid will make more on a daily basis than an administrator does. For instance a teacher with a masters degree plus 30 credits and 20 years experience will make $511.75 per day worked. (Teachers work a 185 day contract) while our highest paid elementary principal with similar education and experience is paid $492.96 per day. Administration personnel work full year, thus while some administrator have a higher salary, they work more days, lowering their per diem pay.”
Next steps
The MVSU district board will meet on Dec. 16 to either vote on the proposed budget or to ask for revisions before voting. In addition to the board’s request to know the cost of saving the united arts positions and programs, the board will also have to consider finding even more cuts as the specific numbers for Average Daily Membership (ADM) and Penalty Phase threshold calculations were distributed by the state on Friday, Dec. 6. “Both updated numbers are deleterious to the current proposed budget and will likely lead to additional large cuts which have not yet been configured,” the document stated.
Once a budget is passed by the district board it will have to be passed by the majority of the voters in the seven district towns. That vote will be held at Town Meeting Day, March 4.
For more information visit: mtnviews.org.
