Winthrop administrators outline FY27 budget cuts, capital needs and departmental changes

Superintendent Dr. Foley told the Winthrop School Board that a worksheet circulated to members shows proposed non‑capital reductions of $278,903 that would otherwise have pushed expenditure increases well above 7%; including capital requests from the district’s capital workshop pushes identified needs to more than $3 million.

She encouraged the public to attend a budget‑focused Zoom community meeting on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m. to ask administrators about individual departmental budgets and to learn what voters will decide in June.

Interim transportation director Colleen Souza presented the transportation (Article 8) budget. She said the overall transportation budget is down by a little over 16%, mainly because of reduced salaries/benefits after position reductions and reduced contracted services. Areas of increased spending include equipment repair (+$13,600 projected) and district electricity; Souza noted district‑wide electricity is projected to rise roughly 20% and that electric buses require special battery‑management practices. "We had a phone call with an EPA representative, and he suggested keeping them between 25 and 75 so we can keep the battery," Souza said, noting the district has removed insurance coverage on the electric buses and is awaiting EPA guidance on selling or disposing of them.

Nutrition director Sam Baldwin said the food service budget is expected to increase by about 5.88% for FY27, with roughly 4 percentage points of that due to food‑cost increases; Baldwin emphasized the nutrition program is not asking for local budget contributions and expects more meals served with rising enrollment.

Adult‑education director Josh Farr described a projected small reduction in state subsidy (about $2,000) that could reduce reimbursement; his program plans to use some unallocated enrichment funds as needed and to reallocate staff hours (reducing an administrative assistant role to part‑time while increasing instructor hours) to maintain program offerings without large local increases.

Board members asked technical questions about electric‑bus battery charging thresholds and about how transportation and nutrition costs factor into the proposed budget. Dr. Foley and administrators agreed to bring additional details to upcoming meetings and encouraged community participation at the March 19 in‑person budget forum at the high school.

What’s next: staff will return with more detailed budget breakdowns and comparisons to neighboring districts’ practices, and community meetings will be held to gather public questions prior to the June vote.