FY 2026

BUDGET DEVELOPMENT

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January 14 - 15, 2025 - Budget Presentations:

The FY26 budget development process kicked off on the evenings of Tuesday and Wednesday, January 14th and 15th, when district administrators and building principals presented their budget requests directly to the School Committee. The schedule was:

  • Tuesday, Jan 14th - All five (5) building principals

  • Wednesday, Jan 15th - Athletics, Student Services, Curriculum/Instruction, Technology, and General District

You can see all requests from all 5 schools and 5 district wide departments in the folder titled "School/Dept Budget Requests" to the right (or below on mobile).

Further, you can watch the presentations that were hosted virtually on Zoom on the School Committee YouTube Channel by clicking here.

Prior to the presentations beginning on January 14th, the Superintendent shared that the FY26 budget requests attempt to provide a measured proposal for spending that meets the current needs of our students while being responsive to our financial reality. Due to several factors and the overall increase in routine costs, the FY25 budget was challenging and we adjusted and simplified our process accordingly. For the development of the FY26 budget, we are returning to the traditional budget process that includes budget requests from each of the five (5) schools as well as all district-wide departments that reflect the needed funding in order to provide a high-quality academic experience.

It has become all too routine in recent years that the regular cost of doing business increases significantly year over year, and unfortunately, the FY26 outlook continues to follow that same trend. We are expecting sizeable increases to the routine spending on primary budget drivers such as health and liability insurance, student transportation, personnel costs, and other fixed charges, but will actually see a slight decrease in our Out of District Tuitions line which has been challenging in recent years. Some of these costs are largely out of our control as they are dependent on industry trends (health insurance), competitive bids with minimal competitors (student transportation), or collectively bargained contracts (salaries), while others like Out of District Tuitions can be addressed by efforts like building in district programming.

The School Committee will review these initial proposals in the collective at their Budget Workshop scheduled for Saturday, January 25th at 8:00 AM.