Melissa Connor and Stafford staff presented the technical center's proposed FY27 budget and explained how the center calculates town tuition using a six‑semester average.

Connor said salary and benefits account for about 72% of Stafford's budget and that projected health-care costs were modeled this year at approximately 7.3%. To hold down the tuition impact, the center moved one preschool paraeducator from the local budget to preschool revenue and made roughly $360,000 in cuts to program instruction and administrative expenses. Those changes, combined with other adjustments, reduced the center's initial tuition ask from about 14.7% to roughly 4% lower than the earliest draft.

Kate, who walked board members through the tuition calculation, noted that a town pays based on the six‑semester average rather than current headcount. She cited Rutland City as an example: although 41 students lived in the city as of Oct. 15, the six‑semester average used for billing is 49.174, meaning the city is billed on that historic average rather than only the current attendees.

The presentation set Stafford's proposed tuition for FY27 at $23,205 per student, a 4.2% increase from the prior calculation. Administrators stressed the uncertainty around federal grants, noting the Perkins allocation is typically confirmed in March; Stafford's packet estimates an anticipated Perkins allocation of about $343,000 for FY27 but cautioned that federal grant levels can change.

Next steps: Stafford will present the same materials to its Regional Advisory Board on December 3 and will return to the Rutland City School Board on December 9 seeking ratification of the budget and a motion to accept federal Perkins funds (the acceptance motion would not include a dollar amount until grants are finalized).