CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The school budget for fiscal 2026 has been reduced by another $39,000, bringing the percentage increase down to 3.98 percent. At the same time, the tuition proposed for prekindergarten was lifted.

 

The budget approved by the Finance Committee and Select Board at Wednesday's joint meeting with the School Committee has a bottom line of $3,085,643, a $118,233 increase over this year.

 

The School Committee opened up five school-choice slots in first grade, which will offset the loss of an estimated $30,000 in preschool tuition. The school is anticipating $187,000 in school choice and budgeted more conservatively at $180,000.

 

"At the last meeting, I think with the work that we've done collaboratively with the town and the school, we've really looked at past accounts, and we've looked at places where we can probably appropriate money in the correct spots to kind of give us a little bit more leeway, let's say, with school choice, than we thought we had," said Assistant Superintendent Tara Barnes.

 

Barnes said the decision not to impose tuition on Clarksburg parents for either 3- or 4-year-olds was made based on input at that last meeting from parents and other community members, including a Select Board member. (Barnes had initially said at the direction of the Select Board but when pressed, clarified a board member had been there.)

 

The majority of the Select Board had also nixed the idea of tuition for 4-year-olds last year as well.

 

School officials had pointed out that the development of the preschool had been strongly supported by the town when it voted to fund the program several years ago. PreK-4 has been free for Clarksburg residents from the start, while preK-3 had charged tuition.

 

Select Board Chair Robert Norcross said he understood the need to educate the town's children but didn't believe taxpayers should be carrying preschool, especially for 3-year-olds.

 

"I always felt the town and people need to pay for education, but I always looked at especially 3-year-olds at day care. I know it helps them get to kindergarten and all that," he said. "But I look at parents, they have day care so both parents can work. So they got two parents working, they make a lot of money, and now they want the people, the widowers and taxpayers, to pay so they can send their kids to day care. ...

 

"I'm definitely against funding them ... two people who are working wants the rest of the town to pay for their day care."

 

School officials objected that it was not simply day care but a necessity nowadays to prepare children for school. Barnes pointed out that the school district is required to provide special education for children as young as 3 and that the outcomes in having children start early have been positive.

 

"I think there are some families that don't attend either and have missed out because of the pay. So we're hopeful that by not charging, all the 3-year-old families will send their children to school," said Superintendent John Franzoni. "The requirements for education have changed a lot over the last, especially, the last 10 years, so that preK ... it really is a necessity to help the children be prepared at each level that they go up."

 

Treasurer Kelly Haskins said her child "has learned so much more being in preK-3 versus the day care" and added how parents weren't likely pay for a program in which they lost summers and vacations. Finance Committee Chair Charles Lewitt described how much improvement his grandchild had made in his town's preK-3 program. Town Accountant Paula Fisher asked what about parents who are alone and struggling to pay property taxes and for child care? And Principal Sandra Cote added that parents are taxpayers, too. 

 

 

Norcross noted that the Select Board had no control over line items in the school budget but had wanted to voice an opinion on for the other side. 

 

More cost savings in the were found by shifting 25 percent of the custodian and teacher assistant salaries to the cafeteria revolving fund, which is solely funded by state and federal monies. Barnes said the custodian spends a lot of time cleaning up and setting up for lunch and the TAs assist children during their lunch hour.

 

Franzoni cautioned that there could be reductions coming down the road in the revolving fund though the state has pledged to fully fund this year if the federal monies are cut.

 

The dean of students and interventionist will remain full time, the vacant business administrator post is reorganized, and school leadership will see a drop in cost with a new principal coming in. 

 

"I think we've done a good job working together with you to get it down," said Barnes.

 

Town Administrator Ronald Boucher thought it "very important" officials set a minimum to ensure there are funds in the school choice account. It had been set at $300,000 but that has been drained in recent years as school choice revenue has declined.

 

School officials have pointed to having to carry FICA and its retirees' insurance, unlike other town departments, as a burden on the budget. At the same time, Chapter 70 state education aid has increased on the town side as residential enrollment has grown; school choice slots, which generate funds directly to the school, are now on the decline. 

 

"As your Chapter 70 money increases and our school choice money decreases, we're going to be back at the table next year, really having to think about things," said Barnes. "So I just want to be mindful of that."

 

The joint meeting was to review the town budget but Boucher said he was still awaiting the state's certification of free cash. The board decided to hold off until Thursday. 

 

The most recent draft as of Thursday puts the town's operating budget at $1,862,972, up $94,217 or 5 percent, over this year. The total budget, including the assessment of $437,567 to McCann Technical School, is $5,386,082, up 4286,598 or 4.6 percent over this year. 

 

Boucher said the budget made sure that each department had what it needed. He planned to begin monthly meetings with the accountant to review the financial picture and with the school department to reconcile accounts. 

 

"Those are the things we can do internally to make things better," he said.