001I'm going to call the Weston Board of Education special meeting to order at 7:01 on January 5th, 2026. Let's begin with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with justice for all. Liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Okay. Um All right. Um this is a one item agenda special board meeting. First of all, I want to say happy new year to everyone and welcome back. I hope everyone had a great holiday season and was able to recharge a bit. Um we're going to start off this year with a bang by looking at next year already um and planning for our um school budget. Um before we start um on behalf of the board of
002education, I want to thank Superintendent 40 and the entire Western Public School staff for all your work on this mammoth undertaking. Uh we know it takes lots and lots of time probably beginning in October to put this together and build it from the ground up. So we really thank you for your hard work. Um and we're looking forward to hearing the presentation tonight. It will be followed and Superintendent 40 will highlight these, but it will be uh followed by a series of board of ed workshops and public forums before the board of education votes on a final budget proposal to bring to the board of selectmen and the board of finance. So, with that, I want to turn it over to Superintendent 40. Thank you. >> Thank you, uh, Deborah. I really appreciate it and
003thank you for um the acknowledgement um of all the hard work that went into the uh preparing of this budget. Um I I have a lot of people to thank at the end and it is a lot of hard work and a lot of time and energy was uh put into the development of it. So good evening everybody. It's a pleasure to be here to give my very first highle presentation and overview of the proposed 20262027 operating and capital improvement budget for Weston Public Schools. Um Dan, if you don't mind pulling up the slideshow and we're going to leave it right on this very first slide here. Um, I just want to start by saying that empowering every student to achieve their highest potential remains one of the most, I believe, essential elements of our
004district's mission. It reflects the promise we make to every student in Weston and a promise that's rooted in our long-standing commitment to academic excellence and personalization. For decades, Weston Public Schools has served as the heart of this community, and we continue to take great pride in the tailored educational experiences that define all of our schools. This evening, as we present the proposed budget, we do so with a clear focus on how our values guide our decisions and how we responsibly invest in the success of every student. At the same time, the administration remains fully committed to our responsibility as um stewards of our public resources. And so the proposed operating and capital budget have been put together very thoughtfully and balances not only our obligation to meet our educational priorities, but also being responsible to
005the taxpayer dollars. Um Dan, if you don't mind going to the next slide. Our vision here in Weston is rooted in the belief that every learner is unique um with distinct strengths and needs and aspirations and passions and that each student deserves to be known, valued, and supported. The proposed budget you're going to hear about tonight um directly supports this vision by prioritizing staffing levels, class sizes, and instructional resources that sustain a highquality personalized learning environment. Even as enrollment trends shift, investments in curriculum, in professional learning, arts programming, instructional materials are intentionally aligned with our district improvement goals, ensuring that teaching and learning remain rigorous, responsive, and student centered, all grounded in the mission and vision of our school district. Next slide, please. As we present the proposed budget, I really want you to know
006that um our budgetary decisions are also grounded in fully supporting the skills and attributes that we want every Western graduate to graduate to achieve prior to crossing the stage and handing over their diploma. This budget reflects the commitment to educating responsible citizens who act with integrity, empathy, and respect for others. It includes funding for support services, inclusive practices, and social emotional learning initiatives, all of which play a critical role in helping students develop the ethical and interpersonal attributes defined in the portrait of the graduate. This budget is not simply about maintaining programs. It's about deepening and strengthening the learning experiences and and initiatives we have in place that develop Western graduates who are critical thinkers, effective communicators, ethical citizens, and resilient learners. Next slide, please. So, there's four key investment areas reflected in the proposed
007budget. These key investments or priorities um are directly aligned with our district improvement goals. And while specific line items may change yeartoear, if you think about it, these four areas consistently guide how we allocate resources each year. Number one, safety and security remains a a key investment particularly in the capital requests. These investments are not just about facilities or protocols. are about ensuring students can learn in safe and secure environments that promote well-being and trust. Um, another one of these investments is a strong culture and climate. We know these two things are absolutely essential for learning. When students feel a sense of belonging, they're more engaged, more resilient, and they're also better positioned to succeed academically and socially. Another priority is academic excellence. This budget continues to support aligned curriculum, highquality instruction, and meaningful assessments
008across all grade levels. And these investments ensure that students are challenged appropriately, supported when needed, but also prepared with the foundation and curiosity they need to succeed upon graduation. And finally, the investment in our people. Our educators and our staff are our most important and valued resource. By investing in supporting in our staff, we are directly impacting the student outcomes we desire. Our educational community and district outcomes are highly dependent on our people. And so this reinforces our commitment to ensuring we're investing in highquality professional learning while retaining highquality staff so we can be responsive to student needs, the continuous improvement we need to conduct as a district, and our instructional and academic excellence. Taken together, all of these key investments reflect a very balanced approach to ensuring excellence. One that supports academic rigor, student
009well-being, staff development, and safe and nurturing learning environments. And most importantly, they ensure that our budget decisions remain aligned with our long-term district goals, some of which you heard about earlier earlier the this year. Uh, next slide, please. I'm going to start the presentation with um a little bit on our district enrollment data. Um the board was present uh when Mr. Mike Zuba uh presented these uh enrollment projections at a November board of ed meeting. The chart you're seeing here this evening contains three enrollment data columns. In the purple column, you see the October 1, 2025 enrollment data snapshot for each grade across all of our schools. This data includes all students, both students attending Weston Public Schools and students in out of district placements. As part of our budget presentation, we are fiscally responsible
010for all of these students, and that's why they're included here in that purple column. The blue column reflects the slam medium projection enrollment data for 202627 and the green column represents the difference between the actual enrollment as of October 1 or the purple column and the slam median projection for 2026 27 the blue column the green column has a difference of 52 students over our four schools and 13 grade levels. While this budget is based on these projections that span over the 13 grade levels in the four schools, I want you to note that while the 202627 SLAM projection includes 52 preschoolers, the district, as you know, is enrolling 70 preschool students for the 2026 27 school year. If you add the additional 18 preschool students to the slam median projection, district enrollment jumps to
011around two perfect 2,000 students, resulting in a decline of only 34 students. We also included in this slide this evening some data specific to students attending private schools. There is um a report that's published by the Connecticut State Department of Education in March called the enumeration report and we use this report to aggregate the data you see here regarding non-public private school attendance. So recent trends, as you can see, show a notable shift in student enrollment patterns as the total number of Western students attending non-public schools or private schools has decreased significantly over the past 3 years from 195 students in 2022 to 23 to 128 students um last year in 2024 25. Perhaps this downward trend suggests that more families are choosing Western public schools, reinforcing the value of the district's academic programming, personalized
012learning approach, and strong student supports. But also, enrollment is not simply going down because children living in Weston are choosing to attend private schools. These enrollment patterns have been carefully considered in the development of the proposed budget, ensuring staffing and resources remain appropriately aligned to the support students need while maintaining the high levels of personalization that Western Public Schools prides itself in. Please also note that the data you see here on the slide may differ than some of the enrollment data you see in your budget book as some of that data includes for class size purposes um and number of sections per grade level purposes only the students currently um in Western public schools. Um if we can move to slide six please. Slide six is uh demonstrating our district staffing. Overall staffing levels are
013remaining relatively flat for fiscal year uh 27 reflecting a modest year-over-year increase of just4 FTE which is demonstrating a very good and continued commitment to our fiscal responsibility while remaining um ensuring that we're meeting our instructional and student support needs for certified staff. This budget assumes a net reduction of 1.2 FTE, which also includes the addition of one new preschool classroom that you heard about um in a in a previous meeting. This reduction reflects a very thoughtful and strategic approach to maximizing staffing efficiencies across certified positions and across schools. For non-certified staff, this budget assumes an increase of 1.6 6 FTE driven by some specific student needs and program growth. This includes um a onetoone PAR educator position to support a student's individual needs. This was a position that was not reflected in the current
014year's budget but is now included in next year's budget or our proposed budget here. And a PAR educator assigned to the new pre preK classroom. Overall, this staffing plan balances program expansion and mandated student supports while maintaining responsible and sustainable staffing levels. Um, I also include in this slide [clears throat] a pie chart for your reference. It's a chart a chart that I've used on a staffing slide in previous uh presentations that assists in demonstrating that the district is not disproportionate relatively speaking in any way to the staffing levels by assignment in comparison to the state. So, as you can see, there's no particular staffing area, administrators or special ed teachers or student support services that is particularly disproportionate with state staffing levels. And I think that's really an important um message to share so
015that the community knows that our staffing levels are very consistent what happen with what happens statewide. Slide seven, cheese. The next few slides are focused on some key budget drivers. Salary obviously being one of those drivers. The total cost of salaries um for this proposed budget is a little over uh $38 million. That represents 60% of the district's budget. The total increase in salary for fiscal year 27 is uh just over $1.5 million. >> [clears throat] >> The proposed staffing budget reflects some contractual obligations to three bargaining units. Um, and the percentages for the the upcoming contracts. Um, ASME is in the process or will be negotiated prior to July 1, 2026. Um, WTA is a 3.25 increase under the newly negotiated contract that will start July 1, 2026. And the budget also includes um
016the WA one-year contract beginning July 1, 2026 with a 3.5% GWI. So all of this is included and accounted for in our proposed budget. Salary increases for employees not affiliated with a union will typically mirror those of uh parallel bargaining units and the unaffiliated support staff will be deter determined upon execution of the ASME um contract prior to June 30th. Um, I want you to note that while salaries is a huge driver and accounts for 60% of the overall budget, when combined with benefits, it represents 80% of the total district budget. Next slide, please. Um, slide eight. Um, I think this is probably a new slide for the community and the board this year. I just wanted to showcase that there is another budget driver that we wanted to highlight and those are contractual obligations
017with key vendors um that provide um services that are community partners and and some utility structures. And while the year-over-year increase is not excessive, our transportation, the cleaning and trash removal, utilities, insurance costs, and some safety um partnerships account for just under $6 million of our budget or just under 10% of the overall budget. And these are vendor contractual obligations. Slide nine, please. Another huge budget driver is health insurance and it is the largest budget driver. Costs associated with health insurance continue to be one of the district's fastest growing expenditures. Um while we absorbed a 10% increase for this current year, the the proposed 2026 27 budget reflects an even steeper increase driven by the premium growth across the insurance market. Even with increased employee premium contributions, the net cost to the district rises by
018nearly $2 million over two years. So fiscal year net cost for 2026 increased by 10% or just under $800,000. In fiscal year 27, net cost increases by over $1.1 million or 14%. This accounts for for four about 45% of the total budget increase and almost one out of every two new dollars in this proposed budget will go to health insurance. Employees cost share is also increasing and they are contributing more each year rising from just under $2 million in fiscal year 25 to over $2.2 million in fiscal year 27. But these cost share increases do not really fully offset the pace of the cost and premium grow growth. And again, nearly half of all new spending in each of the last two budgets is driven by health insurance alone. We're going to have Brown and
019Brown consultants with us at uh one of our workshops on January 15th to talk more about this and respond to questions that board members may have. Um the next slide, please. And I'm going to pass it over to uh Tracy um who's going to present the information on this slide. >> Thanks, Erica. Good evening, everybody. Um, for the proposed fiscal year 27 budget, PPS staffing will remain relatively consistent. Erica already highlighted earlier in the presentation that we're including an additional teacher for our ELC program along with a PAR educator to support that classroom and are also projecting a 1.0 increase in special education PAR educators compared to this year based on changing student needs. Another area of the budget uh in PPS contracted services encompasses a range of support for individual student programs and we
020are proposing reducing this line based on the needs of our students. As a reminder, our PPS budget overall reflects our current known needs in the upcoming school year. All lines in the PPS budget, particularly tuition and settlement, are centered on the needs of individual students, and there can be variability in these lines over time for various reasons. At this point, uh, a slight increase is anticipated in the outofd district tuition line for fiscal year 27, while a net decrease is expected in the settlement line due to students graduating, um, students aging out of services or changes in program recommendations for individual students. At this point, um, I'm going to turn it over to Dan Devito, director of digital learning and technology. Thank you very much. Good evening everyone. For fiscal year 27, we are continuing
021with our six-year technology plan. On this slide, you will see the next three years of the tech six-year technology plan. The full plan is included in your budget book. For next year, we're looking to replace all staff laptops. The current staff laptops are 5 years old. So, we're keeping in line with the 5-year replacement cycle for staff laptops. 5 years tends to be the sweet spot for staff devices that we maximize their lifespan while reducing any issues that you may have with them becoming obsolete or unreliable. So, uh, next year the only thing we're looking to purchase as a major purchase is staff laptops. I did want to point out that all safety and security requests um that may be technology related are located under capital requests which you will be seeing shortly. And now
022I'd like to pass it off to Dr. Tina Henle. >> Great. Good evening everyone. Thanks Dan. Um in the area of curriculum and instruction, you will see the that the requests um are not a major driver this coming year of the overall budget and that's intentional. Many of the largecale uh curriculum resource purchases uh that occurred in prior years in reading and math have been um transitioned into school-based uh requests this year and those are largely focused on maintaining consumable materials rather than purchasing new core programs. While spending is more modest, as Erica mentioned earlier, the instructional work continues to deepen. So, our emphasis for fiscal year 27 is on implementation and building staff capacity and ensuring that the curriculum investments that we've already made are used effectively and with fidelity in the classrooms. A
023key lever in that work is our team of curriculum and instruction leaders. And as many of you know, our CILs serve as a bridge between the purchase of curriculum resources, overseeing curriculum design, analyzing assessments, evaluating instructional software, and what actually happens in the classrooms. So they work directly alongside teachers and administrators to support instructional planning, curriculum implementation, data analysis, and job embedded professional professional learning. Without this support, curriculum programs risk being implemented inconsistently and superficiously. So for fiscal year 27, our budget reflects a request to maintain the current CIL model that we've designed uh as in uh as as we've implemented this school year and prioritize the needs depending on specific programmatic and district goals. These roles combine instructional leadership, direct classroom teaching and supporting our multi-tered system of support framework, coaching and curriculum work
024um remains grounded in their current practices while maintaining fiscal efficiency. Um, you will see in the curriculum and instruction budget at the secondary level, which is grades 6 through 12, some new science units of study and updated social studies curriculum units that we'd like to be adopting next school year um at the 6 through 12 level. And we've also requesting um to scaffold some social studies updated curriculum resources in grades uh K2 and grades 3 4. Professional learning funds support this work throughout targeted training in areas such as math implementation, literacy, assessment and data use, co-eing, multi-tered systems of support, computer science, artificial intelligence instruction, restorative practices, and social emotional learning. In addition there you will see assessment tools such as the NWA assessment and Dibbles 8 platform which we continue to to use to
025support our universal screening progress monitoring and instructional decision-making. Um all of this work is guided by the universal design for learning framework that we have adopted about four or five years ago, ensuring that our the design and the um implementation of our curriculum um is um grounded in a guaranteed and viable framework and remains accessible, inclusive, and responsive for all of our learners. So, our overall budget represents a strategic investment in sustaining instructional quality, maximizing prior curriculum investments, and supporting teachers while remaining fiscally responsible and aligned to our district goals. With that, I hand it back over to Erica. Thank you, Tina. [clears throat] Um, next slide, please. Thank you, Dan. on this slide. I I think this is a great slide because I think it highlights and gives a really great balcony view of
026the object codes in our budget. It allows you to see those lines that are the major cost drivers in the proposed budget. As in prior years, the largest increases, no shock, are in salaries and employee benefits, which together total just over $2.5 million and reflect contractual obligations and rising benefits costs. These increases are part are partially offset by a reduction in other services where we were able to identify efficiencies and one-time adjustments um some of which Tracy alluded to that decrease um roughly $250,000 in the budget which helps to moderate the overall request bringing the net increase to just over under 2.4 million or 3.92%. And so overall this slide just really captures nicely where the major drivers are and where you can see some of the reductions with the bottom line. Uh next slide
027please. This slide is just really a visual representation of that chart that I just showed you and it illustrates how the proposed budget is allocated across major spending categories with the largest chunks in salaries and employee benefits and they constitute 80% of the budget. Um, and I think it's really reflective of our people centered organization and the central role that our educators and staff play in delivering highquality instruction and student supports. [clears throat] It reflects something I say often and I think you've already probably heard me say it and I'll continue to say it, but we're in a profession that is deeply dependent on our faculty and staff and our people. And at a time when there are significant shortages of both certified and non-certified um educators, it's really imperative that our employees are compensated,
028have access to highquality health care, and are supported in their professional growth and development with the necessary resources to do so. As such, the remaining portions of this budget and cost centers support the programs, the materials, and the services that allow our staff to do this work effectively on behalf of our students. And then there's just those small expenditures that are distributed across instructional materials and services and operational costs, all of which directly support teaching, learning, and the day-to-day operations of our schools. Next slide, please. [clears throat] So the proposed 2026 20227 budget for Western public schools is $63,469,412. This is an increase of 2,397,723 or 3.92%. Next slide, please. Outside of the operational budget, um the district has also prepared a capital budget. Um there's more detail in your budget books, but it's [clears
029throat] a request of just over $2.6 $6 million and it maintains focus on safety and security specific to the district radio upgrade project. It includes funding for paving, um turf replacement, um flexible furniture purchases, some district-wide energy efficiency upgrades, some roof replacements, um and like I said, more detail is included in your budget book and can be explored further at upcoming workshops. But um there is an overall request of just over $2.6 million inclusive of some of those things. Next slide, please. [clears throat] So the district remains a high value investment for the community. Um and Western public schools continues to demonstrate exceptional academic achievement and meaningful growth across all grade levels. Our students benefit every day from aligned curriculum, strong instruction, and the relentless efforts and commitment of our faculty and staff every single
030day. And I think it's important that we be reminded that this year, Weston Intermediate School was honored as a national blue ribbon school and recognized by the state as a school of distinction. Um really a reflection of the outstanding teaching, learning, and culture within the building. Weston High School continues to excel as well, recently ranked number three in Connecticut in a statewide news report. And I think this recognition highlights our students high level levels of readiness for college, career, and life beyond Weston. Um, across her lists in the middle school and the and the high school, our educators are doing really impressive and focused work in literacy and math and student supports. You've heard Tina and others present on the growth and moving the needle at levels, high levels that are really hard to move
031the needle at. And these efforts are directly contributing um to all of these gains that we are seeing. So tonight's budget continues to support the very initiatives, professional practices, and culture that led to all of these accolades and prestigious achievements and moving the needle and growing at such um high levels. Um that it it it maintains that while allowing us to move the uh I'm sorry, I lost my place here. my apologies. It allows us the strong professional learning, the safe and supportive learning environments, and the operational systems that make all of this possible. And this budget sustains that foundation for us to continue to receive the types of um accolades we're receiving, excel at the levels of excellence that we are currently excelling, but puts us on a trajectory for continued growth and success
032in 2026 and 27. Before I officially conclude and move to the next slide, I do want to take a moment to thank our building principles and their leadership teams, um, our cabinet members, Phil and his team for all of their support in developing, um, this proposed budget and all the documentation that comes along with it. We know that there's going to be several other other workshops and public forums and meetings and a lot more discussion to be had. But just leading up to this point included numerous meetings, conversations, hours at the table, deep data dives, um, analyses, and a lot of conversation about what we believe we need in order to keep Western public schools on a trajectory for continued growth and success. And so, thank you to the teams um for your dedication, your
033time, and your effort in the midst of the regular responsibilities you have on a day-to-day basis. Next slide, please. Just a reminder of our upcoming budget meetings and um and our timelines. Tomorrow we resume bright and early at 9:00 a.m. with a workshop where we'll have principles be taking you through some of the narrative section of the budget book booklet and um seeking uh to answer uh some of your questions. Following this presentation, you're going to get a link to a Google form um where we encourage board members to submit any questions, any clarifications you might need, your feedback, input, um any additional documentation or information you'd like to see so that we can come prepared with responses um particularly at the January 15th workshop meeting. And so um that concludes our presentation for this
034evening. Thank you for your time and your attention and thank you for the team for your extensive efforts and support in putting this together. >> Um thank you Erica and and your whole team. Um this presentation was um comprehensive and high level and um there's obviously backed up by a budget book that we will as board members be diving into. Um I do think that it's a very healthy way to ask for questions that um you know board members please do respond to the Google sheet that comes out. Um so you can write all your questions down and the staff will have some time to uh prepare and pull out the salient details. Um but as an overview I I really want to congratulate you Erica and the staff for the the clarity and the
035um the easy to followess. I'm not sure how to make that an adjective, but um I do appreciate that. Are there um other comments? Okay. Then, um again, um I just want to on behalf of the board, uh thank you and your team. you've given us lots of um material to uh to dive into and to examine and to kick the tires, if you will, and uh come up with questions. Um we know this is done on behalf of the Western Public School students and maintaining our excellence and trying to be as fiscally responsible as possible. And so our job as a as a board is to see if that balance is is correct and if there are any alterations that we need we need to make. Um so unless there are other comments by
036more board members I will take a motion to adjurnn. >> I so move. >> Thank you Sharon. Is there a second? >> I second. >> All right Lisa. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> All right. Again, thank you very much and we are going to spend a lot of time together [laughter] in the in the next few weeks. So again, thank you and we'll see you soon. >> Thanks everyone. >> Good night. >> Looking forward to it. >> Good night. >> See you tomorrow morning.