Jefferson’s budget and school committees voted to approve a revised $9,369,346.88 education budget for the 2026 fiscal year at a budget committee meeting Tuesday, Sept. 9, setting residents up to consider the budget for the third time in less than six months.
The total figure is a decrease of $677,470.98 or 6.97% from the second version of the budget, which voters approved at a special town meeting on July 9 but failed to validate at the polls on Aug. 12 with a vote of 279-152.
The Jefferson School Committee originally put forward a $9,763,805.37 education budget in May, which residents approved at a special town meeting May 21 but failed to validate at the polls June 10 with a vote of 92-90.
The figure approved on Sept. 9 is the lowest total the school committee has proposed this year. AOS 93 Special Education Director Dominic DePatsy completed most of the revisions to the budget, the majority of which were cuts made in the special education budget, according to school committee Chair Danielle Bernier.
Savings for special education were achieved by reducing the education technician positions from 12 to eight full-time equivalents, with only six budgeted and two kept open for future needs.
The budget for special education is $2,686,882.74, a decrease of $545,986.98 or 16.88% from the version the school committee approved in July.
AOS 93 Executive Director of Finance and Operations Peter Nielsen, said that $100,000 in contracted services will be for two of the contracted education technicians, which he said isn’t a change in the funds, but rather a deeper understanding of that line in the budget.
He said that the school had a large carry over from a local entitlement grant from the previous year that was applied for out-of-district placement. The school committee was unaware of the carryover until putting together the newest budget proposal.
Due to the inability to find a speech pathologist, that line in the budget was removed, reducing the budget by $96,441.96 or 100% from the previous budget.
The lines for contracted services and adaptive physical education were removed due to changes in enrollment, decreasing the budget further by $75,000 and $30,420, respectively.
“That’s as much as I can do,” DePatsy said about the line reductions. “There’s pretty much nothing left there. It’s all staffing, and it’s all appropriate based on my objective coming in.”
Compared to what voters approved in fiscal year 2025, the budget categories are as follows: regular instruction totals $3,437,892.65, an increase of $101,247.49 or 3.03%; special instruction totals $2,686,882.74, an increase of $688,149.11 or 34.43%; CTE is $100, the same as last year; other instruction is $43,202, a decrease of $4,900 or 10.19%; student and staff support is $435,752.08, a decrease of $32,837.46 or 7.01%; system administration is $284,804.43, an increase of $47,99.40 or 19.81%; school administration is $292,515.10, a decrease of $68,757.86 or 19.03%; transportation is $677,500.47, an increase of 153,975.49 or 29.41%; facilities and maintenance totals $664,747.97, a decrease of $55,461.43 or 7.7%; debt services is $783,949.44, a decrease of 19,564.44 or 2.43%; and food service totals $60,000, an increase of 10,000 or 20%.
Overall, the new proposal for fiscal year 2026 is an increase from last year’s budget of $818,950.30 or 9.58%.
The education budget as a whole was approved 5-0 by the school committee and 6-3 by the budget committee, with members Lisa Hodgkins, Alpha Williams, and Bruce Sedgwick voting in opposition.
Those in opposition of the proposed budget felt that the cost was still too high, even after cuts.
“This is still a high budget, I mean, you cut a lot out, but it’s still high,” said Sedgwick.
Sedgwick suggested cutting a flat 1% from the total to try and reduce the cost. School committee members said that all cuts must come from a specific cost center and cannot be taken from the overall budget.
Hodgkins said she was concerned about how the elderly and disabled populations in Jefferson were going to afford their taxes.
“I have constituents that are walking up to me in grocery stores and asking me why everybody keeps voting for this budget when the town can’t afford it,” Hodgkins said. “Are we just going to sit here and take it every year? This is my silent protest.”
Bernier asked what could be cut from the budget that would make a difference and allow for members of the budget committee who were in opposition of the budget to vote in favor of it. Hodgkins said she would cut the special education budget, but that “it’s probably not legal.” Members from both committees reiterated that it would not be legal, as the town is required to supply the mandated services for its students.
School committee member Maria Solorzano brought up what Jefferson could be facing legally if a budget is not passed.
“We will be facing lawsuits from families, and they will win big time, and that will increase (the budget) exponentially” Solorzano said. “We are doing the best we can to make it accurate.”
Both budget committee members and school committee members said during the meeting state laws are driving special education costs and that work needs to be done on the state level to alleviate the burden on towns.
“There is a responsibility amongst everybody in this town to put this budget together, not just vote no because it’s the easy thing to do,” said school committee member Wayne Parlin. “If you want to vote no, follow it up by talking to your legislators and getting these rules and regulations changed and getting the society changed that’s led to this problem.”
The special town meeting to discuss the revised budget will take place at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 1 at Jefferson Village School. For more information, go to aos93.org/o/jvs or call 506-3044.
