Tewksbury administration outlines FY27 budget; salaries and health insurance drive request
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
At a Jan. 28 workshop, district business staff presented a FY27 plan requesting a 3.72% increase—about $2.2 million—driven mainly by salary step/longevity costs and a projected 13–15% rise in health insurance; the presentation also flagged lost competitive grant eligibility under the MBTA Communities Act and projected circuit-breaker reimbursements.
Mr. Libby presented the school department’s preliminary FY27 budget at a Jan. 28 workshop, saying the district has requested a 3.72% overall increase, about $2.2 million, from the FY26 level to cover step and lane increases, longevity and other salary costs. "At the end of the day, when it all gets put together, we requested a 3.72% increase," Mr. Libby said.
The request is largely salary-driven: Mr. Libby said salaries typically account for about 70% of the budget and will be about 72.4% in the proposed FY27 figures. He told the committee that the district has planned to advance staff steps and lanes and absorb known retirements and resignations in its baseline calculations.
Libby flagged employee health insurance as a major uncertainty. "We are expecting to see a significant increase in our employee health insurance," he said, citing a Blue Cross Blue Shield estimate of roughly 13–15%. The administration told the committee it is monitoring choices employees may make (including a move to a lower-cost MedEx option) and is consulting with town finance staff about the estimates.
The presentation reviewed enrollment assumptions (projected enrollment near 2,627 students, use of census figures to estimate kindergarten, and an estimated ~80-student drop from grade 8 to grade 9 tied to available technical-school slots), and a district priority to convert some contracted special-education aides to salaried positions to increase permanency and align services.
Mr. Libby also reviewed the district’s revenue mix—local property taxes (roughly 80% of school revenue), state aid (~13%), and local receipts (~7–8%)—and noted that, after negotiations with town officials, the district received a larger share of newly projected revenues this cycle (~63.3% of new revenues for the schools).
On grants, Libby said the district expects to lose eligibility for some competitive state grants because of MBTA Communities Act compliance. "Based on the letter we got from the Department of Education, we're not going to be eligible for those types of grants," he said; entitlement grants tied to federal formulas were not expected to be affected. Committee members asked about program impacts; Libby said the district has already absorbed some costs but cannot sustain further losses without reducing programming or using reserves.
Libby walked the committee through the circuit-breaker special-education reimbursement process and recent trends. He said the district’s regular circuit-breaker claim this year is about $6.2 million and that the budget assumes $4.8 million of reimbursements will be allocated against current-year tuition encumbrances. That approach leaves what he described as a potential cushion that can change quickly with student placements.
The administration said detailed account-level budget figures would be posted to the district website the morning after the workshop and that communication materials (short "pillar" videos) would be shared to help residents understand the budget ahead of town meeting.
Where it stands: the figures presented are preliminary and Libby said the budget will be updated as new revenue information, insurance rates, and student placements are finalized before Town Meeting.