2026-2027 Budget Q&A

Every budget season carries with it a rich and beautiful civic discourse that ultimately helps leverage our collective understanding toward the most informed outcome. The intent of this Q & A document is to provide as much factual background in response to the superintendent’s current understanding of the budget-related issues that seem to be top of mind within our community at this moment. My hope is that it will be helpful to the community as the Board of Education makes a decision on its budget this Wednesday, April 22nd. 

-Respectfully submitted, Dr. Rob Glass, April 18, 2026.

What is the projected budget gap for 2026-27?

Just under $5M.

What is the primary mechanism for reducing the budget gap?

Because we are a service institution, the bulk of our budget is in people who provide direct service. Therefore, closing a gap of this size involves looking at staffing levels and other efficiencies across all areas of the district. Enrollment levels have been declining, and with 18 retirements this year, we have the opportunity to match staffing to enrollment through retirement rather than layoffs.

What was the basis for making staffing decisions in the 26-27 Budget? 

The guiding question is: What level of staffing do we need to deliver our current K-12 curriculum based on current enrollment and student course requests? We used a modified zero-based approach to build staffing to match the need. This was applied across all levels and subject areas.

What are class size averages in the 2026-27 school year? 

• Elementary: We are continuing to follow our established staffing practice, with average class size in grades 1-2 at 19.5 and 3-5 average class size at 19.8
• Middle school core average: 20-21
• High school core average: 21-23

Are programs being eliminated? 

No programs are being eliminated:

• High school: The schedule was built to provide necessary staffing to support the courses that students selected from our robust course catalog, both core courses and electives.
• Middle school: No program changes. Everything offered this year continues to be offered next year.
• Elementary schools: No changes to the program; everything that is part of the regular instructional schedule offered this year will continue to be offered next year at the same intervals.

Are there reductions in staff? In what departments?

• Elementary classroom teachers: 4.0
• Elementary Art: 0.8
• Elementary Music: 0.7
• Elementary PE: 1.5
• Secondary ELA: 0.6
• Secondary Math: 2.0
• Secondary Science & Tech: 2.0
• Secondary Social Studies: 0.8
• Secondary World Language: 1.0
• Secondary Special Education: 2.0

Isn’t a reduction in full-time employees (FTEs) a cut to the program? 

No. With declining enrollment and reduced sections, these changes can be absorbed without impacting the program.

What about K-12 programs like Art, Music and PE? Aren’t there program reductions in those areas? 

There are staffing reductions, but not program reductions in Art, Music or PE

• 6-12 arts programming remains as it is today. The administration has withdrawn the proposal for a change to middle school rotations. 
• Elementary art and music will be delivered every four days, as it is currently. The administration has withdrawn the proposal to move to a five-day rotation. 

How does the elementary four-day rotation compare to districts in the region? 

Most districts in our region have six-day rotations; some have five. We inquired among regional districts and have not yet found one that offers four, making our rotation the richest in the region in terms of minutes and frequency over the year.

Will elementary art teachers be assigned to one building or will they be shared across buildings? What has been the historical practice in this regard? 

Historically, art teachers have been assigned one to a school, allowing a teacher to become more fully immersed in the building. However, this also produced inequitable service levels, given that buildings range in size between 200 and 500 students. 

More recently, art teachers have been shared, where larger buildings have a full-time teacher, and smaller buildings share an art teacher. Each art teacher spends enough full days in each building to teach all classes, which avoids wasted travel time during the school day. Travel time for any art/music teacher, during the school day, is a rare circumstance, but it is factored into that teacher’s schedule so as not to impact or reduce any designated daily preparation time.

Are teachers and certified staff in other district departments shared across buildings? 

Yes, where necessary for efficiency and by the nature of the duty. Departments include: Art, Music, PE/Health, ESOL, School Psychologists, Speech Pathologists, Occupational & Physical Therapists. When necessary, teachers are also shared within areas of certification across the middle and high schools.

Do districts in our region share elementary art and music teachers across buildings, or is there one assigned to each building? 

I have inquired of districts in our region and found that it is generally dictated by the size of the school. We have not yet found a pattern in regional districts assigning a full-time teacher regardless of school size.

How many non-teaching periods are in an elementary teacher’s day by contract? 

All elementary teachers receive one 45-minute lunch and a minimum of one 30-minute preparation period per day. The balance of the day is contractually dedicated to student contact time. For art, music, and PE teachers, the student time is broken down into six 42-minute specials periods, enough to teach one class per grade level each day (K-5).

Do elementary art teachers currently have extra preparation periods in their day? What is the purpose and historical context? 

• Yes, elementary art teachers are the only ones who have historically built in extra preparation periods into their day. This was provided to support school-wide and district-wide art events and exhibits, to facilitate the Art Department’s TAB (choice-based) model, and to provide extra enrichment opportunities for groups of students.
• In addition, previous contract language contained minute requirements for Art, Music and PE that were inefficient in that they limited the number of sections that could be taught in a week, resulting in extra preparation periods in a teacher’s schedule. Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, the number of extra periods in the PE, Art and Music schedules was reduced to a lower level by changing contract language to a maximum of 252 minutes per day, allowing each teacher to teach six sections each day.

 

Will the provision of extra planning periods for elementary art teachers continue in 2026-27? 

No, providing extra periods is not recommended to continue in 2026-27 as part of the Superintendent’s Budget. Along with fewer elementary sections, the proposed reduction in FTE is achieved by finding efficiencies in preparation periods, which are non-student-contact time periods. As with all other elementary teachers, art teachers will have one 45-minute preparation period and one lunch per day. 

Caveat: elementary art, music and PE teachers may have some additional planning time in their schedules as dictated by logistics, where it simply may not be possible to achieve perfect efficiency. 

What is the rationale for no longer providing extra planning periods to art teachers? 

There are several components to this rationale:

• The effects of the 2% tax cap make it difficult for districts to “have it all.” In this budget cycle, we have had to make some difficult and thoughtful choices about what is most essential to preserving our programs as defined by experience in the realm of scheduled instructional time. We are prioritizing our generous four-day cycle at the elementary level so students will see our teachers for 42-minutes every four days, as they always have.
• While it is understood that this change feels onerous to our teachers in the arts, this approach achieves an important measure of parity between arts teachers and other elementary colleagues with regard to preparation periods. Other K-12 teachers have similar workloads and caseloads but no additional planning periods. Just a few examples include:
  • Elementary classroom teachers who prepare for at least four core areas, two of which currently involve new curricula involving significant training and changes in delivery. Elementary teachers are expected to create engaging lessons and track individual data at regular intervals to provide differentiated experiences, and provide social-emotional learning experiences, prepare detailed report cards, prepare for conferences, collaborate on special projects at the school level, etc.
  • Teachers in the Dual Language Bilingual Education program have all of the responsibilities of an elementary teacher, but also teach in teams, requiring relationships with 40+ students and their families across two languages, and navigate the many other complexities associated with the DLBE program.
  • Special educators and related service providers who must deliver direct service to students on their caseloads while also providing evaluations, participating and providing data for CSE meetings, all while managing the many required layers of federally mandated reporting and compliance.

Do districts in our region provide additional preparation periods for elementary art, music, or PE teachers? 

I have inquired of districts in our region, and have not yet found districts that make this a conscious practice, other than dictated by logistics.

With no additional preparation periods for elementary arts teachers, will there be an impact on the qualitative student experience at the elementary level? For example, how will things like art exhibitions, musicals, before-school music programs (including district-level) and other enrichment activities be accomplished? 

• Nobody has a crystal ball, and there will be a wide variety of opinions on this. In nearly every industry and profession, the reality is that we are continually asked to do more with less. While some challenges may arise that could cause impacts regarding the examples mentioned above, the core arts instructional periods are prioritized and protected once every fourth day within the four-day rotation.
• Before-school music ensembles (chorus, band, and orchestra) will continue. These are outside the instructional day and teachers are compensated separately for these stipended positions. While our teachers have always taught them, and that is our preference, we would have the option of hiring someone from outside the district to provide those experiences in the event of an insurmountable scheduling conflict or if individual teachers felt they had reduced capacity to take on these additional responsibilities. 
• During the school day, elementary instrumental rotations will continue as they have been implemented in the past. 
• Overall, I’m confident that our teachers and administrators can and will work together to effectively navigate most, if not all, of these challenges.

Are there ways to provide art and music teachers with additional planning opportunities? 

We have ways of providing time and support to help accomplish the other elements we also value outside of the core arts periods. For example, morning meeting collaboration time is already built into an elementary teacher schedule (Tues-Thurs from 8-8:45 a.m). In addition, Superintendent Conference Days and Parent-Teacher Conference days provide additional time for school-wide and district-wide planning. Substitute release time can also be provided, if needed. 

Will elementary after-school enrichment (musicals, etc) be maintained? 

Yes, these are funded separately by the Board of Education starting in 2023, and there is no reason they would not continue.

Will middle and high school programs like Sinfonetta, Jazz Band and Rock Ensemble continue? 

Yes. There are no programming reductions or staffing reductions that will affect these programs.

Have other departments had to navigate changes to their structure in response to budget challenges or declining enrollment? 

Yes. In just one example, two years ago, the middle school was tasked with reinventing the three-house teaming model to achieve more efficient class sizes while preserving the essence of the middle school teaming concept, which is core to its identity. Although it was very painful and challenging for the entire school, they created a two-house-flex model that, with some compromises, preserved what was most core to the program while moving class sizes from the high teens on average to the low twenties, resulting in staffing levels built to match the current enrollment.