Schools hopeful for FY27 as budget pressures wane
FinCom celebrated the declining bill at CCHS due to enrollment shifts, but challenged planners to trim their K-8 budget.
Fresh off a year of tough decisions, school officials are cautiously optimistic about their upcoming budget.
Federal cuts are threatening some funding, and tumult in Carlisle could have long-term effects, but Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Robert Conry still sounded upbeat in a recent budget update.
The Finance Committee took note — and is now pressing for more savings.
“We don’t have the same pressures that we did last year,” Conry told FinCom. “We’re in decent shape.”
Among the tailwinds, the state’s closure of its emergency shelter on Elm Street means Acton’s K-8 schools, in particular, are saving on transportation. Conry and schools Superintendent Laurie Hunter said a surge of students needing out-of-district special education placements is also waning.
Among possible pain points, Conry flagged aging HVAC systems at Acton-Carlisle High School that could need replacing.
Federal Title I grants worth $70,754 in the K-8 system and $27,625 at the high school last year could be in line for a 20% cut this year, Conry said.
Title I grants aim to help close achievement gaps, especially in high-poverty areas. Acton’s allocation is small compared to many other districts.
Larger grants under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that cover special education services are, theoretically, on more solid ground. But Hunter said experts are worried staffing issues will stall disbursements.
Special education
FinCom sets guidelines as nonbinding recommendations for annual budget increases.
Last year, panelists took the novel step of excluding the cost of out-of-district special education placements from their calculation. Officials credited that move with warmer relations between FinCom and the schools in the run-up to 2025 Town Meeting.
But FinCom voted on October 30 to put out-of-district tuition back into their preliminary guideline for fiscal 2027.
Hunter said the district remains “focused on building a responsible plan that maintains level-service programming for students and staff.”
Enrollment
Administrators are eyeing flagging enrollment that could rebound as new housing comes online.
Officials are also opening the door to a renegotiated agreement as Carlisle grapples with a sudden rise in its share of the high school budget.
At CCHS, towns pay a bill indexed to their enrollment. This year’s shifts mean Acton’s assessment will fall roughly 1%. Carlisle’s comparatively smaller costs will climb 10%.
While the arrangement works out for Acton in fiscal ‘27, FinCom’s Peggy Briggs suggested it might be time to “start talking a little bit more seriously about a rolling average” that would smooth year-to-year fluctuations.
Hunter said this is “a big process” that would require votes in Acton and Carlisle.
FinCom agreed to probe the issue, although Vice Chair Lyndsey Lis said a change is “probably not going to happen this year.”
School officials will build out their budgets in the coming months. Early projections from the schools still envisioned a 3.5% budget increase in the K-8 system.
FinCom celebrated the declining bill at CCHS due to enrollment shifts, but challenged planners to trim more spending from their K-8 budget with a preliminary recommended increase of 2.5%.
Some panelists acknowledged this could be a tough game of financial limbo. FinCom could broach a compromise by mid-December, when they adopt their final guideline.
Town Meeting voters rule on the budgets next spring.
