Gail Dowd, interim financial director, told the School Committee on Aug. 28 that staff recommended three housekeeping budget transfers to align appropriation lines ahead of the school year. "We are proposing it's a total of slightly over $35,000 that we are going to tap into funds we had set aside for district wide substitutes for various professional development opportunities," Dowd said, explaining the first transfer would move funds so that central office can cover substitute pay when teachers attend districtwide professional development.

The second transfer moves money out of the out-of-district tuition line into salary lines for the newly in-house 18–22 transition program. The district had previously paid Andover Public Schools for shared services; after absorbing the program it must hire a teacher and a transition specialist and wanted salaries funded from the appropriate line.

The third transfer reallocates a full-time STEM district leader’s salary into an Amazon-funded grant line because the Amazon grant is restricted to STEM uses. Dowd said the change preserves the FTE while aligning where the salary is charged so the district fully utilizes grant parameters and avoids future carryover issues.

After discussion, the committee approved the transfers and then unanimously approved the initial FY26 revolving-account budgets. Dowd explained the revolving-account baselines were based on prior-year revenue and would be updated if proposed fee increases (a separate agenda item) changed revenue projections. Committee members asked several clarifying accounting questions and were reassured that revolving accounts are monitored monthly and that expenditures would not exceed actual revenues.