Superintendent warns of state-aid cut and staffing trade-offs in Lincoln FY27 budget presentation

Superintendent Kevin McKenna told the Lincoln Budget Board on Jan. 20 that the school district’s proposed FY27 operating budget faces a substantial revenue hit tied to the governor’s proposed budget and the loss of a temporary enrollment buffer. “It’s a 2 part hit, and then it’s $291,000 less,” McKenna said, adding the administration counted an almost $500,000 swing in its planning and will recommend using $150,000 of the district’s fund balance to limit this year’s request.

McKenna and Melissa Devine, the school district’s business administrator, front-loaded the most consequential numbers and program risks the board will consider this spring. The administration presented a proposed overall levy ask of 3.75 percent and said compensation and benefits remain the main drivers: recently negotiated teacher-contract increases of just under 3 percent, an assumed 5 percent increase in medical rates and higher utilities and transportation costs. “We were able to not ask the town for anything” last year because of generous state aid, McKenna said, but this year’s projections are considerably lower.

Why it matters: reduced state aid and the expiration of an enrollment funding buffer together tighten the town’s ability to absorb routine cost growth. McKenna said the district built conservative grant and Medicaid revenue assumptions and will use a modest amount of fund balance rather than adopt a structurally higher tax request if state aid improves later.

Key proposals and program impacts included a net staffing reduction of roughly 2.5 positions to reach the 3.75 percent target, retention of grant-funded positions (Title I, IDEA) where possible, and targeted investments in curriculum leadership at the elementary level. McKenna described particular pressures in early-childhood and special-education services, noting several pre-K students newly eligible for services will require one-on-one nursing and additional supports.

Administrators also described capital and operational pressures. Devine said the district’s contract with First Student for transportation has exhausted allowable extensions and must be rebid; industry estimates the next contract could rise by 9–15 percent, so the district will pursue consortium bidding with neighboring municipalities to improve leverage. The board discussed a multi-year capital tracking approach for cameras and intercom systems and prioritized safety projects, HVAC work and paving that administrators said are near-term needs.

Procurement and transparency questions took center stage in board discussion. Several members expressed concern that vendor quotes appearing in the capital packet could be interpreted as firm proposals during a later public bid, exposing the district to legal risk. Devine and board members agreed to redact vendor names in informational backup and to require updated estimates no older than three to six months for capital requests.

In a separate operational disclosure, Devine described a recent failure of the district’s accounting/payroll software that briefly jeopardized payroll processing. “We might not be able to make payroll this week because the system’s down,” she said, recounting the outage that prompted the administration to accelerate evaluation of alternative systems and to propose a budget line to fund new accounting software if needed.

The board approved the prior meeting minutes by voice vote at the start of the session and asked administrators to return with redacted procurement backup, a prioritized capital reconciliation, updated transportation bid specifications, and a plan for accounting-system replacement options and costs. The administration said it will also provide the board with a spreadsheet inventory showing capital equipment end-of-life by school to support multi-year planning.

The board scheduled continued review of the FY27 request and the administration’s follow-up materials ahead of a public hearing and subsequent vote on the tax request later this spring.