NORTHAMPTON — The School Committee voted to approve a $35.1 million district budget on Thursday night that includes an extra $250,000 earmarked for pay negotiations, hours after a small army of educators took to the steps of City Hall to demand higher wages.
For more than two hours in the afternoon, about 80 members of the Northampton Association of School Employees (NASE) sang songs, chanted slogans and waved signs at passing cars, many of which blared their horns in apparent support of the union.
NASE members argued that the current pay for educational support professionals (ESPs) leaves them virtually impoverished and shows a lack of respect from city budget planners.
The budget for fiscal 2023, already a 4.33% increase over the current year, includes the extra $250,000 for wage negotiations that School Committee members insisted upon, but Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra warned that the source of any extra funding has not been identified and the amount could be slashed during the City Council’s budget approval process.
State law requires the city to pass a balanced budget. Fiscal 2023 runs from July 1, 2022 to June 1, 2023.
Extra wage funding approved
The budget and property subcommittee proposed two different scenarios to the full School Committee that would free up money for wages but cut line items in other areas. Ultimately, the committee chose the first scenario, which added $332,352 for wage negotiations.
The first scenario called for cutting $96,000 from the...
NEW DELHI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday alleged that the entire press conference conducted by Congress leaders Pawan Khera and Gaurav Gogoi was based on material supplied by ...