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Acton-Boxborough preliminary FY27 model shows $124.5M projection; salaries and health insurance drive gap

Acton-Boxborough Regional School District · October 24, 2025
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Summary

District finance staff presented a multiyear budget model showing a projected FY27 total of about $124.5 million (a 6.4% increase). The largest drivers are salary step/COLA modeling and large health-insurance increases; school leaders debated whether AB Forward or modest class-size changes could meaningfully narrow the gap.

Sherry, the district finance lead, presented a preliminary multiyear budget model and cautioned it is not a formal budget proposal. She said the FY27 projection in the model is roughly $124,500,000 — about a 6.4% increase over FY26 — and described major cost drivers that create a structural gap between projected expenses and available revenue.

Sherry highlighted two primary pressure points: salaries (modeled increases for COLAs, steps and lanes that add roughly $3.8 million in the model, described as approximately a 5.25% increase of the overall budget) and health insurance. She said the district is switching carriers from Aetna (which faced a projected 65% increase) to Blue Cross Blue Shield under a model that applies an 18% projected increase for active employees and a 54% figure for retirees; those health-insurance assumptions account for a large share of the modeled increase.

Committee members and liaisons debated guideline options. Some members urged the administration to model an optimized scenario that combines AB Forward reorganization options with modest class-size increases and other operational levers to illustrate possible ways to reduce recurring costs without eliminating core student-facing services. Others emphasized the political and human costs of cutting staff or raising class sizes: committee members asked for specific case studies and stress-tested scenarios before recommending a ‘level services’ budget to the towns. Liz suggested adding a line to translate percentage changes into town assessments for Acton and Boxborough to make impacts clearer to municipal finance committees.

No budget vote was taken; the budget subcommittee will continue work and expects to bring more developed guideline language and numerical scenarios back to the full committee in November. Sherry and the administration noted that final health-insurance and negotiation outcomes will materially change the out-year forecasts and that some capital savings tied to AB Forward would not close the recurring operating gap alone.