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Winthrop School Board reviews FY27 budget proposal stressing safety, student achievement and facility repairs
Summary
Superintendent Dr. Fulby presented a FY27 budget proposal with a proposed 5.2% expenditure increase focused on safety (grade-school cameras, $50,000), student achievement (new intervention staffing) and a raised capital repairs line; administrators will provide detailed cost breakdowns at upcoming meetings and a public forum is set for March 19.
Superintendent Dr. Fulby presented the Winthrop Public Schools proposed FY27 budget, describing it as “about more than numbers on a page” and as an investment aimed at safety, student achievement and capital maintenance.
The draft would raise expenditures by about 5.2%, the administration said, driven largely by rising salaries, benefits and higher electricity costs. To limit an initially higher projection, the district trimmed several positions and reduced some administrative hours; the draft still includes targeted additions and one-time capital requests.
Key proposals in the presentation included installing security cameras at the grade school (estimated cost $50,000), increasing the capital repairs line from $100,000 to $150,000, and adding $5,000 to the turf reserve (which currently holds $21,000) to prepare for eventual replacement. The superintendent said more than $2 million in building repairs has been identified districtwide.
On student achievement, administrators highlighted district initiatives — expanded pre-K, universal breakfast and lunch, response-to-intervention programs and recent hires including two technology support positions and .5 interventionists at the middle and high schools. Dr. Fulby cited NWEA results showing reading proficiency rising from 69% to 73% and math increasing from 64% to 69% overall, while calling out a decline in 7th-grade math and a lower-performing current 8th-grade cohort that will require targeted supports.
To address those needs the budget requests two staffing adjustments: restructuring the middle-school librarian role to create a middle-level math interventionist at no additional cost, and expanding multilingual learner support from 0.2 to 0.5 districtwide.
The superintendent said the district will receive an additional $589,382 in state subsidy for FY27 tied to enrollment growth (36 new students, roughly a 4.5% increase). He warned that some requested items were not funded in the draft, including an additional 0.5 science teacher at the high school, another edtech at the grade school, expanded intervention positions, fencing at the grade school and some professional development.
Administrators will present detailed budget lines at the next board meeting. The district will host a community forum on March 19 at 6 p.m. at the high school for informal conversations about budget cost centers.
The presentation closed with Dr. Fulby urging the board to view the proposal as intentional investment in students’ future. The board asked for a cost estimate of the unfunded list; Dr. Fulby said he would prepare that for the next meeting.
