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Finance subcommittee lays out January'March timeline for level-services budget and community input
Summary
The Finance Subcommittee presented a public timeline showing the committee will vote a level-services budget in late January and seek wider community input through February and early March before adopting a recommended budget by mid-March for town meeting preparation.
The School Committee's Finance Subcommittee presented a clarified timeline on Jan. 16 that frames the FY-26 process: a public hearing on the district's level-services budget on Jan. 23 (6:30 p.m., in person at the high school), a School Committee vote on a level-services budget at the end of January, an extended period for community and staff input in February and early March, and a School Committee vote on a recommended budget by about March 15 to inform town meeting and the town manager's process.
Subcommittee chair and finance staff showed a revised budget layout that redistributed certain district positions and digital learning staff into building budgets while keeping core IT FTE and district-wide subscriptions at the central IT line. Finance director Michael Marin (appearing as Mr. Marin in the transcript) noted the reclassification is intended to make it clearer where staffing and software costs sit across schools and district functions.
Why it matters: The committee said the revised timeline gives more time in February and March to gather staff and community feedback than in a typical compressed calendar where a public hearing is followed quickly by a vote. Committee members emphasized that the Jan. 30 (end-of-January) vote on the level-services budget establishes a floor for planning while the March recommended-budget vote gives the committee time to consider additional requests and community priorities before town meeting.
Logistics and outreach: Superintendent Hackett and committee leaders said they will solicit input from parent associations, WINPAC, staff surveys and possibly student groups; the district already ran a staff survey. The committee also noted the governor's FY-26 proposal will not be finalized until late January and that the town manager and Finance Committee processes run in parallel. The committee asked staff to make the timeline graphic and the "preliminary level services" framing clear when public materials are posted to ensure residents understand the difference between the floor vote and the final recommended budget.
Provenance: Finance subcommittee materials and the timeline graphic were presented during the finance update portion of the Jan. 16 meeting.
