Littleton School Committee Unanimously Approves $23 Million FY2023 Budget

LITTLETON — March 17, 2022 — Littleton School Committee unanimously approved a $23,050,247 town appropriation for fiscal year 2023, a 2 percent increase over last year, at its March 17 public hearing. The full budget including revolving funds totals $26,300,054, with $3,249,807 in revolving spending covering circuit breaker reimbursements, school choice receipts, and other non-tax revenue. Budget subcommittee member Justin McCarthy, presenting alongside Business Manager Steve Mark and Superintendent Kelly Clinchy, said gross new spending would have reached $920,000 but was cut nearly in half by roughly $460,000 in savings from reduced out-of-district special education tuition placements. A state formula change adding special education transportation to the circuit breaker calculation is expected to boost reimbursement revolving revenue to more than $1.5 million in FY2023, up from approximately $1.2 million. Members Brad Alston and McCarthy publicly pushed the administration to deploy available ESSER federal funds and a school choice reserve estimated at $2.554 million — roughly 11 percent of appropriated budget — toward mental health programming, with McCarthy suggesting "we could throw" roughly $215,000 "at some programming" for struggling students. The committee also unanimously approved the 2022-2023 school calendar and voted to enter executive session for contract negotiations.