SHEFFIELD — Against a backdrop of frustrated students, parents, teachers and community members, the Southern Berkshire Regional School Committee on Thursday agreed that it would restore some recently cut positions.

With just over $660,000 available, mostly from surplus funding recently certified by the state, the committee said it would set aside $200,000 as a safety net and use the balance to restore some of the 21.3 full-time equivalent positions that were slashed earlier this month.

It's now up to the leadership team to determine how many, and which, positions will be restored.

That vote came after nearly three hours of tense debate, including 30 minutes of emotional public comment, in the Mount Everett Regional School Library as Superintendent Brian Ricca presented his revised proposed budget, an increase of 2.5 percent from the previous year. The committee will hold a special meeting Wednesday to adopt the budget so it can move to the five-member towns.

Teacher Amy Murray leads chants about supporting the future of education at a rally Thursday before the Southern Berkshire Regional School Committee meeting.

Loud sighs, calming breaths and hands covering faces — from both the audience and committee members — were common throughout the meeting as the committee talked in circles while having tense and accusatory debates.

"We've been watching this since February, please understand our frustration," an audience member yelled at one point.

It has not been a smooth budget process for the district. It took an additional two months before a viable budget option was presented to the committee, leading to the unprecedented removal of the school budget from town meeting warrants.

The five towns will now have to hold special town meetings to approve the budget. If four out of five towns fail to adopt it by July 1, the state will step in and implement a level-funded budget.

Student Owen Siket attends the rally in support of educators Thursday before the Southern Berkshire Regional School Committee meeting.

The school community has been in upheaval since May 19, when faculty members were notified by email in the middle of the school day that they would not have jobs next year. The cuts include positions tied to beloved programs, leaving families worried not only about losing favorite teachers but also about losing entire programs.

In its current form, the proposed budget includes cutting the equivalent of 21.3 positions. The equivalent of 11.2 full-time teaching positions cut saved the district $714,546, while the equivalent of 5.8 full-time staff positions cut saved $336,508. It was not clear from the presentation what makes up the balance of the cuts.

Restoring positions does not automatically mean previously cut staff members will return. All but one of the roughly 20 employees who lost their jobs do not have professional status and would need to reapply. It will ultimately be up to district leadership to determine which positions are restored.

Around 100 students walked out of school Wednesday in support of the staff. Before Thursday’s meeting, roughly 75 people gathered for a rally in the parking lot.

The library overflowed with attendees, while dozens more joined on Zoom. Although a second public comment period was suspended because of time constraints, the first public comment session included students, alumni, parents and teachers pleading for arts programs to be preserved.

Around 75 people gathered in the parking lot before Thursday's Southern Berkshire Regional School Committee meeting.

"Just us two have the potential for between 60 to 70 grand a year to this district," said Great Barrington parent Jane Madril, who was joined by another school-choice parent. "We choice-in for the arts programs, for the small classrooms, for the teachers."

A teacher holds a handmade card that her student made for her.

One of the longest debates centered on how much money should be placed into reserve funds. Committee members were split between setting aside more money for emergencies and directing more money toward restoring teaching positions.

"I've heard from a lot of community members that this is the rainy day," committee member Miguel Mir said, advocating for only a small portion of the funds to be reserved. "I think we need to start making some decisions to bring the teachers back."