Marlborough School Committee adopts $71.9M FY24 budget, hires finance director

MARLBOROUGH -- March 28, 2023, Marlborough School Committee adopts $71.9M budget and hires finance director. The committee unanimously approved Superintendent Mary Murphy's $71,996,080 FY24 budget, a 3.62 percent increase, and sent it to Mayor Arthur Vigeant and the City Council for April 3 deliberations. Members also ratified the hiring of Thomas LaFleur, currently finance director at Wayland Public Schools, as the district's new director of finance and operations. To address a long-term substitute shortage, the committee raised the long-term sub rate at 91-plus days to a fixed $275 per day, with Director of Finance Doug Diaz favoring a fixed figure as "more predictable" than one tied to the teachers' salary schedule. Director of Student Services Charlene O'Brien reported McKinney-Vento enrollment has jumped from 47 students in November to 81, with the state funding 10 rooms at a local extended-stay hotel and the district receiving $1,000 per student through a $13,000 Homeless Emergency Support Grant accepted Tuesday.