Easton school leaders present lean FY27 budget as Title I funding hangs in the balance

The Easton School Committee heard a presentation March 12 on a proposed fiscal 2027 budget that district leaders called lean but stable, while warning of a looming risk to federal Title I funding that could require using one-time reserves.

"This is going to be presented as a reactive or essential budget," Superintendent Dr. Cabra said at the start of the hearing, outlining a process accelerated this year because of town-level conversations about possible overrides. Director Spagna told the committee the budget assumes contractual salary obligations and step-and-lane movements, and that several one-time FY26 costs (retirement incentives, elevated unemployment) are not repeated in FY27.

The district's presenters put the proposed operating total at roughly $50.1 million and said the FY27 plan reflects about $1.4 million less than FY26, with salaries remaining the largest line. "Salaries remain level based on the updated personnel supplement," Spagna said, adding that the budget preserves current staffing levels under current projections.

Much of the hearing centered on risk to federal entitlement grants. Staff reported a sharp drop in the district's measured poverty rate and warned that Easton could lose Title I funds that this year stood at about $346,126. "In that happening, we risk losing all Title I funds," Spagna said, noting an estimated federal rate decline toward 2.97 percent that would put the district under the three-percent threshold used in the state's distribution. He said the state's minimum aid per pupil is statutory at $30 but can be higher and is currently uncertain.

Officials described contingency options if Title I were reduced or lost: shifting some positions temporarily to revolving accounts, applying special-education offsets and circuit breaker revenue, or using one-time reserves. "We could move interventionists into the operating budget if we move something else to a different grant," Spagna said, but he cautioned these approaches are short-term and cannot substitute for sustainable funding.

Special-education out-of-district tuition and placements emerged as another pressure point. The presentation previewed a one-time prepayment of $500,000 in out-of-district tuition and applying more than $1.3 million in special-education offsets to reduce the operating impact in FY27; staff warned the special-education revolving fund could be depleted by FY2028 under current assumptions.

Committee members asked about the timing of final entitlement awards (typically mid-July but sometimes later), what revolving accounts could be used, and whether changes in federal census metrics could explain the poverty-rate swing. Spagna said the district is challenging the metric drop with the state and federal offices and will report back as the numbers are finalized.

The committee did not vote on the FY27 budget at the March 12 hearing; members asked staff to continue monitoring grant awards, contract negotiations and enrollment trends and to return with additional detail on revolving-account use and contingency plans.