By Geena Monahan—For the North Star Reporter
Superintendent John Antonucci presented his final fiscal year 2027 school budget proposal on Wednesday, outlining a plan that would add staff, reduce class sizes, and expand student services.
The new budget would see a roughly 4%, or $2.5 million, increase from last fiscal year, recommended by Town Manager Michael Borg.
“That’s not insignificant — in fact, that is significant,” Antonucci told the School Committee at its April 8 meeting.
The proposal, presented ahead of the town’s full budget rollout next week, reflects months of revisions following an initial request in January that sought a 7.48% increase.
While the 4% increase preserves current staffing, Antonucci said it required the district to rework its plan internally to fund additional priorities. Administrators first identified what Antonucci described as a “minimum feasible budget” — the lowest level needed to operate schools without cutting staff or services.
That amount comes to $53.2 million and is largely driven by fixed costs, including contractual salary increases, a roughly $475,000 increase in out-of-district special education tuition and a $61,000 rise in utilities.
The town manager’s recommendation comes in about $169,000 above that, leaving limited flexibility to address additional needs.
“The town manager’s recommendation was solid — we were pleasantly surprised when we talked to him,” said Antonucci. “However, it didn’t leave us a lot of wiggle room.”
Reallocations fund additions
With little room above the district’s baseline budget, administrators turned inward to identify savings and redirect resources toward priority positions.
“We went back to the drawing board,” Antonucci said. “Where can we make adjustments and still be responsible?”
Some of that flexibility came from eliminating positions the district had not filled, including a middle school world language teacher and a secondary lead technician, along with reducing one teaching position at Martin Elementary due to low enrollment.
The district also captured savings from midyear retirements and increased projected revenue offsets, part of a broader effort that now includes about $600,000 built into the budget.
Those changes allowed the district to fund four new hires, including an assistant principal and a moderate special education teacher at Amvet Elementary School, a districtwide board-certified behavior analyst and an out-of-district coordinator to help manage placement costs.
The proposal also adds classroom teachers at Falls Elementary in grades four and five, as well as a second grade teacher at Roosevelt Elementary to reduce class sizes and an adjustment counselor at North Attleborough Middle School. These are not new hires, but reallocations of existing staff.
“I don’t want to use the word exciting, but considering where a lot of districts around us are at and the potential for cutting teachers and positions…adding four positions — and these positions in particular — it’s huge,” said School Committee member Sarah Stone.
Class size reductions
One of the most immediate impacts of the proposal would be reductions in class sizes across several schools.
At Roosevelt Elementary, the addition of a third second-grade classroom will allow the district to break up a current grade one cohort of about 26 students per class — many with higher needs — into smaller groups next school year.
“That’s a huge improvement for us,” Antonucci said.
At Falls Elementary, the plan to add new teachers to grades four and five and in grade two at Community School will help some of the district’s most crowded classrooms.
District projections show the changes would reduce the number of classrooms with 24 or more students, with most now falling in the 20 to 23 range.
While the plan includes several improvements, some trade-offs remain.
Creating additional classroom space at Roosevelt will require repurposing a room currently used for art and music instruction, moving those subjects onto carts.
“That breaks my heart,” School Committee member Colleen Endres said. “It’s not that those programs go away, but it’s not the same.”
The School Committee is expected to continue refining the proposal following Borg’s full budget presentation on April 13.
“It’s not perfect,” Antonucci said. “But it’s progress.”