On Monday, January 13th, the BFA Fairfax School Board of Directors held its regular meeting.  We reviewed the final draft of the FY26 budget, which consisted of the “level services” budget that we reviewed last month.  The budget maintained the same staff and services that was approved for FY25.  Bottom line, the final draft of the FY26 budget shows a 10.5% increase over FY25, increasing education spending from $19.4M in FY25 to $21.4M in FY26.  The updated estimates for property yield and CLA, which are used to calculate the overall property tax increase, would result in a 11.1% property tax increase over FY25.  The board signed the warning to present this budget to Fairfax residents on March 1st (at the Fairfax Elementary School gym) and to vote on during Town Meeting Day on March 4th.

• FY26 Budget discussion:  The second draft of the FY26 budget included level funding budgeting and other mandatory increases to the FY25 budget.  Those increases included the bond payment, insurances and salary increases, and the bus contract; the budget contains no staff increases or equipment purchases.  After calculating the state education funding formula, the resulting tax increase is anticipated to be 11.1%.  Below is the anticipated tax impact to property taxes:

• The board is acutely aware that this budget increase comes at a time when many taxpayers are already feeling the strain of financial pressures. In this budget, we attempted to balance our mission to provide a quality educational system with the financial considerations we heard from our community. 

• Below is a breakout to show the main budget drivers to the FY26 budget:

• Superintendent Tague provided potential options for funding an athletic trainer using potential budget savings from teacher retirements and re-aligning Kindergarten and pre-K staffing to add a third pre-K room in FY26.  Those changes will occur within budget and after the staffing needs and budget implications become clearer later this year.

• The board also approved the FY26 tuition rate.  Currently, we accept approximately 70 students from “school choice” districts, mostly from Fletcher.  The board approved a 10% increase to the tuition rate from FY25.  Additionally, we approved a request from the Fletcher board to cover the cost of bus transportation of Fletcher students.

Our next meeting is on Monday, February 10th where we will finalize the presentation for the March 1st presentation to the town.    We will also receive a presentation from the Student Support Center. 

On Monday, December 9th, the BFA Fairfax School Board of Directors held its regular meeting.  We reviewed the second draft of the FY26 budget, which had been revised by the administration.  This draft removed all staff and equipment increases discussed in our last meeting.  Bottom line, the second draft of the FY26 budget shows a 10.7% increase over FY25, increasing education spending from $19.4M in FY25 to $21.4M in FY26.  The state also provided estimates for property yield and CLA which are used to calculate the overall property tax increase.  The second draft budget, as presented, would result in a 12.2% property tax increase over FY25.

• FY26 Budget discussion:  Superintendent Tague present the second draft of the FY26 budget that included only necessary increases to the FY25 budget.  Those increases included the bond payment, insurances and salary increases, and the bus contract.  All staff increases and equipment purchases that were presented in the first draft had been removed.  After calculating the state education funding formula using the new spending, the resulting tax increase is anticipated to be 12.2%.  

• The staff increases that were presented in the first draft but removed for this draft included a Pre-K teacher and para-professional, two custodians, a part-time interventionist and the athletic trainer.  If the board added those positions to the FY26 budget, taxes would increase 14% over FY25.  

• We discussed the equipment needs presented in the first draft with Todd Granger, the school district’s director of facilities.  He said that our current plow truck is 14 years old and is in very tough shape. He believes that the truck will not pass inspection by FY26.  We discussed using capital funds to pay for both the plow truck and mower.  We will discuss those items again in our next meeting.

• The board provided guidance to the administration to look for internal offsets to pay for any essential staff increases, including the Athletic trainer, and we will review those proposals in our next meeting.

The board also discussed the proposal to add on to the current building project by finishing two classroom spaces and a bathroom in the wood wing.  Black River architects and building project Clerk of the Works, Mike Bruso, explained the need for having swing space to move classes while the project progresses.  One of the reasons this is necessary is because parts of the heating system span multiple classrooms and require students to be moved out of these classrooms while the work is being completed.  Other options to provide this swing space include renting portable classrooms or extending the building timeframe.  Both options are more expensive than finishing the basement rooms and have no long-term benefit.  Therefore, the board authorized up to $500,000 of bond funds to renovate the wood wing basement classrooms and bathroom.  The remaining bond funds that have not been allocated is approximately $4M.

The board also discussed implementing a Cell Phone policy for the school and reviewed two policies being used by other school districts in Vermont.  The legislature is expected to discuss a state-wide policy during this legislative session.  The board will revisit the policy ideas during the March Board meeting.

Our next meeting is on January 13th.  We will be looking at a final draft of the budget and will be voting on the proposal that will be presented at Town Meeting.  We welcome community input to ensure we develop a budget that voters can support on Town Meeting Day.