Norwell School Committee reviews FY27 budget, capital requests

Norwell school officials reviewed capital funding requests and provided an update on the district’s fiscal year 2027 budget during a Jan. 28 School Committee meeting, as town-level budget discussions continue.

Superintendent Matthew Keegan told committee members the district is still waiting on several key pieces of information before finalizing the operating budget, including state aid figures and outstanding contracts. He said school officials remain hopeful the budget can be balanced.

“The executive budget has not changed dramatically in any way, shape or form,” Keegan said. “I’m waiting on some numbers from the state. I’m waiting on an RFP. There’s a few other pieces to come through on their end and our end, but we are hopeful that we can reach the point where we have a balanced budget.”

Keegan said the district has been meeting with town officials and recently presented its budget to the Select Board. He added that discussions are expected to continue into February and March as numbers are finalized.

In addition to the operating budget, the committee approved a series of capital requests that have already been submitted to the town for consideration. Several of the requests focus on planning and studies related to aging infrastructure across the district.

Among the largest proposed items is a $400,000 request related to the Norwell Middle School septic system. Keegan explained the current system relies on infrastructure located on the opposite side of Route 123, beneath the town hall property.

“Currently the middle school septic system runs underneath 123 to the town hall to a leaching field in the back,” Keegan said. “Now that the town hall is vacant and if it’s sold or torn down or anything like that, in order for that system to work, the electricity must remain on at the other side of the street and we need to have access to it.”

Keegan said the district has already conducted a study to identify possible locations for a replacement leaching field on the school side of the street, allowing the district to plan for future changes to the town hall site.

The capital plan also includes requests for engineering studies to address drainage and parking lot issues at the middle school, as well as a districtwide engineering study to assess building systems and long-term maintenance needs.

“We have aging buildings at both elementaries and the middle school,” Keegan said. “We have some roofs, we have some heating units on those roofs. We have some other things that we just want to make sure we get a really good sense.”

He said the goal of the studies is to help the district better time repairs and replacements, avoiding situations where recently completed work would need to be undone to address other infrastructure needs.

Also included in the capital requests is $150,000 for the district’s technology cycle. Keegan said the funding was reduced last year after an override did not pass and would support the replacement of devices across multiple grade levels.

“Those were laptops for the high school teachers, which gets recycled to the elementary laptop carts,” Keegan said. “Those were a set of iPads for the fifth grade to make sure their IOS system was up to date and one learning lab.”

Keegan said he expects to provide additional updates at the committee’s Feb. 9 meeting and said the district will continue coordinating with town officials as the budget process moves forward.

“We are crossing our fingers on that,” he said. “We are aware and in conversations with them and know that we’ll be working on that until we finalize that.”

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