Town Meeting approves school budget

Town Meeting voted with little discussion to approve the Milton Public Schools’ requested $61,073,362 budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The nearly unanimous vote took place on May 9, the final day of five intense evenings of the Annual Town Meeting.

The budget had the support of the town’s Warrant Committee, who in its recommendation, however, noted that the budget relies on one-time funds that will not be available in future years.

Assistant Superintendent for Business Affairs Glenn Pavlicek said the proposed fiscal year 2024 budget calls for spending of $61.6 million to maintain the same services as last year but is complex due to the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding that the district has been able to access again this year.

That number includes about $282,000 ARPA funds from last year as well as an additional $650,000 from ARPA that was recently made available. 

It also includes $500,700 for other positions that will come from much larger than normal “free cash” of unused funds from previous years of $4.4 million, according to the school’s presentation.

Also funded through the free cash were positions in other departments including two police officers, a part-time position for the Milton Public Library, a traffic engineering consultant in the Department of Public Works, as well as other funds for DPW, Information Technology, the Fire Department, and other departments. 

Pavlicek said the schools were able to continue ARPA funding for fiscal year 2024 for the following positions: a preschool coordination, a 504 special education team chair, a high school math support teacher, an increase to full time hours for kindergarten aides, two part-time nurses, and two behavioral analysts. 

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