School Committee Seeks Nearly 4 Percent Increase in School Budget

FOXBOROUGH, MA - The implication of full-day kindergarten and special education costs are two of the factors in the increase in the proposed Foxborough Public Schools fiscal year 2017 budget.

In an update during Monday’s School Committee Meeting, Chairman Bruce Garden said the preliminary budget has a 3.97 percent increase due to special education, an increase in out of district placements from 22 to 29, and the implementation of tuition-free full-day kindergarten.

“It’s not about adding programs, it’s about sustaining programs with a couple of additions,” Gardner said.

Dr. Sandra Einsel, the school district’s director of special education, said the increase is aimed at helping students with social, emotional, and significant behavioral challenges.

“Generally speaking, the cause that these students need additional adult support or a different educational setting would be the students have a tendency to have unsafe behavior towards themselves or others, or they cannot regulate themselves to learn in a public school environment,” she told the school committee.

The move to full-day kindergarten is part of a four-year plan to absorb the cost at a rate of $95,000 a year.

The remainder of the budget is level service, according to Gardner. A computer science course will be added that will be taught by a teacher currently in the school district.

“You’ll see that there are no staff changes, no additions, but we expect to accommodate that in the staffing budget. Instead of teaching one course, someone will teach a second,” Superintendent Debra Spinelli said.

Residents will have a chance to vote on the budget at the Annual Town Meeting.