Framingham Schools Submits $147 Million Budget Request

FRAMINGHAM, MA — The Framingham School Committee on Wednesday night settled on a $147.3 million budget request for the next fiscal year, a slightly lower amount than when the school department's draft budget was released in late February.

Still, the fiscal year 2021 budget is close to $10 million higher than the 2020 budget request of $138.4 million — and the School Committee acknowledged that the coronavirus crisis might mean a much different budget than what was requested.

"When our building and district-level leaders started to build the FY21 budget back in October, we could not have imagined then what we are facing now in our world," Superintendent Robert Tremblay said in a news release. "We are surrounded by the unknown in nearly every facet of our lives. I am grateful to our teams of teachers and administrators who spent the time they did — when they did — to build the thoughtful, forward-looking budget framed by our philosophy of providing every Framingham student what they need in order to achieve at a high level in our schools."

One bright spot is the state's new Student Opportunity Act, which will provide a significant boost in education funding for Framingham and other districts around the state. Framingham is getting a 14 percent bump in state education funding this year at $58 million.

The biggest driver of the fiscal 2021 increase, according to budget documents, is cost-of-living salary increases for staff. The district expects about $5 million in salary increases next year, plus another $3.4 million to cover new salaried positions. The district is also expecting an enrollment jump of about 220 students.

The schools budget now heads to Mayor Yvonne Spicer for review. Spicer will then submit her entire budget — which will include the school department and all other city departments — to City Council for approval before the end of June.