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Easton superintendent outlines fiscal-year spending, warns of multi‑million shortfall at town level
Summary
School leaders reviewed the district's second-quarter operating budget and told the School Committee the town faces a roughly $6.3 million deficit that will require cuts, an override or a mix of both. Officials described timing drivers, DESE coding reclassifications and uncertain state and federal aid.
Superintendent Christopher Cabral and Finance Director Andrea (last name not specified in transcript) presented a second‑quarter operating budget report to the Easton School Committee on Feb. 13, 2025, outlining where the district has spent its fiscal 2025 appropriation and warning that the town faces a combined shortfall of about $6.3 million.
The presentation said Easton Public Schools had spent roughly $18.6 million as of Dec. 31, 2024, about 37.4% of the district's $49.7 million operating budget. That compares with 38.6% spent at the same point a year earlier; year‑to‑date spending was about $459,000 higher than the prior year. Director of Finance Andrea (surname not specified) told committee members the differences are mostly timing and a handful of invoices that move from one quarter to another.
Why it matters: Committee members and district leaders said the district is operating with a lean, largely personnel‑based budget. With more than 80% of the town's costs in fixed expenses and payroll, officials told the committee that closing the town's $6.3 million gap will require difficult choices that could include staff reductions unless voters approve an override.
The presentation highlighted several items driving year‑over‑year changes: a 5.5% increase in salaries and wages (about $789,000), timing differences in purchases of services and materials & supplies (including a roughly $172,000 transportation invoice), and a $37,000 increase in "other charges and expenses" driven mainly by higher unemployment insurance costs.
Cabral and Andrea also told the committee that a districtwide reclassification of expense lines to conform with DESE's July 2022 chart of accounts continues to affect cross‑year comparisons. Andrea said roughly $122,000 of a $163,000 increase in the central administration line resulted from reclassifying positions and expenses from other location codes into central admin.
On state and federal aid, the district reported uncertainty. The superintendent said the governor's initial FY26 budget proposal included a $75 per‑pupil minimum aid placeholder — down from $104 this year — and that the proposal could change as it moves through the Legislature. The Business Office also flagged potential shortfalls for the universal free school meals program: the governor's proposal, as presented, would not fully fund a year of universal free breakfast and lunch, producing a potential shortfall the district has previously estimated could be as much as $250,000.
Federal entitlement grants (IDEA, Title grants and others) also appear unsettled for future years, although district staff said entitlement grants for the current fiscal year are expected to be paid through June. The district identified roughly $1 million in IDEA funds and an entitlement (Title 1) allocation that fell from about $290,312 last year to $138,482 this year.
Discussion, next steps: Committee members pressed for more detail on reclassifications and asked for line‑by‑line deltas and pivoted general ledger extracts for follow‑up. The business office said budget managers will be asked to submit purchase orders by April 1 so staff can calculate encumbrances and, if necessary, prepare budget transfers for committee approval. The superintendent and PACE (the town's budget review committee) will continue outreach: the town plans an open house Feb. 26 and the PACE committee will finalize recommendations in late March for the Select Board.
The committee was also told the town's timeline means a final legislative and federal picture may not be known before the district must submit a balanced budget to the town in April. Officials said they will continue refining projections and bring budget transfer requests and clarifying schedules to the committee as needed.
Ending: District leaders urged the public to follow PACE and town budget updates and to attend the Blanche Ames open house and PACE sessions. They said the community will face a choice of service reductions, an override, or some mix of both.
