Wayland schools to draw full $150,000 SPED reserve to close FY24 budget

WAYLAND — February 22, 2024 — Wayland schools project a $15,645 year-end cushion on a $50 million budget. Business Administrator Susan Bottan told the School Committee's Finance Subcommittee on Thursday that out-of-district special education tuition costs have risen $213,000 since the first-quarter report and that the full $150,000 special education reserve transfer will be needed to break even. "This is a super tight budget," Bottan said, calling it the tightest of her career. Subcommittee member Erin Mola said the figures show "no room … for any cuts." Separately, BASE director Pat told the subcommittee the after-school program is sitting on $500,000 to $700,000 in revolving-fund balances and proposed returning roughly $200,000 to the town's general fund to repay benefits waived in fiscal 2021, alongside roughly $10,000-per-site security upgrades and a 20 percent staff raise. Chair Jeannie Downs said the BASE repayment will require a full School Committee vote.