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Nashoba budget update shows 3.72% operating increase after $1M in offsets; public hearing set
Summary
Assistant Superintendent Ross presented Budget Update No. 2 including an $80,000 placeholder for a new transportation coordinator, roughly $1 million in expense reductions and offsets, and a net FY27 operating increase of 3.72%; committee members pressed for clarity on insurance rates, offsets, and grant accounting ahead of public hearings and votes in March.
The Nashoba Regional School Committee received Budget Update No. 2, which staff said includes an $80,000 placeholder for the newly approved transportation coordinator and a package of expense reductions and offsets that together produce a net FY27 operating increase of 3.72.
Assistant Superintendent Ross opened the presentation and described the update as mainly fiscal. He told members the budget includes an $80,000 estimate for the coordinator and that the update incorporates offsets such as increased circuit-breaker special-education reimbursements, athletic user fees, and anticipated state and grant revenues.
Superintendent Kirk Downing and Ross walked the committee through proposed expense reductions including a $188,000 salary-line adjustment (noting negotiations with bargaining units could change that figure), a $91,000 reduction in technology hardware spending (smartboard/projector line), and reallocation of athletic revolving fund balances to offset athletics transportation costs. The presenters said those and other adjustments produced just over $1 million in reductions and a net FY27 change just under $950,000.
Committee members pressed for specificity. Scott asked about an apparent discrepancy between an 11.5% insurance-rate increase (a single-plan rate cited by staff) and a smaller net budget impact; Ross explained the 11.5% figure reflects a plan-level rate while the budget's aggregate increase is moderated by lower headcount, opt-outs and offsets, producing the smaller year-to-year net percent. Amy and others sought clarity on how revolving accounts and school-choice revenues are applied as offsets; staff said they apply traditional offset conventions and cautioned against treating one-time balances as recurring revenue.
Downing also described declining kindergarten enrollment figures used to justify reducing two kindergarten sections: "two of our schools, Mary Rollinsson and Florence Sawyer, we have captured 56 kindergarteners... At Center School, we are at 43." He said those are historically low counts and the district would retain flexibility to add sections if enrollment changes.
What happens next: staff will present the joint finance committee package at a public hearing, hold the committee's final update next week and bring the proposed FY27 budget for a vote in two weeks; towns will then proceed to their town meeting processes.
