Quincy mayor and school leaders present FY2026 level-service budget; committee questions rentals, special education costs and athletics fees

City and district leaders presented the Quincy Public Schools FY2026 budget on May 21, describing a level-service appropriation from the mayor that funds contractual obligations, restores positions previously paid for with ESSER grants and responds to special-education cost pressures. School leaders said the budget preserves current programming while identifying a set of offsets and targeted increases.

Mayor Coke told the committee the city budget, including all departments, totals more than a half‑billion dollars; he said the “total in the budget toward education is $217,000,000,” and emphasized that the school appropriation is one part of the city’s broader support for education through public buildings, parks, police traffic supervisors, libraries and other services that serve students.

The school-side appropriation presented by district officials is $146,734,627, an increase of $4,198,000 over the prior year. District staff said funding sources include a mayoral appropriation of $138,384,627 (a 3.13% increase), projected circuit-breaker special education reimbursement of $8,350,000, and the elimination of roughly $1,000,000 in ESSER (federal) grant offsets that had supported operating costs in the prior year.

District financial staff outlined how the appropriation meets contractual obligations and funds staff shifts. Key budget highlights presented to the committee included: restoring 17.2 full‑time‑equivalent positions that had been sustained with ESSER-era funds but are now rolled into the operating budget (net new positions shown in the presentation total 17.2 FTEs across categories); adding 15 paraprofessional positions (district estimate $550,000 increase); increasing long‑term substitute funding ($519,900) and districtwide extracurricular funding (to $182,253); converting an IT/web position to full time; and adding one speech‑language pathologist and one Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) to reduce reliance on higher-cost agency providers.

Administrators also requested increases to several operating lines to backfill grant-funded items that are now ongoing expenses: an approximately $400,000 increase for recurring software and subscription services (examples cited include Edgenuity, Lexia and Naviance), increased funding for special-education tuitions (administrators said tuition costs remain a growing pressure despite district placements decreasing because of the new Learning Center), and higher special-education transportation costs to cover a projected deficit in that line.

On capital and investment topics the mayor and administrators described the recently opened Richard de Cristoforo Learning Center (RDLC) as a $43.5 million facility funded primarily with city and federal sources; officials said the new building should yield operating savings as it reaches capacity over the next two to three years.

School district staff proposed modest increases to school rental fees to help cover custodial overtime and related costs: the youth rate would increase from $40 to $50 per hour, the Quincy adult rate from $55 to $75, and outside-renter rates from $75 to $100 per hour, with projected additional revenue of roughly $105,000. The administration recommended holding athletic and transportation user fees at current levels for FY2026 but flagged athletics as an area of deficit driven by new equipment, uniforms and team expansions.

Committee members raised several implementation questions during the presentation: requests for a copy of standard rental agreements and a breakdown of all student fees (athletics, club fees at the middle-school level), an inventory of Chromebook devices in reserve (staff said a number are available and would provide a precise count), and clarification on how JV/freshman coaching stipends and uniform replacement cycles are budgeted. Officials confirmed typical high-school athletic fees are about $100 per sport (with football at $300 and hockey at $400) and a family cap of $700 per year; committee members said they did not want student fees to become a barrier to participation.

Administrators proposed vote timing: the budget will be finalized in the department and return for a formal school committee vote at the June 11 meeting. No budget vote was taken May 21. The administration said the FY2026 plan is level-service in that it avoids program cuts while shifting previously grant-funded personnel into the operating budget and addresses known deficits in special-education tuition and transportation.

Speakers and administrators committed to follow-up items the committee requested: provide the rental agreement and list of associated rental expenses; provide a list of current student fees and any middle-school athletics charges; report exact counts of Chromebook inventory and replacement needs; and track the athletic program’s coaching and stipend structure to ensure appropriate supervision and safety coverage for JV and freshman teams. The committee also asked staff to monitor the special-education transportation deficit and to return with updates if conditions change.

No formal vote occurred. The committee and administration agreed to continue outreach and bring the budget back for a formal vote at the June 11 school committee meeting.