Marlborough superintendent presents $69.5 million FY23 school budget request

MARLBOROUGH -- February 16, 2022, Marlborough schools propose $69.5 million budget on a record Chapter 70 windfall. Superintendent Michael Bergeron's FY23 request totals $69,479,713, a 4.24 percent increase, riding a 20.8 percent jump in state Chapter 70 aid, nearly $6.5 million, which Finance Director Doug Diaz called the largest year-over-year increase in city history. The request adds four Whitcomb teachers, two elementary teachers and a shared school adjustment counselor for $487,212, completes preschool expansion with three teachers, three paraprofessionals and two buses for $409,191, and adds two English learner teachers for $139,203. EL students now make up 30 percent of enrollment, up from 13 percent in FY13. Bergeron also asked, for the third budget cycle, for a director of elementary curriculum, and proposed seed funding for an alumni relations initiative he called a "unique idea" not yet attempted by Massachusetts public school districts. Offsets of roughly $525,000 include a $260,000 reduction in out-of-district tuition.