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Finance director: Woburn Public Schools FY26 draft shows 8.46% increase; personnel costs drive request
Summary
Finance Director Alex Dizio presented an updated FY26 draft showing an 8.46% increase driven largely by salaries, out-of-district tuitions, transportation and utilities. Administration trimmed some lines—horizontal lane changes and two paraprofessional requests—bringing the number down slightly from the prior draft.
Woburn Public Schools Finance Director Alex Dizio updated the School Committee on the district’s FY26 draft budget, reporting a roll-forward request of $98,014,209, an 8.46% year-over-year increase.
Dizio said the district’s two principal roll-forward scenarios are: (1) a salary-only roll-forward (6.2% in the materials) and (2) a roll-forward that includes contractual obligations such as out-of-district tuition, transportation and utilities (7.6%). The current draft at 8.46% reflects the district’s pending personnel requests plus contractual increases.
Dizio described adjustments made since the committee last met: lane-change costs (teachers moving on the salary schedule) came in lower than projected after the March 3 lane-change deadline, reducing costs by roughly $78,000; two paraprofessional positions were removed from the new-positions list because they could be accommodated in the operating budget (saving roughly $61,000); and tuition reimbursement was cut by about $12,000 to match typical actuals.
The finance director said about 75% of the increase is salary-driven and about 16% reflects other contractual obligations; the remainder of the budget covers supplies, maintenance and technology. Dizio and the superintendent told the committee they will continue line-by-line review and that future reductions without staffing changes would be limited.
Several committee members asked whether additional reductions could be found short of staff cuts; Dizio said most remaining adjustments would come from personnel decisions (retirements or not backfilling positions) or from timing decisions for new hires. Members also discussed a proposed full-time substitute or shared-substitute model for elementary coverage; the administration explained that principals requested extra substitute coverage to stabilize elementary staffing and that the district had placed funding for increased substitute capacity in the draft budget for committee consideration.
The committee agreed to continue refining the draft and to consider whether the committee is prepared to release a proposed budget and hold a public hearing. Superintendent Crowley noted the district will submit an update to the city and planned to present modular-classroom funding requests to the city council on March 18.
Ending
The committee asked staff to continue a focused review of personnel-driven lines and to return with a revised draft at the next meeting; members discussed putting the draft forward for public hearing if edits are completed in time.
