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Superintendent outlines FY27 school budget: $116.6M request, $5.26M projected net school spending increase
Summary
Leominster Public Schools officials presented a FY27 budget plan that ties school-improvement goals to zero-based budget requests, accounts for a potential 6–7% Title I reduction, and requests a $116,573,692 net school budget; the presentation included new CTE grant funding and proposed staffing additions.
Superintendent Robin and finance director Melanie presented the Leominster Public Schools FY27 budget to the city council finance subcommittee, describing a budgeting process that ties school improvement plans to specific funding requests and accounts for a potential reduction in federal Title I grants.
Melanie summarized the numbers and said preliminary net school spending is projected to rise by about $5.26 million, driven in part by Chapter 70 foundation adjustments and required local contributions. The district is budgeting wage and benefit increases tied to contractual obligations and requests funding for 950 full-time-equivalent positions in total. "Preliminary net school spending is projected to increase by 5.26 million," she told the committee.
The district noted it recently won a competitive $1.27 million grant from the Healey-Driscoll administration to expand technical-education pathways at the high school, a three-year award intended to grow career-technical offerings. Officials also said they built a conservative assumption for a Title I reduction (they used a 15% planning scenario earlier; more recent estimates put the likely cut at about 6–7%).
Superintendent and finance staff identified drivers: contractual wage adjustments, benefit cost increases (a requested 12% increase for benefits), special-education costs mitigated by circuit-breaker reimbursements and indirect charges from city services. Melanie presented a requested net-school budget total of $116,573,692 and said the district will track whether program purchases tied to school-improvement plans deliver measurable results.
Councilors asked detailed questions about indirect charges the city bills to schools, enrollment shifts that affect Chapter 70 aid, school choice and CTE enrollment (about 220–250 choicing students), and the possibility of offering evening adult-education CTE programming. Officials said new positions would be evaluated against outcomes and that some new programs will require certification and multi-agency work before launch.
The committee had no final vote on school funding at this meeting; the presentation provided the administration’s proposed numbers and rationale ahead of formal appropriation decisions.
