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The Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School (LSRHS) preliminary budget for Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) shows a shortfall of of $158,224.
While presenting to the LSRHS School Committee, Superintendent Andrew Stephens explained that this is just a preliminary number, and the administration would be working in the weeks ahead to bring that number down to zero. That might include making adjustments to some of the assumptions made in the budget, cutting expenses from the budget, or generating additional revenue.
Stephens made it clear early in the presentation that this shortfall is not unusual. When LSRHS began the budget building process last year, they had a preliminary shortfall of well over $200,000.
Notably, Lincoln provided initial guidance of 2.5 percent while Sudbury provided 3.75 percent. If Lincoln matches Sudbury’s guidance, that closes the gap by roughly $50,000. Lincoln follows a different process for guidance and budget building according to Stephens, so that will have to play out. He also noted that Sudbury was signaling lower guidance in early conversations, which is why Lincoln ended up where they did with the initial guidance. Sudbury ultimately gave higher final guidance based on conversations with the district according to Stephens.
Given the variety of means available to close the gap, the budget is very close to balanced from the get-go. However, much can change over the course of the budget building season. Cost estimates could prove to be higher or lower than the assumptions made in the preliminary budget and other figures may change as information about students changes.
One thing is certain at this stage — the LSRHS budget situation is quite unlike the Sudbury Public Schools (SPS) budget. While the LSRHS school committee was meeting, the Sudbury Select Board was taking the SPS administration to task for a lack of clarity and transparency with their budget following a surprise reveal of a $1.6M deficit.
In contrast, LSRHS committee member Lucy Maulsby concluded after the presentation “I guess I would just reiterate the thank you. For the clarity and the clarity of thinking. Your rationale was really appreciated. And the alerts to what’s ahead and how we might plan for it.”
Chair Ravi Simon thanked Superintendent Stephens for his communication and collaboration with Sudbury Town Manager Andy Sheehan.
Member Jack Ryan added “I want to second that, too, because I’m getting word back from elsewhere in Sudbury that the communication that Andrew and Susan have had with the Town of Sudbury has been fantastic. And I think it’s also true with Lincoln, that they both feel very well informed as to what’s going on at Lincoln-Sudbury, and therefore more confident in decisions they can make for their respective towns.”