The conversation will continue at the Feb. 27 School Committee meeting about how to reduce the fiscal year 2026 school budget by $415,000 as requested by the town manager’s directive.

The School Committee previously approved a budget of $67,190,630, and this change would take the total to $66,775,630, a 5.75% increase over FY 25.

Town Manager Elaine Lazarus noted in the directive that other departments had reduced their budgets by $1 million but the town still was $1,151,862 away from a balanced budget.

Superintendent Carol Cavanaugh said at Thursday’s School Committee meeting that she had met with building principals for several hours to come up with a plan to cut $415,000.

She showed a proposal with a cut of $105,000 for an ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) teacher, for a person who is resigning and would not be replaced.

Also, funding for a district paraprofessional would be moved to a grant at $125,000, and a reading tutor request at Hopkins School would be reduced from full-time to 0.75 FTE (full-time equivalent) for a savings of $10,000.

Most of the School Committee discussion focused on the elimination of five FTE paraprofessional A positions: three at the high school, one at Hopkins School and one at Elmwood School. That reduction would save $150,000.

The superintendent said a paraprofessional A helps in general education classrooms in a variety of ways such as covering lunch duty at the elementary level, supervising in the high school library, helping students with math problems or accompanying a student to another area of the building.

Vice chair Jamie Wronka said, “I don’t love that,” regarding the potential cut to paraprofessionals. “They support students who need a little help.”

She asked whether a proposed assistant principal for the Elmwood School could be postponed instead.

Member Susan Stephenson asked about a proposed French teacher position at the high school and whether that could be made part-time.

Carol Cavanaugh explained that the principals had discussed these possibilities and others before determining the plan she presented would work better.

Member Chris Masters asked whether the paraprofessionals might move into openings in other buildings and if there was the possibility of retirements or resignations, getting the situation “sorted out on its own.”

Susan Rothermich, the assistant superintendent for finance and operations, responded that there usually is a turnover of paraprofessionals, and losing five through departures could happen.

“The paraprofessionals are critical in so many ways,” Stephenson said. She added that if she had to vote the revised budget that evening, she would not approve it.

Chair Nancy Cavanaugh said the committee could revote the budget at the next meeting once the information could “sink in” and there was more information about town insurance costs and other clarity.

She pointed out that the town has the ability not to fund the school budget if it is above what was requested.

Wronka said she wanted to hear how the paraprofessionals currently are used at the buildings and how those roles would be filled without them.

“I want more context on why these things were decided,” she said.

To provide that, the relevant building principals could speak at the next meeting, Carol Cavanaugh said.

Swap to capital request recommended

Also related to the budget, Rothermich said a further issue is that the salary reserve for negotiations is out of balance, so a shift of capital requests was suggested.

She said a $200,000 request on the warrant to replace entry doors at the middle school would be put off until FY 27. That amount would be “swapped out” with a request for textbook licenses that the district cannot go without, Rothermich said.

Preschool tuition increases approved

Earlier in the meeting, the School Committee heard from Abigail Hanscom, the director of student services, about tuition costs at the Marathon preschool.

She showed a comparison with other districts, noting that there are a limited number of slots available for non-special education students. The cost has not been increased for nine years, Hanscom added, despite inflation since the 2015-16 school year.

Rothermich said raising the fees would put Hopkinton in the middle or upper one-third of what the comparison communities are charging.

Ultimately, the School Committee voted to increase the annual tuition as follows: the 3-year-old morning program increases from $3,600 to $4,000, the 4-year-old partial day program goes from $4,500 to $5,000, and the 4-year-old “full day” (four days, one half-day) program increases from $7,800 to $8,800.

The increase would generate $25,000, which would contribute to offsetting the changes to the budget, the superintendent noted.

In other business, Hopkinton High School Principal Evan Bishop spoke about new course offerings. They are: digital citizenship and media literacy, embedded programming, sport in American history, and the literature of leadership.

Bishop said even though MCAS results no longer determine whether a student will graduate, the high school still will offer MCAS-related remediation in its program of studies.

Disproportionality status update given

Hanscom reviewed that in the 2023-24 school year, the district was informed by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) that it had become “disproportionate” for identifying more white students with specific learning disability than the percentage in the community population would indicate as appropriate.

Hanscom said the district did a root cause analysis and submitted the findings, which were accepted in the summer of 2024. Since September, the district has been implementing a response plan with numerous actions to address the concerns.

She noted that in January, the district was notified that for the 2025-26 year, it will become disproportionate for a second group of students. The finding is placement of Asian students in substantially separate settings.

Hanscom pointed out that more than 10 countries are categorized as Asian for reporting purposes. For settings to be considered “substantially separate,” she said, students receive special education services outside of the general education classroom more than 60% of the time.

She said the district would receive training this spring with DESE to better understand the determination. Staff also will analyze the root cause and take steps to respond once again.