Brockton Public Schools proposes $268 million FY26 budget; special education, Schedule 19 drive increases

BROCKTON, Mass. — Brockton Public Schools on Tuesday presented a proposed fiscal year 2026 budget that school officials say totals about $268 million, driven largely by state aid changes, rising health insurance and increased spending to serve students with disabilities.

Superintendent (speaking at the finance subcommittee meeting) and Patricia Boyer, interim chief financial officer, said the district’s requested appropriation reflects state Chapter 70 calculations, city chargebacks known as Schedule 19 and district line-item refinements intended to increase transparency. "BPS is on a path of meaningful improvement in how we build and manage our annual budget," the superintendent said during the presentation.

The budget presentation matters because officials said it reflects both an increase in net school spending and an effort to better bind the district’s numbers to actual costs and state reporting requirements. Patricia Boyer told the committee the district used prior actual expenses and new account detail to craft the FY26 request and cautioned that the state budget was not yet final. "The state budget is not finalized yet, so there may be some fluctuation in these final numbers, but this is the best information that we have as of today," Boyer said.

Most important figures presented

- DESE (the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) foundation calculations produced a required net school spending of about $344,000,000. - Of that, the city contribution was shown as about $62,000,000 and Chapter 70 state aid as about $282,000,000. - After subtracting Schedule 19 chargebacks — city costs charged back to the schools such as health insurance and pension contributions — the district’s FY26 school-side budget request was presented as approximately $251,570,700. - The total appropriation presented (net school spending plus non-net items) was described as about $268,000,000.

Boyer and the superintendent described Schedule 19 — the list of municipal costs the city declares were spent on the schools’ behalf — as a major area of attention. Boyer said Schedule 19 this year was about $93,000,000 compared with roughly $88,000,000 the prior year and that health insurance was currently the largest Schedule 19 line at about $38,000,000. Committee members repeatedly asked the city for the backup calculations and invoices that underlie those numbers. The superintendent said outside consultants (TJ and Open Architects) and district staff are working with the city to reconcile and document the chargebacks.

Committee discussion focused on three recurring themes: special education staffing and legal maintenance-of-effort obligations, the need for more granular Schedule 19 backup from the city, and transportation costs. The superintendent and Boyer said the FY26 request adds positions to address a growing population of students with disabilities and to avoid escalating compensatory service costs. The superintendent said these additions are grounded in both legal requirements and the district’s strategic plan.

The district also highlighted operational and instructional investments including continued funding to maintain adopted high-quality instructional materials, a 1:1 student-to-device ratio via laptop purchases, professional development, and career and technical education equipment updates.

Enrollment and cost drivers

The district said October 1, 2024 enrollment was 15,649 and that the May 1 count was 15,552. Officials said Brockton’s enrollment has remained above 15,000 and that the proportion of students identified as high needs (including students with IEPs, English learners and low-income students) has increased; Boyer and the superintendent said staff costs account for more than three-quarters of the requested budget and therefore drive most spending decisions. In the staff cost breakdown presented, classroom teachers were shown as roughly 42% of staff costs and paraprofessionals about 16%.

Transportation and non-net items drew detailed questioning. The committee and district staff said they agreed with the city on a $17,000,000 non-net contribution for items such as transportation and the adult learning center, while noting transportation actuals this year were higher and remain a work in progress. Committee members expressed concern that requesting less than expected actual spending could lead to midyear appropriations requests.

Audit history and DESE review

Committee members and staff reviewed an audit-related issue: DESE reviewed Schedule 19 data over five years and asked the district to amend prior reporting for FY23. The superintendent said the district must prepare and file the amendment and is working with consultants and city staff to assemble the needed backup; she said some Schedule 19 lines — for example, pension calculations — have already been made more specific, while others continue to require more detailed methodology and salary-backup from city offices.

Requests and next steps

Committee members asked the superintendent and interim CFO to provide several items before the next budget meeting: a more detailed Schedule 19 backup if available from the city, a list of current vacancies and anticipated openings by school, and a revised budget book with noted corrections. The superintendent invited committee questions by email and said staff will revise the presentation for the next meeting. No formal vote was taken on the FY26 budget at the May 13 meeting.

The meeting ended with a motion to adjourn moved by Missus Sullivan and seconded by Miss Oliver; the motion carried and the committee adjourned. The finance subcommittee is scheduled to meet again on May 20 at 6 p.m. at Brockton High School.