Hopkinton presentation: FY26 school budget seeks 6.41% increase, committee approves several gifts and policy items

Hopkinton Superintendent Dr. Kavanaugh presented the Hopkinton Public Schools proposed fiscal year 2026 operating budget and recommended staffing additions during the joint School Committee and Select Board meeting on Jan. 9, 2025.

The district’s FY26 operating request would raise salaries by $2,900,000 (reported as a 4.74 percent increase) and increase expenses by a little more than $1,000,000 (reported as 1.67 percent), producing a total operating increase of 6.41 percent, district finance staff said. Officials described the operating budget as largely people-driven, noting roughly 80 percent of operating spending is salary and benefits.

Why it matters: School committee members said the budget reflects enrollment growth, higher special‑education costs and contractual obligations. Committee members and district leaders emphasized limits on where cuts could be made without reducing student-facing services.

Budget highlights and staffing requests - Current preK–12 enrollment reported in the presentation: 4,251 students; the district discussed several enrollment projections, including earlier forecasts of about 4,290–4,416 and a 2020 projection of 4,355 that staff said they are electing to use for planning. - Staffing requests described in the presentation: a shared 1.0 FTE intensive special‑needs teacher split between Elmwood and Marathon (presented as 0.5/0.5), an assistant principal at Elmwood (1.0 FTE), a 1.0 FTE reading tutor at Hopkins School, a 0.6 FTE computer science teacher, a 1.0 FTE French teacher at the high…