Regional committee approves FY27 budget, withdraws $675,000 from reserves and OKs $477,000 in capital assessments

The Northborough–Southborough Regional School Committee voted Feb. 25 to adopt a $31,416,287 recommended budget for fiscal 2027, a 5.81% increase from FY26, and approved related measures to reduce the member assessment.

Becky, the district finance lead, said the recommended budget represents a $2,071,974 increase and attributed most of the growth to special‑education transportation, out‑of‑district tuition and collaborative placements, health‑insurance costs and salary increases. "There are really five line items that are driving this budget," she told the committee, noting those categories account for roughly 59% of the total proposed increase.

The administration said it used a mix of strategies to bring the budget to a fiscally defensible level: applying FY26 circuit breaker funds (about $724,000), planning to use $100,000 of FY27 circuit breaker funds, and identifying roughly $1.3 million in reductions, including approximately 5.5 FTE reductions largely via attrition. Becky said those changes reduced the original departmental requests (which had totaled a much larger increase) to the present recommendation.

To lower how much each town will pay, the committee voted unanimously to withdraw $675,000 from the district's excess and deficiency (E&D) balance and apply it to the FY27 operational budget. The committee also approved six capital projects totaling $477,000; by the district's allocation method Northborough would bear about 61.26% of that assessment and Southborough 38.74%.

Chair Jennifer (Jen) put each motion to a roll call. The FY27 budget motion (moved by Paul; seconded by Sean) passed unanimously. Joan moved — and the committee seconded — the E&D withdrawal; that motion also passed unanimously. The $477,000 capital assessment motion passed on a unanimous roll call.

Greg and Becky said the administration will continue to refine health‑insurance estimates and seek competitive bids for special‑education transportation, including separating quotes for in‑district, out‑of‑district and McKinney‑Vento routes to attract more vendors. "If we can do those separately, maybe we can attract different vendors and get better pricing," Becky said.

Next steps: the budget was scheduled to move to town appropriation committees and then to the district's public hearing and town meetings in April. The superintendent and finance staff said they will continue outreach with both towns' finance boards and select boards to explain drivers behind the assessment.