Stoughton schools' draft fiscal 2028 budget, up $3.9 million to $73.2 million, goes to the School Committee Tuesday

Stoughton Public Schools' draft budget for next year comes to about $73.2 million, up $3.9 million, in the superintendent's recommended fiscal 2028 budget the School Committee is set to see Tuesday, Nov. 17. Fiscal 2028 covers the 2027-28 school year and begins July 1, 2027.

The draft, dated Nov. 12 and attached to the meeting packet, is labeled "prior to identifying additional cuts." It totals $73,152,023, which is $3,906,151 more than the $69,245,872 fiscal 2027 budget listed in the same table, an increase of about 5.6% by South Shore 360's math. The committee meets at 6 p.m. in the School Committee Conference Room at the district office, 31 Pierce St., where the budget is listed as an informational item along with a presentation by Superintendent Julie Miller called "District Budget Process 101."

What the draft adds

Before offsets are subtracted, the district's spending plan totals $78,679,267, up $4,464,001, or about 6%, and grows from 627.1 to 635.4 full-time equivalent positions.

Special education is the largest share of the growth, nearly half of the increase before offsets by South Shore 360's math and 7.2 of the 8.3 new positions. The special education total rises from $24,847,329 to $26,977,066, an increase of $2,129,737, according to the draft, and transportation for special education students accounts for most of that, rising $1,321,950, to $4,543,900. Tuition for students placed in private schools rises $269,959, to $5,994,168, and special education paraprofessional pay rises $178,942 as the draft adds 6.7 paraprofessional positions.

Across the district, the draft also raises the set-aside for contractual salary increases by $194,027, to $334,179. The middle school total rises $388,987, to $8,183,675, and operations and maintenance rises $282,798, to $4,681,293.

Among the elementary schools in the draft, Dawe Elementary rises $244,638, Gibbons $181,664 and Wilkins $154,386, while the Jones Early Childhood Center adds a building-based substitute position.

Fees and other money that offset the budget

The district subtracts $5,527,244 in "budgeted offsets" to reach the $73.2 million figure: money from grants, state reimbursement, and fee and revolving accounts, plus $140,000 in "anticipated reductions" and $150,000 in savings expected from retirements. The draft counts on $3 million from the state's special education circuit breaker reimbursement, $1.1 million from a federal special education grant for transportation and $391,223 from the Title I grant.

Fee accounts carry more of the load in the draft than this year. Transportation fees for regular morning and afternoon bus routes are counted at $200,000, up from $150,000, and the preschool revolving account, which holds preschool tuition, at $250,000, up from $165,000. The athletic revolving account, which holds gate receipts and team fees, is counted at $216,021, up from $77,683.

For families, the district's transportation page lists this school year's bus fee at $375 per student with a $750 cap per household. Students in kindergarten through sixth grade who live more than 2 miles from their assigned school ride free, as state law requires, and the fee is waived for families the state directly certifies or that are approved for free or reduced-price meals.

A memo in the packet from Heidi Perkins, the assistant superintendent of finance and operations, says, citing the athletic director, that gate fees in fiscal 2026 "ran approximately 50% lower than FY25" as attendance fell, and that the district will use at least $100,000, and possibly more, from that account as an offset for fiscal 2028 while trying to keep $100,000 to $150,000 in it for uniforms and equipment. "If gate fees remain at 50% level as they were in FY26, this funding source will not keep up," the memo says.

How to weigh in

The committee's agenda lists a public hearing on the draft fiscal 2028 budget for Tuesday, Dec. 8, at 6 p.m., and two "Coffee and Conversation" sessions on the budget Wednesday, Dec. 2: one at 9 a.m., in person at 31 Pierce St. and online, and one at 5:30 p.m., online only. The committee's budget subcommittee also has meetings posted on the draft for Monday, Nov. 16, at 5 p.m. at Stoughton High School, 232 Pearl St., and Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 5 p.m. at the district office. The next regular meeting is Dec. 8 at 6:30 p.m.

Who decides

The School Committee votes the budget it asks the town to fund. The town's Finance Committee makes its own recommendation, and Town Meeting representatives set the final amount in the spring. Last year the School Committee voted a $73,077,362 budget for fiscal 2027, and the Finance Committee recommended $69,245,872, a 2.96% increase, after the town reduced the budget from its December guidance figure, according to the district's May 2026 budget presentation, which lists the staff cuts the district planned to meet that shortfall. At the May 2026 Town Meeting, representatives rejected an amendment to add $1 million to $3 million in one-time money to the fiscal 2027 school budget, according to a June 2026 financial summary from the town manager's office.

The town also keeps a special education stabilization fund under state law, and the warrant for the special town meeting held within this year's annual Town Meeting proposed moving $1 million from free cash into it, a deposit the Finance Committee recommended 9-1.

Also on Tuesday's agenda

The committee is set to vote on a new policy, "Interacting with Law Enforcement Officers Engaged in Civil Law Enforcement." The draft says that, except as state or federal law requires, civil arrests, including federal immigration enforcement, are not allowed on school grounds during school hours, drop-off and pickup, before- and after-school programs and school events without a judicial warrant or order, and it directs the superintendent to set procedures, including notifying parents. It cites the PROTECT Act of August 2026 as its legal reference and says that, once adopted, the policy and its procedures will be the written emergency response plan that law requires. Draft minutes of the Oct. 27 meeting, which are up for approval Tuesday, record the three members listed as present voting to approve the policy as written, with Chair Chris Shannon and member Karen Powers listed as absent, and Tuesday's agenda lists the policy for a vote again.

The committee will also take up a request for an April 2028 performance trip to Walt Disney World for about 180 Stoughton High School band and choir students. The proposal puts the cost at $2,343 per student for a four-person room, paid by families and fundraising, and says families would make a first deposit Nov. 27.

Members will also see drafts of the 2027-28 school calendar and vote to reauthorize the district's revolving accounts, which the Oct. 27 draft minutes also record the members present voting to reauthorize. A separate report in the packet says Stoughton will get $27,505 back from the Pilgrim Area Collaborative, an educational collaborative it belongs to, as part of $190,600 in surplus the collaborative's board voted to return to member towns.

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