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School Committee backs Article 28 to fund literacy pilot, lowers FY26 operating request to $70,415,718
Summary
The Winchester Public Schools School Committee voted April 18 to support Select Board Article 28 — a $455,000 article to fund an early literacy pilot — and to reduce its operating budget request to $70,415,718 (a 6.46% increase). The committee also voted to ask the moderator to move Article 28 ahead of Article 22 at Town Meeting.
The Winchester Public Schools School Committee voted unanimously April 18 to take favorable action on Article 28, a one-time funding article intended to pay for an early literacy pilot, and approved reducing its FY26 operating budget request to $70,415,718, a 6.46% year-over-year increase.
Dr. Hackett, a district official who presented the FY26 update, described the preliminary level-services budget and a series of adjustments and priorities. He said personnel costs were driving much of the increase and that the district had added positions after updated enrollment and needs reviews: a one FTE multilingual support position, an additional Mandarin section at the high school to support an AP offering, and two special-education teachers (to be assigned at VO and Lincoln) to meet emerging needs. He said those add-backs totaled about $262,000.
Dr. Hackett told the committee the district had earlier recommended one-time funding for a literacy pilot and that $455,000 had been identified for that purpose. "If Article 28 fails, then we do not have funding for a literacy pilot program," Dr. Hackett said, adding the district could pursue donations or outside funding but that without Article 28 the funds would not be available through the town-article process.
Committee members discussed the town-article vehicle and timing. Mr. Hopcroft said he supported using a town-article for the one-time pilot funding. Anthea Brady, a Select Board member, joined the meeting to confirm that town-meeting voters would receive the printed motion language and that the article language on the warrant would remain as previously posted.
The committee recorded three related motions and unanimous votes: favorable action on Article 28 with amended motion language; a separate motion asking the moderator to take Article 28 prior to Article 22 at Town Meeting; and a motion to reduce the previously approved budget ask from $70,870,718 (a 7.15% increase) to $70,415,718 (a 6.46% increase). The roll-call votes recorded aye votes from Mr. Hopcroft, Ms. Minyarji, Ms. Bergstrom, Dr. Matthews and the chair on each recorded motion.
School Committee members said pulling one-time pilot costs out of the operating budget would make the operating request more defensible at Town Meeting and allow the pilot to be funded without recurring commitments. The committee noted the hope that Article 28 would be taken up before the operating-budget articles at Town Meeting; members also said that if Article 28 failed they could seek other options but that funding through the article was the preferred path.
The committee set pre-Town Meeting sessions on April 28 and May 1 and confirmed its next regular meeting for May 6.
