Board hears staffing and program additions tied to new STEM special, mental-health supports and standards-aligned materials

District academic and human-resources leaders told the board that staffing and curricular changes are major components of the 2025–26 expense plan.

Dr. Wendy Toll, speaking to enrollment and staffing projections, said the packet shows a budgeted net increase of 15.6 full-time-equivalent positions for next year. She said eight of those 15.6 positions are specifically required to staff a new elementary and middle-school STEM special, three are special-education positions driven by caseload limits, two are elementary reading specialists intended for direct instruction and assessment, and one full-time-equivalent is allotted to increase English-language-development coverage between middle and high school. Toll also said the plan includes two school psychologists, a full-time mental-health specialist, an additional 0.2 FTE in nursing split between elementary and middle levels, and an expected 0.5 FTE increase in core elementary classroom staffing (likely kindergarten).

Dr. Anthony Stevenson reviewed non-instructional staffing adjustments. He said administration proposes an increase of 3.1 custodial FTEs to support the new athletic fields (one dedicated for athletics needs plus two floaters intended to replace some outsourced vendor costs). Stevenson said maintenance would increase by two FTEs (one for athletic-field needs; one covering construction-site security that may be reassigned later). He reported a 0.8 reduction in secretarial FTEs under consideration and no change in security or food-service staffing. Overall staff counts in the packet totaled about 793.8 FTEs, an increase of roughly 18.08 from the baseline cited in the presentation.

Toll and other administrators also described curriculum changes tied to state science standards. Dr. Toll said the district is in the process of adopting new K–8 science resources to align instruction with revised state standards effective in 2025–26; the presentation lists an estimated one-time materials cost of $1,700,000 for textbooks and related resources (with computers and other equipment separately budgeted). She said the district plans to begin phasing in a new math resource for grades 5 and 6 next year and that the instructional-committee process will continue through May.

Board members pressed staff on whether some of the larger line items are one-time costs. Dr. Hodinski and others asked whether textbook adoption and STEM start-up costs are expected to persist; Toll and Stevenson said the textbook/materials figure is primarily a one-time expense for alignment to new standards, while some recurring consumable and replacement costs will continue. In public comment, resident Julie Meseros asked about unfunded or underfunded state mandates; McDonnell and Toll pointed to special education and the science-standards transition as examples of mandated or required activities that create district expense.

Administrators said they will continue to refine staffing and curriculum cost estimates ahead of the proposed-final budget on April 28.