Maynard superintendent requests $25.575 million FY27 budget, seeks three priority positions

Superintendent Hos asked the Maynard School Committee on Dec. 11 to approve a $25,575,000 FY27 operating budget that he said supports current contractual obligations and targeted additions to classroom and student supports.

Hos framed the request as focused on sustaining instruction while responding to rising costs, especially special-education tuition. "We want to ensure resources are effectively supporting student learning, well-being and equitable access to high quality education for all of our students," Hos said during the presentation.

The superintendent outlined three prioritized staffing asks included in the request: reinstating a fifth-grade teacher; adding a high-school PE and health teacher (to bolster a new health pathway and meet compliance requirements); and hiring an athletic trainer to provide proactive care for student-athletes. Hos said the district had deliberately limited the ask to those three positions after weighing a larger list of needs.

Hos also reviewed district revenue and grant activity: entitlement grants listed in the presentation totaled just over $600,000, while competitive grants realized so far were described as just under $200,000. He noted long-term trends — enrollment growth, higher special-education tuition and salary costs that account for roughly 80% of the budget — as drivers of the request.

Committee members pressed for details about how the district would close the gap between the superintendent's request and the town's preliminary figure. Hos said town officials had proposed a figure the district could "put out" of approximately $25,217,000, leaving roughly a $350,000 difference that the district and town would need to work to resolve. He said the committee could pursue a wait-and-see approach on pending state funding and grants before finalizing which positions to fund if the gap remained.

Several members urged clear, written explanations for any staffing changes that will appear to the public and to town meeting voters; one member asked that the packet describe why a fifth-grade teacher had been cut previously and why it should be reinstated now. District staff said they would post the budget presentation and appendices online for public review.

Superintendent Hos said the district was balancing immediate operating needs with a longer list of desired interventions, such as additional interventionists or a bus, that were not included in this year's primary ask because they would create a larger, harder-to-close delta. "We worked hard to narrow it to three asks so that our number and the town's number is only that delta is 350 and so yes that's a big number," he said.

Next steps: The budget presentation will be posted online and the committee will continue discussions with town finance staff and monitor pending state grant decisions that could affect the FY27 request.