Winchester board debates FY27 budget and explores reclaiming 7th grade from Gilbert to cut costs

WINCHESTER, Feb. 12, 2026 — The Winchester Board of Education spent a special budget workshop scrutinizing a proposed FY27 operating budget and probing options to reduce a projected $2.5 million increase, including an idea to stop sending seventh graders to the Gilbert School.

Public comment opened the meeting. A speaker who identified himself as a state representative, Jay, told the board Winchester has received substantial grant funding in recent years "above and beyond ECS" and urged local advocacy in Hartford to protect and revise Education Cost Sharing (ECS) calculations. "Above and beyond ECS, this town has garnered over $18 million," he said, urging careful local planning as state funding pools shrink.

Why it matters: the superintendent's proposal lists a total operating budget of about $27.5 million but, after the town's ECS credit, the amount presented to taxpayers would be roughly $19.7 million; board members spent much of the meeting clarifying how those numbers are reported and which figure should be emphasized to the town manager and taxpayers.

A motion from a board member asked the four Winchester-appointed members of the Gilbert School Corporation to call a special Gilbert meeting and place on its agenda a motion to rescind the Gilbert board's Feb. 11 approval of the Gilbert tuition bill (the motion cited a $10,471,670 tuition figure). That motion was seconded and heavily debated; defenders of the Gilbert action said Gilbert had answered questions at its meeting and that the corporation is a separate vendor that makes its own operational decisions. The Board of Education voted and the motion failed, recorded as six votes against and three in favor.

The superintendent walked the board through a set of reduction scenarios intended to show what various cuts would mean in practice. She said about $965,000 of the district's $2.5 million increase supports K–6 wages and benefits and that 99.64% of the current budget is fixed by law or contract. "Every penny in this budget is accounted for and none of it is fluff," she told the board, and warned that many proposed reductions would eliminate staff or mandated services rather than trimming nonessential spending.

Faced with difficult tradeoffs, the superintendent described a more substantial alternative to deep across-the-board cuts: reclaiming seventh grade from the Gilbert School. Gilbert had published a per-pupil tuition figure of roughly $24,226; the superintendent estimated that not sending an anticipated 76 seventh-graders to Gilbert could reduce tuition payments by about $1.8 million and, after hiring teachers and outfitting four classrooms, yield roughly $1.3 million in net savings. She cautioned the strategy could be complex and might prompt negotiation or litigation with Gilbert, and noted timing is critical because Gilbert uses Oct. 1 enrollment data when setting budgets and placements.

Board members and administrators discussed feasibility: space and schedule constraints within Winchester schools, transportation and bus tiers, special-education responsibilities and legal timing for changing placements. The board asked staff to research whether the per-pupil tuition would actually be reduced in practice, what commitments Gilbert had already made for next year, and what operational steps (staffing, textbooks, furniture) would be required to absorb an extra grade.

Staffing additions were a second major theme. The superintendent and administrators defended requests for behavioral supports (a second board-certified behavior analyst and behavior technicians), lunch monitors and additional custodial time as tied to student safety, mandated services and school climate. The superintendent said lunch monitors and a modest Gilbert budget adjustment were among the few items she would be willing to consider removing if the board needed near-term cuts.

Next steps: the board withdrew an on-the-floor motion and directed the superintendent to return with more detailed information, including cost estimates and legal/operational implications of bringing back seventh grade. Members tentatively scheduled a follow-up workshop for Thursday, Feb. 19, at 6 p.m. No final vote to adopt the FY27 budget was recorded at the meeting.

Attendance and context: the meeting included board members who were recorded in roll call, public commenters and Winchester school administrators, including the head of school, Susie, and other staff who answered operational questions during the budget review.