School committee reviews FY27 budget lines and approves $900,000 HVAC design for high school geothermal

The Hopkinton School Committee on Thursday reviewed preliminary FY27 budget requests and approved spending to design a high‑school geothermal HVAC system that officials say will position the district for Green Communities and MSBA grant applications.

The committee heard in‑depth budget presentations from student services, buildings and grounds, curriculum, and central office staff as administrators described rising costs driven mainly by negotiated salary steps, increases in specialized transportation and higher out‑of‑district tuition. Miss Speedy, the student services presenter identified in the transcript as the student services lead, told the committee that the FY27 student services budget “does reflect an increase of about 10% from the FY '26 budget,” with personnel costs rising by about $821,000 (roughly 6.5%) and expense lines up about $878,000 (driven largely by tuitions and transportation).

That special‑education increase, she said, is driven in part by salary step increases from negotiated contracts and by higher per‑student charges from out‑of‑district placements and transportation vendors. The presentation noted an anticipated $371,000 rise in specialized transportation and an applied tuition inflation assumption (a 3.69% increase used in the draft projections). Officials said they expect to continue using circuit‑breaker aid and to shift IDEA grant allocations to help offset tuition costs.

Buildings and grounds staff outlined a $207,899 increase to support maintenance across more than 120 acres of district property and additional custodial staffing for Elmwood School as the district prepares for future openings. Tim, the buildings & grounds presenter, said the budget request also includes ordinary escalations for HVAC preventative contracts and a target extraordinary‑maintenance baseline of about $200,000 to cover nonrecurring repairs and replacements.

The curriculum office proposed a $1.99 million FY27 request (a 3.8% increase) that includes a proposed 0.5 FTE ESOL position to bolster preK–K language supports and funding for several textbook adoptions. The central office request — described as largely contractual — includes reserves for negotiated step increases and a rise in regular transportation costs.

Transportation staffing and contractor capacity drew sustained committee concern. Officials said the district currently relies on a vendor (referred to in the discussion as ACCEPT) for many specialized routes; driver shortages have led to some afternoon delays, and adding routes for paired daycare/home stops would require additional buses and driver capacity (a new bus was cited as costing about $85,000). The superintendent said the transportation contract had been extended through 2028.

On capital planning, the committee moved to use existing HVAC articles to fund design and engineering for a high‑school geothermal water‑to‑water heat‑pump project — a design phase estimated to cost up to $900,000 so the district can apply for state and grant funds later. The motion was moved and seconded and passed on a roll‑call vote.

What happens next: staff will continue budget work with the town’s level‑service guidance, present additional departmental budgets in subsequent meetings and finalize the FY27 proposal at the joint meeting with the select board in mid‑December; design work for the HVAC project will move forward to allow subsequent grant applications.