School Committee

The HCAM School Committee meeting on November 14, 2026, included approval of the FY27 first-quarter budget transfers in Table C. The district reported that its just-over-$71 million general-fund appropriation is projected to remain balanced. The presentation proposed making grant and revolving-fund budget offsets more transparent; it cited private-school tuition costs of $3.6 million compared with $754,000 shown in the existing budget line, and paraprofessional costs of $1.1 million compared with $75,000. The report also described a shift in IDEA grant use and approximately $690,000 in one-time revenue offsets. The committee voted unanimously to approve the transfers.

The committee also unanimously approved the FY28 capital plan to proceed to the next step. It includes approximately $545,000 in traditional capital-improvement requests and a proposed town-meeting warrant vote to repurpose approved debt for an estimated $22.4 million HVAC replacement project at Hopkinton High School. The discussion compared an energy-service-company (ESCO) geothermal approach with conventional replacement, noting expected energy savings and incentives; no construction contract was awarded at this meeting. A stormwater mitigation study was also discussed. The district improvement plan update covered education and operational goals, with no additional procurement decisions identified.