Norwood School Committee Holds FY27 Budget Hearing on $67.2 Million Proposal

NORWOOD — March 18, 2026 — Norwood School Committee opens FY27 budget hearing on $67.2 million plan, with a final vote set for March 25. Superintendent Dr. Timothy Luft presented the proposed $67,222,432 budget — a 2.96 percent increase over FY26 — at the March 18 business meeting, emphasizing Norwood's unusually high-needs student population: 40.3 percent of students are low income, compared to 7.1 percent in Westwood and 11.9 percent in Sharon, while the district's FY24 per-pupil expenditure of $23,366 sits near the state average. The budget adds a second Coakley Middle School bus, funds health care and business pathway teachers through $91,000 in Circuit Breaker dollars, and imposes bus fees on kindergartners for the first time under the K-4 redistricting plan. Luft warned that if the town's structural deficit deepens, future budgets could require eliminating non-mandated transportation, instituting pay-to-play athletics and arts fees worth roughly $1.3 million, and cutting $800,000 in elementary interventionists. The committee also voted 5-0 to send a joint advocacy letter with the Norwood Teachers Association to Senator William Rush and Representative Steve Rogers urging an increase in Special Education Circuit Breaker reimbursement from 75 to 90 percent and warning that Norwood's projected Chapter 70 increase in the governor's FY27 budget is just $265,500 — down from $1,103,545 the prior year.