Beyond FY26 As we look into the future, without additional funding, industry trends in wages, health insurance and special education will likely continue to provide significant stress to our system. Based on these budgetary pressures combined with projected enrollment declines, the school committee may wish to consider a larger district-wide reconfiguration of schools and/or grade levels in order to preserve critical services for students. This would be a significant and disruptive undertaking, but may allow the district to focus resources and preserve educational services for students.
Summary Multiple considerations informed the development of the FY26 Budget:
● Residents of the two towns supported the schools in FY25 through significant tax increases ● The resources of the communities are limited ● Spending cautiously in FY26 reserves additional tax levy capacity for future years, when budget pressures are expected to persist While fiscal restraint is necessary in FY26 for the longer-term health of the District, it comes at the expense of support for students and with additional burden for educators. Some of these challenges include decreased availability of intervention support for students, unfunded needs in multilingual education services, increases to secondary class sizes, and reduced general education classroom support in the elementary schools. Limited increases in school funding are unsustainable for the educational services our students need and will result in further attrition to the experiences our students receive.
To develop engaged, well-balanced learners through collaborative, caring relationships. WELLNESS • EQUITY • ENGAGEMENT
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