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Westford finance director warns of tight FY26 closeout as facilities and special‑education costs bite
Summary
Director of finance Jenny Lynn told the Westford School Committee the district’s $69.4 million FY26 budget is tracking close to full utilization and that a combination of heating/utility spikes, special‑education tuition and transportation costs has produced pressures that could leave a projected FY26 closeout deficit of about $100,000–$150,000 after offsets.
Jenny Lynn, Westford Public Schools’ director of finance, told the School Committee that the district’s FY26 budget is nearly fully used and faces several uncontrollable cost pressures.
“We are getting really close to the full budget usage by the end of the fiscal year,” Lynn said, reporting a system‑wide utilization rate of about 99.1% (which rose to 99.5% at a subsequent run). Lynn said the district’s $69.4 million operating budget has $42.3 million in expenditures and $26.4 million in encumbrances, leaving a projected balance of about $627,000.
Lynn identified five primary pressure points: special‑education out‑of‑district tuition, special‑education contracted services, transportation (including homeless and foster‑care routes), heating and electricity, and building‑security and repair costs. She said the combined deficits in those areas approach $1.2 million before offsets.
The finance director highlighted several specific drivers. Special‑education out‑of‑district tuition and collaborative placements continued to produce a multi‑hundred‑thousand‑dollar exposure, though changes in student status (aging out, withdrawal, graduation) reduced projected deficits from the prior quarter. Transportation costs included a substantial special‑education transportation shortfall and added charges for homeless and foster‑care transport. Lynn also described a contract fuel‑escalation clause tied to diesel prices; the district’s threshold in the vendor contract was presented as $4.39 per diesel gallon, and Lynn said current diesel prices were roughly $5.89 per gallon, requiring encumbrances to cover the expected billings.
Facilities costs were another major driver: custodial overtime and substitute costs rose in recent years (partly weather‑related), and repair bills for fire‑alarm systems and related building‑security work have accelerated. Lynn said two capital requests for alarm‑panel replacements were approved at town meeting for FY27 (Miller and another school), and warned other schools could need capital work in subsequent years.
Lynn outlined mitigation steps. The town transferred a $70,000 reserve to help cover snow‑and‑ice overtime, and the district transferred $40,000 to the water enterprise fund in exchange for roughly $80,000 in net‑metering credit to offset electricity costs. After applying offsets and projected savings, Lynn and administrators said current projections narrow the likely FY26 closeout to roughly $100,000–$150,000 in deficit rather than the larger headline $1.2 million sum.
Committee members asked about controllable levers and longer‑term solutions, including whether some utility and facilities costs should be budgeted or administered differently. Lynn and committee members discussed looking for additional closeout savings, tracking town fuel‑escalation treatment, and continuing to monitor special‑education and transportation caseload changes.
The committee took no formal action beyond discussion; Lynn said she would return with updated closeout information as end‑of‑year obligations settle.
