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Westborough schools propose special-education reserve fund after recent large tuition costs
Summary
The superintendent proposed creating a capped special-education stabilization fund (initial request $150,000) to smooth unpredictable, high-cost out-of-district tuition; the fund would require Town Meeting and dual approval (school committee and select board) to draw.
Superintendent Lisonbee Borchers told the Select Board on Sept. 30 that unpredictable out-of-district special-education tuition can create midyear fiscal emergencies and that a dedicated stabilization fund would help the district respond without asking for emergency appropriations from town meeting.
Borchers outlined the rationale: out-of-district tuition commonly ranges from about $70,000 to more than $250,000 per student annually and transportation and related services add substantially to costs. State 'circuit breaker' reimbursement partially offsets tuition costs but is paid in arrears and varies by year. The proposed fund would be limited by statute to 2% of annual net school spending (roughly $825,000 under the state methodology) and would be accessed only with dual approval from the school committee and the Select Board; deposits would come to the fund by Town Meeting vote.
School leaders proposed an initial deposit of $150,000 to provide immediate protection against large, unexpected tuition costs and recommended building the fund gradually over time. Borchers said the fund would not be used as a recurring budgeting tool; instead it would serve for exceptional, unanticipated cases and then be replenished over subsequent Town Meetings or budget cycles, with circuit-breaker reimbursements applied to budget planning in subsequent years.
Board members supported the principle but asked for additional clarity on governance, reporting, and how reimbursements would be tracked and returned to the fund. The superintendent said processes would be developed with the finance team and reported back prior to any Town Meeting appropriation.
