When people ask why South Hadley does not just “cut more,” they are overlooking what has already happened. The town and schools have already reduced staff, eliminated programs, consolidated responsibilities, and shifted services in-house. The question now is not whether South Hadley has cut. It has. The question is how much more can be cut before core services are damaged even further.
What South Hadley Has Already Lost
South Hadley’s own budget documents show years of real reductions, not theoretical ones. Over the last decade, the schools lost the French program at the high school, the AIC College Program, math and reading remediation at MESM, specialist positions, custodial staff, and more than 23 teacher FTEs across the district. In FY25 and FY26 alone, the schools documented major staff cuts, while the town cut positions in clerical support, parks, highway, solid waste, library administration, the Council on Aging, and other departments.
Teacher FTEs cut across Plains, Mosier, MESM, and the high school.
Paraeducator reductions proposed, along with 3 teacher reductions in the public budget presentation.
Total personnel cuts documented in the FY26 school budget presentation.
Those losses are explicitly listed in South Hadley’s town-school budget materials.
Specific programs that are already gone
A September 2025 joint town-school budget update includes a “Summary of School Cuts Over 10 years” and lists the loss of the French Program at the high school, the AIC College Program at the high school, the Math and Reading Remediation Program at MESM, and the elimination of a bus route. The same document also lists the loss of a system-wide therapist, reading specialist, professional development specialist, and guidance counselor at MESM. These are not rumors or talking points. They are spelled out in the town’s own budget materials.
View the FY2026 Budget Update and FY2027 Deficit document
The town’s FY2027–FY2031 Forecast repeats the same long-term school cuts summary, including the French program, AIC College Program, remediation cuts, and district-wide staffing reductions.
How many teaching positions were cut?
The long-term school cuts summary gives exact teacher reductions by building over a ten-year period:
- 3.9 Plains School teachers
- 4.1 Mosier School teachers
- 9.6 MESM teachers
- 5.5 High School teachers
That is a total of 23.1 teacher FTEs cut district-wide over ten years, before even counting other support roles and administrators that were eliminated.
The same summary also lists 3 custodians district-wide and a library para reduction at Mosier and Plains.
See the school cuts summary in the FY2026 Budget Update and FY2027 Deficit document
FY25 school cuts
The district’s public FY25 budget presentation documented major staffing reductions. It lists 23.2 paraeducators and 3 teachers under proposed staff reductions, while listing additions of 8.7 ETAs, 1 teacher, 1 C.N.A., and 1 assistant principal. Even with some offsetting additions, the scale of the reductions shows how aggressively the district was already reorganizing services to save money.
FY26 school cuts
For FY26, the school district’s public budget presentation gives a detailed breakdown of personnel cuts that are already in place. At the elementary level, the district listed cuts of:
- 1 kindergarten teacher
- 1 grade 1 teacher
- 1 special educator at Plains
- 1 Transitional Therapeutic Classroom
- 1 reading interventionist not replaced after retirement
- 1 math interventionist
- 1 grade 4 teacher
MESM cuts in FY26
- 2 ELA teachers
- 3 math teachers
- 1 reading interventionist
- 1 music teacher
- 1 custodian
- 1 CNA
High school cuts in FY26
- 1 Spanish teacher
- 0.4 special education teacher
- 1 custodian
- 1 CNA
The presentation totals those reductions at 19.4 positions across all units.
Extracurricular and activity cuts were real too
The FY26 school budget presentation also shows that cuts went beyond classroom staffing. It lists reductions tied to extracurriculars and student activities, including stipends or services associated with ski club, math club, debate club, band assistant director, hockey assistant, hockey varsity, outdoor track assistant, swimming varsity, swimming assistant, band-JV jazz director, marching band percussion arranger, gaming club, and improv advisor. Field trips have been eliminated from the school budget and are now only paid for by grant funding or student fees.
See the extracurricular impacts in the SHPS FY26 Public Budget Presentation
Consolidation and shared administration
Cost-cutting was not limited to eliminating programs and positions. South Hadley also consolidated responsibilities. The long-term school cuts summary lists the loss of a Curriculum Director, Facility Director, and Assistant Principal at MESM.
On the town side, the 2023 Report of the Appropriations Committee explains that South Hadley funded a Facilities Director who will serve both the town and schools to oversee maintenance, repair, renovation, and capital projects. That is a direct example of consolidation instead of maintaining separate positions on each side.
South Hadley also restructured transportation to save money
One bright spot: South Hadley Schools also changed how transportation was delivered. The FY26 school budget presentation says South Hadley planned to reduce yellow-bus costs by shrinking the transportation radius, with $250,000 in annual savings, and move special education transportation in-house, with $600,000 in annual savings.
The town’s FY2027–FY2031 Forecast goes further and says the town and schools would save about $1 million by bringing special education transportation in-house. This is one of the clearest examples that South Hadley has already pursued major efficiencies before asking voters for more revenue.
View the SHPS FY26 Public Budget Presentation
View the South Hadley FY2027–FY2031 Forecast
Town-side cuts were significant too
The September 2025 budget update includes a “Summary of Town Cuts Over 10 years.” It lists clerical reductions in the Assessor, Collector/Treasurer, Inspections, and DPW; elimination of the Tree Warden; cuts to custodians in public buildings; reductions in Parks and Highway; cuts in Solid Waste; and reductions at the Council on Aging, including the assistant director and community programs. The town’s forecast also lists FY26 town cuts including a clerical cut in the Clerk’s office, Council on Aging community programs, and the Tree Warden stipend.
View the FY2026 Budget Update and FY2027 Deficit document
View the South Hadley FY2027–FY2031 Forecast
The bottom line
The record does not support the idea that South Hadley has avoided hard decisions. The record shows the opposite. The schools have already lost the French program, the AIC College Program, remediation programs, specialist roles, custodial positions, and more than 23 teacher FTEs across the district. In FY25, the district documented major paraeducator and teacher reductions. In FY26, it documented 19.4 personnel cuts in one budget cycle. Town government also reduced staffing, consolidated work, and eliminated services.
So the real issue is not whether South Hadley has cut. It has. The issue is that after years of cutting, consolidation, and deferral, there is not much left to trim without directly reducing core services even further.
Source documents
- South Hadley FY2027–FY2031 Forecast
- FY2026 Budget Update and FY2027 Deficit
- SHPS FY26 Public Budget Presentation
- SHPS FY25 Public Budget Presentation
- 2023 Report of the Appropriations Committee
This post uses South Hadley town and school budget documents to summarize specific cuts, staffing reductions, and consolidations that have already occurred.