PLYMOUTH — Oct. 19, 2026 — Plymouth’s superintendent told the School Committee on Monday that personnel costs, binding contracts and state and federal mandates leave the district little room to maneuver as it begins planning its fiscal 2028 budget. The presentation, the second in a five-part public budget series, put salaries and personnel above $104 million. No budget was proposed or adopted.
The Full Story
The superintendent’s Budget Constraints and Mandates presentation sorted district spending into fixed, semi-fixed and discretionary categories.
By major category, Superintendent Chris Campbell said salaries and personnel represent more than $104 million, special education out-of-district placements and services more than $36 million, employee health care and benefits $32.4 million, and transportation and utilities $10.8 million. Special education placements, debt service and building utilities are highly fixed, the superintendent said, while contractual step increases, multiyear busing and vendor contracts, and scheduled maintenance are semi-fixed. Electives, technology refresh cycles, athletics and extracurricular activities make up the small discretionary share.
On mandates, Campbell said circuit breaker expenditures exceeded $10.4 million and out-of-district tuitions topped $7.6 million, offset by $844,000 from the federal IDEA special education grant, which has gone down. The district also funds about $2.6 million in early education, just over $1 million in English learner services, $1.1 million in vocational out-of-district tuition and transportation, and $315,000 in McKinney-Vento foster care costs.
Assistant Superintendent for Finance and School Operations Adam Blaisdell said a renegotiated contract held the September fuel escalation charge to just over $10,000, compared with well over $50,000 under the old contract. Electricity is budgeted at $1.2 million, held down by a solar lease the superintendent said locked in 8 cents per kilowatt-hour. Dr. Blaisdell said Eversource delivery alone would cost more than 24 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with about 10 cents the district pays, and that the heating fuel line will increase substantially in the fiscal 2028 request.
But as we’re entering FY28 budget planning, we’re most likely going to be making some difficult decisions.
— Dr. Chris Campbell, Superintendent 1:27:27
For the series’ final presentation in mid-November, the superintendent said the recommendation will be to present two budgets: a needs-based budget and one built to the funding guideline, showing the impact of each. The superintendent also said non-salary lines rose 0.84% this year and that the committee has kept a soft class-size cap of 22 in the primary grades and 25 above.
It’s really, in reality, and I’ll stand by this, it’s a cost problem. Everything has gone up in a manner that the margins that outside organizations are making is ridiculous. There's no way to stay efficient and then make sure you're not in the same position next year.
— Paul Samargedlis, School Committee 1:40:15
Samargedlis, citing an email from the Select Board chair on five-year projections, asked the administration to put dollar figures next to discretionary areas such as athletics and the arts to show what cuts would actually save. Vice Chair Katherine Jackson asked that future slides show savings from bringing special education services in-house, transportation efficiency work and changes in federal funding.
