SPRINGFIELD – Budget season has begun, with school officials beginning to discuss priorities and financial burdens that will affect students and staff in the next school year.

While the financial team of the nearly 23,700-student district is in the early stages of creating a spending plan, educators expect to begin the next school year with a $671 million budget, which will be a 6.9% increase over this year’s $627 million budget, said Patrick Roach, chief financial and operations officer for the schools.