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It’s peak budget season for Sudbury Public Schools (SPS). They’re working to nail down a budget for Fiscal Year 2025. Here’s a running summary of the process so far:
- SPS received guidance from the Town Manager of 3.22%. That exceeds the 3.17% that SPS said it would need for FY25 when they set the amount for the successful override in March 2023.
- They were able to add previously granted-funded staff positions and programs into the operating budget based on the guidance.
- Once those additions were confirmed, they began looking at more additions from their “tiered initiatives.” Tier-One initiatives are new initiatives that are priorities for the district, but typically added only after ensuring level service with the prior fiscal year, and if their budget allows for it. Some of those items may come up in future conversations about capital articles.
On Monday SPS held their annual budget hearing and Superintendent Brad Crozier reported that SPS was able to meet student needs in his recommended budget using the guidance provided by the Town Manager. (Page 20) There were no questions from the public during the hearing and only light commentary from the members of the committee.
On Thursday, the SPS School Committee reassembled to vote on the recommended budget. The vote to approve it was unanimous. You can review the final version of the budget presentation in their Thursday packet here.
Here’s the year-over-year breakdown:
The vote concludes the initial milestones in the SPS budget process. The next steps include school committee conversations about capital articles and a visit with the Finance Committee to talk about their budget in more detail. The final step is, of course, the vote at Town Meeting in May of 2024.