The Milton School Committee finalized a $75,613,973 spending plan for the 2027 fiscal year on Monday, reversing a controversial plan to eliminate the district’s nursing leadership following weeks of public pushback. While the budget restores the Nurse Director role, families will face higher costs next year as the committee moved to close a funding gap through increased transportation and building rental fees.

The decision to restore the Nurse Director position came after Superintendent John Burroughs and Business Manager Katie Pinkham identified internal funds to maintain the role. Burroughs noted that the administration prioritized the position after receiving significant feedback from the nursing department and the community regarding the need for high-level administrative leadership. I appreciate you listening to the community feedback, John, and finding a way to make this work, Chair Amanda Serio said, noting the benefit of separating the public hearing from the final vote to allow for adjustments.

The budget also addresses a sudden $135,000 shortfall in federal Title I funding, which previously supported a math intervention teacher and tutoring at the Tucker School. Burroughs reported that the state recently notified the district the funding would likely be zeroed out. Katie and I feel we can find funds internally to support that position and tutoring to leave Tucker's Title I services harmless, Burroughs told the committee. Motion Made by A. Serio to approve the FY27 budget in the amount of $75,613,973. Motion Passed 6-0.

To help balance the books, the committee authorized a series of fee increases designed to generate approximately $78,000 in new revenue. The changes include a $40 per student increase for school bus transportation and an $80 increase to the family cap. Building rental fees for for-profit groups, categorized as "other," will also rise by 10%. Member Mark Loring explained that the district is making some assumptions on fee changes as they held that line item of about $75,000 within the budget discussion to offset the town’s inability to fund a full 5.2% level service increase. Motion Made by M. Loring to approve the fee changes for FY27 as presented within the memo. Motion Passed 6-0.

During the discussion, Member Bao Qiu sought clarification on which groups would be impacted by the rental hikes, asking, Is the fee for using the building for nonprofits the same, or is that increasing as well? Pinkham confirmed that the majority of revenue comes from for-profit entities, such as spring dance recitals, and that fees for town non-profits and Parks and Recreation programs would remain unchanged for now. Member Elizabeth Carroll described the final budget as the best compromise we could arrive at with the competing priorities and pressures.

Despite the unanimous vote, some members expressed concern over the long-term sustainability of the district’s finances. Member Nathan David Hutto cautioned residents that the restoration of positions required difficult trade-offs. I want everyone watching to understand that given the structural deficiencies in the budget... it’s not like you found $140,000 we didn’t know we had, Hutto said. We are going to have to sacrifice something currently in our budget to finance this. It will probably be a hundred different things, like attrition where a backfill is cheaper. Member Annamma Varghese echoed these concerns, stating, I'm nervous we'll be in a similar situation next year. I hope we can continue this discussion over the next few months to get ahead of this for the future.

The meeting opened with a somber public comment from resident Ron, who detailed his frustrations regarding racial incidents involving his children at the Tucker and Pierce schools. He alleged that after filing seven racial bullying reports, he received no response from the administration. Anyone can be a victim of racism. Anyone can be a racist. Racism is racism and racism is always wrong, he said, urging the district to affirm common definitions of racism. Serio thanked the resident for his comments but the committee did not engage in further discussion on the matter during the session.