DUXBURY — September 9, 2026 — The school district closed fiscal 2026 having spent 98.24 percent of its $44.3 million operating budget and returned $782,619 to the town, well above the $483,000 it forecast in the third quarter. Administrators told the School Committee the surplus will not repeat: a spring contract settlement and summer hiring both landed above what was budgeted.
The Full Story
Of the $44.3 million appropriated, the district expended just over $43 million outright and carried $497,000 forward in purchase order encumbrances. Director of Business & Finance Lisa Freeley walked the committee through the variances by cost center.
Curriculum and instruction finished with $818,000 available, from salary, contracted service and supply savings. Tuition programs came in under because two costly out-of-district special education placements never materialized — and because the district again prepaid $247,000 of next year’s out-of-district tuition, which state law permits up to three months ahead. Administration returned $57,000.
Those cushions absorbed overruns elsewhere. Other school services ran over on athletics and out-of-district transportation. Maintenance and operations ran over on energy, after a year Freeley described as very cold and very hot while school was in session, plus reactive and proactive repairs across the district. Fixed charges ran roughly $36,000 over on unplanned separation payouts from late retirements and resignations.
The district also drew two Fair Share supplemental earmarks it had never received before — $25,000 toward the Alden feasibility study and $70,000 unrestricted, which administrators intend to put toward a capital need not yet identified. Both must be applied for through a grant portal, with an October deadline.
Because the special education reserve is at its maximum, the returned money cannot top it up. It is certified as free cash, and the district competes for it through the ordinary capital process, bringing a prioritized list to the committee in October.
“It’s a relief in a challenging couple of fiscal years that we’ve had to be able to return funding. And in years like this, even though that’s been the trend, we are still just really cautious.” — Superintendent Danielle Klingaman
The caution has two sources. A contract settled in the spring came in above the budgeted rate, and the summer’s hiring came in above projections — not above what departing staff earned, Freeley said, but above what the roles were budgeted at. The district has been filling niche positions — French, Latin, high school physics — with experienced educators rather than early-career ones.
“Usually you can plan on a $25,000 to $30,000 savings when someone retires and you hire someone, and we just, we’re not seeing that as the trend.” — Superintendent Danielle Klingaman
Freeley said the district is starting the year with tight position control and is not discussing a budget freeze now, though a December check is not unusual. She also flagged that the district may ask to tap the special education reserve this year — not out of need, but to stay under the maximum balance it is allowed to hold.
Chapter 70 aid came in above what the town budgeted, by roughly $218,000 to $238,000. Because Duxbury holds an early town meeting and budgets conservatively, that money goes to the town’s free cash rather than to the schools.
