School Committee Approves $96.9M FY27 Budget

School Committee · Meeting of October 20, 2026

Wellesley's School Committee approved a $96,856,075 fiscal 2027 adjusted budget and accepted $3,133,107 in state and federal grants on 5-0 votes Tuesday. Assistant Superintendent David Jordan said a staffing-data mismatch between two internal systems had been corrected, adding 6.05 full-time positions including special education teaching assistants and a behavioral technician at roughly $281,000. The committee also adopted 2026-27 district goals 3-0 with two abstentions after members debated whether proficiency targets overshadow student growth; Secretary Alana Nissenbaum said the district is "very heavy on proficiency." Vice Chair Costas Panagopoulos pushed back on messaging around planned Special Town Meeting air-conditioning motions, saying of the district's commitment, "that ship has sailed, right?" Heat-day data showed 26 school days above 80 degrees in 2025-26, up from 22 the prior year.

In the full story:

• Public Comment: Wellesley Educators Association
• Committee Reports
• Consent Agenda
• District Goals
• PreK-5 School Improvement Plans
• FY27 Adjusted Budget
• FY27 Grant Approvals
• FY28 Budget Guidelines
• Special Town Meeting Air Conditioning Warrant Articles 14 and 15
• CapCom: A/C Construction PPF, Future Projects
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 3,077 words

Source: the School Committee meeting of October 20, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.