Duxbury Schools Face $1 Million Budget Gap as Kindergarten Tuition Ends

District officials review all budget lines and staffing to address shortfall, with full-day kindergarten costs to be absorbed into FY26 operating budget

DUXBURY, MA - September 18 - Duxbury Public Schools is grappling with a significant financial challenge as it prepares to absorb full-day kindergarten costs into its operating budget for the 2025-2026 school year. The move will create a $1 million budget gap, prompting a comprehensive review of all expenses.

Superintendent Dr. Danielle Klingaman presented the financial outlook to the school committee Wednesday, explaining that the district is "being really conservative in terms of looking at every single budget line, every single staff member to justify that before we make any decisions."

The change comes as Duxbury eliminates tuition for full-day kindergarten, which has been in place since 2012. The district was one of only 15 in Massachusetts still charging for full-day kindergarten out of approximately 316 school districts.

"The average yearly tuition offset from 2014 to 2024 was around $584,864," Klingaman said. This revenue will no longer be available to offset kindergarten costs in the FY26 budget.

The estimated cost to run full-day kindergarten next year is $1.4 million. This includes salaries for 10 full-day kindergarten teachers and classroom assistants, as well as materials and curriculum resources.

Currently, Duxbury has 10 full-day kindergarten classrooms with around 200 students. Enrollment projections suggest these numbers may increase slightly in coming years.

"We are probably at the lowest level that we will be in the coming years," Klingaman noted. "There is an expectation that the population will increase slightly, and we might go back to a slightly larger average class size."

The superintendent emphasized that the $1.4 million figure does not include costs for specials teachers, special education staff, or administrative expenses related to kindergarten.

To address the budget shortfall, the district is scrutinizing all expenses. "We are level funding a lot of our accounts. In fact, we're looking at potentially reducing some of our accounts to see if there's any ability for us to have our materials lines and our other expenditures that are not staff-related be reduced," Klingaman explained.

The school committee will receive more detailed budget information in the coming weeks. Lisa Freeley, the district's Director of Business & Finance, stated that she anticipates having verified numbers for the budget rollover within the next week.

At the next school committee meeting on Oct. 9, the district plans to present information about capital needs for FY26, marking the next phase of the budget process.