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.