After weeks of work by its budget subcommittee and school administrators, this week the full School Committee saw a draft of the proposed school budget request for fiscal 2026. This draft focused on the amount the schools would seek as part of the town’s omnibus budget, not on the complete school budget, which includes state aid and other outside funds.
At this point, the draft budget asks the town for $17.1 million, or about $1.4 million more than this fiscal year’s budget, for an increase of 8.8%. But School Superintendent Linda Dwight emphasized that the school budget still has many stages to go through before becoming part of the town’s omnibus budget at next spring’s Town Meeting. The School Committee expects to hold a formal vote on the budget at its Nov. 18 meeting.
One of the newer School Committee members, Katy Covino, said, “This is an entry-level question: Is that an override?”
Chair Abby Besse said, “Yes … that would put us in override territory.” Besse said the school’s estimated share of next year’s increase in town revenues would give the schools only about $181,000 more than this year.
Dwight pointed to several key “stress points” that are straining the budget. Those include contractual obligations for salaries, special education tuition and transportation costs, rising utility costs, and expenses for the athletic program.
Salaries are always a school district’s biggest expense—often nearly three-quarters of the budget. Harvard’s contractual obligation for salaries is slated to rise by about $520,000, based on the negotiated 2.5% cost-of-living increase for classroom teachers and the 2.75% increase for learning assistants, aides, and other educational staff.
Likewise, special education tuition for out-of-district placements is expected to go up by $250,000, and transportation costs will likely increase even more—by $370,000. Dwight, who serves on the board for the CASE Collaborative, explained the group now often has to use private transportation companies, leading to far higher prices.
Athletics are also a rising expense, only a small share of which is covered by the fees parents pay for each sport their children play. Several years ago, the town agreed to include some money in the school budget for coaching salaries, but that amount was set at $25,000. The actual cost of coaching salaries for next year is $142,287. When transportation, referees, facilities, and equipment are added, the total yearly cost for athletics is about $390,000.
Among other costs that the schools expect in fiscal 2026 are $77,000 for new literacy materials at Hildreth Elementary School and an increase of $54,000 for utilities.
The format for this year’s budget looks different from previous years, as it uses the categories specified by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The DESE codes for each budget line make comparisons with previous Harvard school budgets somewhat more difficult, as costs are grouped a little differently. The budget was developed with help from TMS, a financial consulting company that works with schools and nonprofit organizations, as the school district does not currently have its own business manager.
