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The Sudbury Public Schools (SPS) School Committee packet for their November 24 meeting included a budget forecast for the next three fiscal years. According to the forecast, SPS is facing a $1.6M shortfall in upcoming Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27). That estimated shortfall increases to $2.5M in FY28 and $2.8M in FY29.
The SPS forecast for FY27 shows a need for a 7.11% increase in the budget in order to maintain level services. To put that in context, Proposition 2 and 1/2 limits the amount of revenue a city or town may raise from local property taxes each year to a 2.5% increase. SPS needs nearly triple that amount to avoid making deep cuts in the district budget.
In raw dollars, this means SPS needs $1,588,104 in addition to the $1,772,979 budget increase being provided by the Town of Sudbury for FY27.
According to a memo from SPS business director Don Sawyer, the FY27 forecast includes an estimate for settling union contracts, but those negotiations are not settled yet. “The FY2027 Budget Forecast includes known student service requirements, legal compliance, and contractual obligations. In addition, the forecast includes a budget allocation for ongoing collective bargaining as not to include such a material earmark would be fiscally irresponsible.”
The forecast raises the specter of a potential override, or painful budget cuts — a situation that the district was in just a few years ago. During the fall of 2022, the district reported a budget shortfall of $1.2M. The school committee, led by then-chair Silvia Nerssessian, pursued an override for only $745,000 — roughly half of the amount needed. That override passed at the polls and at Annual Town Meeting in 2023, but was quickly revealed to not be enough as the district used a deceptive maneuver at Special Town Meeting later that year to increase their budget mid-year.
Sawyer warned the committee in 2022 that the district may need to come back for more money if they took the approach they took with the override. It now appears that the decision to minimize the override request has snowballed into a massive budget shortfall in a contract year, though SPS leadership may provide additional context in the school committee meeting on November 24.
There were signs along the way that the SPS budget was stretched thin. In each of the ensuing fiscal years following the override, the district has struggled mightily to maintain level service budgets. The difference this year is that the district is negotiating union contracts, and the teachers have been pressing aggressively for a more favorable contract after agreeing to what now appears to be a meager contract back in 2022.
The SPS School Committee is meeting tonight, November 24, and will be discussing the forecast as budget building season officially kicks off. The details for that meeting are available here.