GREENFIELD — At the Joint Committee on Ways and Means’ fiscal year 2025 state budget hearing on Friday, the focus was on statewide education and local aid. At the regional level, though, legislators, school officials and community members from up and down the Pioneer Valley honed in on one of the most important local education issues: rural school funding.
In an effort to directly communicate with the Legislature, rural school advocates arrived at Greenfield Community College prior to the 11 a.m. budget hearing to distribute handouts to attendees that highlighted the numerous challenges small, rural districts face — including limited state funding, declining enrollment and increasing costs amid limited tax revenue.
The work continues a long-running mission of advocacy for rural school districts around the state, an effort that picked up a lot of steam in the wake of July 2022’s Special Commission on Rural School Districts report. People like Sheryl Stanton, superintendent of the Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont regional school districts, want to ensure the state understands the challenges schools are facing, and that districts like hers are ready to partner with the Legislature and other elected officials to address the issue.
“We also feel the state has a role in addressing the additional costs of educating students in rural districts,” Stanton said.
