The Springfield School Committee received an update on the Fiscal Year 2026 budget and a teacher contract proposal that would add a new salary scale and 3% cost-of-living adjustments in years two through four, while public speakers urged the committee to restore 15 annual sick days and to address widespread staffing shortages.

CFO Patrick (last name not specified) told the committee the district’s proposal includes a new scale in year one with new placement for vocational teachers and that “90% of the members would be above 3% COLA with that.” He said the plan would include 3% COLAs in years 2, 3 and 4, and described step increases that would, for example, raise a teacher on a master’s step 2 by about $18,000 over four years, a roughly 32.3% increase.

The CFO also said the district wants to prioritize salary increases over restoring full sick-time benefits, describing sick-time as a key sticking point in negotiations: “we would really like to put the money into salaries. We can’t do both.” He warned further federal funding cuts could reduce available resources and affect sustainability.

Why it matters: committee members and dozens of public speakers said compensation and time-off policies affect recruitment and retention. Multiple classroom and specialist staff told the panel that current sick-pay language and low staffing levels are harming students, adding that Springfield is losing or failing to attract qualified educators compared with neighboring districts.

Public comment amplified those concerns. Tracy Little Sassenick, identified as president of the Springfield Education Association, outlined the contract history: she said Springfield moved from a 15-day annual sick leave system to the current 10-day base after 2013 and that the union is seeking to regain the prior benefit. “We are now fighting to gain back what we lost 2013,” she said.

Several specialists described operational impacts. Speech-language pathologist Emily Vigna said caseloads often exceed 100 students and that “we are merely checking a box that a meeting was held, an assistant was supervised, an evaluation was completed, all for students we have never even laid eyes on.” Autism specialist Christy Turcotte told the committee she currently supports 12 LYNX classrooms across three buildings and said the district is adding more such classrooms next year.

Speakers also provided staffing and vacancy figures. Cynthia Farmer said the contract covers 2,357 positions; she reported there were 339 open positions on July 15, 2024, and 218 open positions as of April 1, 2025. Farmer listed shortages including 17 pre-K classrooms for autistic children, five kindergarten classrooms without regular teachers, 52 grade 1–5 classrooms without regular teachers and a shortage of roughly 60 special-education teachers.

Committee members praised budget staff for a multi-hundred-million-dollar operating proposal and for directing Student Opportunity Act funds into school budgets. The CFO reported a general fund budget of $670,974,557, a $43,365,599 (7%) increase, and said the all-funds total would be about $763,740,419, a decrease the CFO tied largely to one-time ESSER funds used in prior years.

Discussion vs. decisions: the session recorded discussion of the proposed teacher contract and the FY26 budget; no final contract was voted tonight. The committee moved to voting items later in the agenda, but the budget presentation and the public comments were discussion only. The committee did not adopt policy changes on sick leave during this meeting.

Committee and public next steps: committee members said they will continue bargaining and review budget details; several asked staff to post the CFO’s charts online so the public could review the full numbers.

Ending: speakers and committee members repeatedly framed the issues as tied to recruitment, retention and student services: several asked the committee to use available Student Opportunity Act funds and the FY26 budget to make the district more competitive for educators and to fund additional specialists and classroom teachers.