Marlborough School Committee Approves $76.6 Million FY2025 Budget on 7-1 Vote

MARLBOROUGH -- April 30, 2024, Marlborough School Committee formally adopted a $76,616,990 fiscal year 2025 budget Tuesday on a 7-0-1 roll-call vote, a 6.41 percent increase over the current year. Superintendent Kathleen Murphy had originally submitted $76,252,690 on April 9; the committee added roughly $364,000 before Tuesday's official approval vote. Director of Finance and Operations David LaFleur reported that four and a half bus routes currently lack an assigned driver, with four drivers in training and one expected to complete licensure testing within two weeks, near the end of the school year. On a high note, LaFleur told the committee that the Massachusetts School Building Authority last week voted to invite the Richer Elementary School project into feasibility, calling it "very very exciting" and the first step toward what could become a state-funded renovation or replacement. The committee also accepted first readings of four Chapter 1 policies and heard that a tentative agreement with the teachers union is expected to come before the board for ratification at the second May meeting.