Nashoba officials preview FY26 budget after joint FinCom meeting; health insurance and special education top concerns

Nashoba Regional School District Superintendent Kirk Downing and Finance and Operations Director Ross Mulcahren told the school committee on Feb. 26 that the district’s proposed fiscal year 2026 operating budget remains under review after a joint finance-and-advisory committee meeting attended by representatives from Bolton, Lancaster and Stow.

At the meeting, the district presented “update number 2” of the budget and explained how the regional agreement allocates assessments across the three towns. “We presented the budget with a lens of the work that we've done to date,” Ross Mulcahren said, adding that the session included questions about required contributions calculated at the state level.

The nut of the discussion centered on two main cost pressures: an unexpected $528,000 increase in health insurance premiums and rising special-education transportation and service costs. Downing said the district had “walked back” some proposed items and removed positions — including deans of students in some cases — to reduce the operating request while seeking other one-time offsets such as higher investment-income assumptions.

Mulcahren said staff performed a line-by-line review and corrected a duplication in the executive summary; after adjustments the operating budget fell by about $27,000 from the version shown at the joint meeting. “We are feeling like we are stretched as far as we can at this point,” he said, while noting the district continues to check details ahead of a final vote.

Downing told the committee he has invited all five members of the Nashoba legislative delegation to meet on March 6 to discuss the district’s fiscal pressures and the broader state-level context. He also described outreach to staff through school office hours and emphasized efforts to preserve critical student-support roles: “The number one pathway to learning is you gotta be in the seat,” he said, describing how a high-school dean’s relationship-building reduced tardiness.

The committee was reminded that the public budget hearing is scheduled for March 5 and that the school committee will vote on the budget at its next meeting. Downing said execution of personnel decisions for the 2025–26 school year could differ from the current presentation depending on enrollment, kindergarten numbers and other factors; he also noted that any movement between cost centers generally requires school committee approval under Massachusetts rules.

The district posted the joint FinCom slide deck and recording online for public review and said the budget book was updated to reflect corrected salary and insurance assumptions. Mulcahren said officials do not anticipate major changes unless new state-level information emerges before the committee’s final vote.

Ending: The committee will host a required public budget hearing on March 5; a final school committee vote on the FY26 operating budget is scheduled at the next regular meeting following that hearing.