Board reviews FY27 draft showing $1.6 million increase; transportation, class-size mandates and special-education allocations highlighted
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Summary
The board reviewed a preliminary FY27 budget draft that currently shows a roughly $1.6 million increase driven by salary and benefit placeholders, discussed class-size mandates under Act 73, transportation contracting and reallocated special‑education chargebacks; finance staff said draft 2 will refine staffing and contracted services.
Trustees reviewed draft 1 of the Missisquoi Valley School District #89 FY27 budget and spent the bulk of the meeting probing staffing, benefit assumptions and contract timelines.
Laura McAllister, director of finance and operations, told the board that draft 1 represents current staffing plus negotiated and placeholder increases and amounts to roughly a $1.6 million increase over FY26. "Draft 1 is an increase of 1,600,000," she said, and she identified $460,000 of that as benefit increases and about $1.1 million as salary-related increases built into the draft for planning purposes.
McAllister and other administrators walked trustees through several drivers: a negotiated $2,000 step for professional staff, placeholders for nonunion increases, and a reclassification that charges 80% of certain support staff to special education and 20% to general education. McAllister said that shift makes the special-education line look larger even where total district dollars are not dramatically different.
Board members raised operational issues the administration said would be addressed in later drafts: transportation contracting (the current vendor was on a one-year renewal and may be rebid), copier and contracted-service inflation, vacant positions (several vacancies at MVU, Highgate and Franklin), and a proposal to track alternative education costs in a separate object code.
Trustees also discussed Act 73 class-size requirements and the district's plan to align offerings and schedules so schools remain in compliance. Administrators emphasized they are monitoring class-size bands and using scheduling tweaks where needed to meet the standards.
On athletics and extracurriculars, finance staff noted an unresolved conversation about adjusting stipends and adviser compensation; the district is collecting comparative data from other districts before proposing changes. Administrators said the athletic trainer position remains budgeted but currently covered by contract when filled.
McAllister said draft 2 will include more precise contract estimates, staffing adjustments using planned attrition and the next round of negotiations for support staff. The board scheduled additional budget-focused meetings in December and January to present details to the public and solicit comment before formal adoption.
No budget vote was taken; the board directed staff to refine draft 2 with additional detail on cohort impacts, contracted services and revenue estimates.
