The school committee voted to approve a $34.7 million budget on the town meeting warrant, a $1.3 million increase over fiscal year 2026, which falls short of the school committee’s first budget proposal but avoids the need for an override as municipal costs rise.
If this budget passes at town meeting, the schools will remove two administrative positions and hire a new special education aide, invest in new technology, enter a new gas contract and raise salaries by an average of 4%.
In a March 30 presentation, Superintendent Matthew Keegan said that utilities and transportation prices are putting particular strain on the budget, but unlike some other towns in the region, the schools are not resorting to layoffs from student-facing positions, athletic team cuts or override proposals.
That budget does not include $550,000 in tuition payments for South Shore Regional Vocational Technical School and Norfolk County Agricultural High School.
The schools will renew their contract with a bus company for a 2.64% increase, and they have to cover more routes for students headed to special education schools. Transportation contracts have risen in price for school districts across the South Shore, and Keegan characterized Norwell’s increase as relatively small.
Keegan said that the district is hoping for more funding from the state to cover special education costs, which have increased in recent years but will fall by $150,000 in fiscal year 2027. He said that the state will update its circuit breaker funding, which subsidizes the local cost of special education, in July.
Chapter 70 State Aid will increase by $317,000 for 2027, meaning that the town’s contribution to the 4% budget increase is nearly $1 million.
Outside of the budget proposal, town meeting members will vote on an article requesting $150,000 for technology-related capital expenses for the district, including replacing high school teachers’ laptops and updating a computer lab. Keegan said that those upgrades were planned for this fiscal year but never executed.
The committee also approved a town meeting article to install public bathrooms at the Clipper Community Complex, an athletics facility at Norwell High School, with $1.4 million from the community preservation budget. Another town meeting article requests $25,000 for maintaining the Complex’s turf fields.
The schools will make three other capital requests: $70,000 for repairing a lift at Vinal Elementary School, $40,000 for HVAC controls at the middle school, and $30,000 for door repairs at Cole Elementary School.
The elementary schools will spend $232,000 to purchase curriculum materials for English, math, history and world languages.
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