Farmington Board recommends $83.24 million 2025–26 budget; discusses state excess-cost funding and special-education staffing

The Farmington Board of Education voted Feb. 3 to recommend a $83,240,983 budget for the 2025–26 school year — a 4.65% increase over the prior year — and discussed how potential state changes to excess-cost special-education funding could affect the district’s local share.

Board President Bill Beckert, speaking at the meeting, moved the budget recommendation to the Farmington Town Council; the motion carried. The board also approved the second reading of district policy 6,153 and 6,153a on field trips and established a personnel search committee to lead the superintendent search.

Why it matters: much of the district’s projected bottom line hinges on whether the state increases its contribution to excess-cost special-education funding. Superintendent Kathy and district staff described calculations and scenarios during the board’s budget review, and principals used the board’s post-workshop meeting to highlight classroom needs that informed the request.

District staff member Dan summarized internal estimates for how state funding would change the district’s budget calculations. “We did look at calculations if we, adjusted the, you know, the excess cost calculator and if we were getting fully funded, per from the state of Connecticut, at a %, we would probably be in the the I'd say low 3% in there,” Dan said, describing a hypothetical full‑funding scenario. He later said a 70% state funding level would move the district to “low fours.” Dan cautioned that the calculations include variables and estimates of how much the district will apply for in excess-cost reimbursement.

Superintendent Kathy told the board the governor’s office had proposed adding $40,000,000 in excess-cost funding “next year and the year after,” but stressed any state proposal must still pass the legislature and go through the state budget process before Farmington could rely on it.

Principals and special-education leaders addressed the board during the meeting’s post-workshop presentations to explain specific staffing and program requests that shape the budget. Carolyn, a principal, described the district’s specialized learning centers for students with autism and urged support for a requested 1.0 full-time-equivalent (FTE) faculty position for an elementary specialized learning center: “Our students with autism ... are general education students first,” she said, and the SLC classrooms provide individualized programming that allows students “access to as much of the general education curriculum as is possible.”

The Westwoods principal reported a large enrollment year and a planned roof project funded by a previous bond. Westwoods requested an additional sixth-grade teacher FTE to keep classroom ratios near 24:1 instead of growing to about 25–25.5:1 as student transfers have increased. The principal also said the school will host four to five pre-K classes in partnership with Excel and noted work is needed to make bathrooms and fixtures suitable for younger children.

Wendy, the district’s director of special services, said the district is working to keep students in-district when possible and highlighted partnerships to avoid out-of-district placements: “We will continue to work to keep all of our students in district through, creative ideas like this partnership with CTBH.” She also said out-of-district placements remain part of the continuum of services when the district cannot meet a student’s needs in-district.

Board members probed budget assumptions, including the choice to use a 55% local budgeting assumption for excess cost and whether the town might accept a higher initial budget ask if state funding materializes. One board member said raising the local budget now would be risky because excess-cost reimbursements are largely reimbursements rather than upfront funds.

The board also established a nine-member personnel search committee to recommend candidates to replace Superintendent Kathy. The board instructed the superintendent’s office to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for search firms to assist the committee; the chair said the process should be transparent and apolitical and that additional procedural details would follow.

Votes at a glance: - Budget recommendation: Motion to recommend to the Farmington Town Council a 2025–26 budget of $83,240,983 (4.65% increase). Motion moved and seconded; chair announced the motion carried. (Transcript contains an ambiguous tally statement: the chair said “That would be 6 7 to 1.” The precise roll-call tally was not read aloud.) - Field-trip policy: Motion to approve second reading of Policy 6,153 and 6,153a (field trips). Motion moved and seconded; vote recorded as aye and the motion carried. - Superintendent search committee: Motion to establish a personnel search committee and appoint board members as committee members (Bill Beckert; Andrea Sabinski; Sylvie Binet; Nadine Canto; Angela Cianci; Beth Kittner; Erica Norakowski; James Ratcliffe; Martin Skelly). Motion moved and seconded; vote recorded as aye and the motion carried.

What’s next: The board’s budget recommendation will go to the Farmington Town Council for consideration as part of the municipal budget process. The superintendent’s office will issue an RFP for search firms; the search committee will set a schedule after proposals are received.

(Quotes in this report are taken verbatim from the Feb. 3, 2025 Farmington Board of Education meeting transcript.)