Bedford School Board backs full‑day kindergarten and recommends FY2026 budget with no operational tax increase

The Bedford School Board voted on Jan. 14 to recommend a special warrant article that would fund full‑day kindergarten and to recommend passage of the district’s $90,909,204 operating budget for fiscal year 2026.

The board’s action came after a public hearing in which district staff presented the kindergarten proposal and the full budget. Superintendent Mike Corninger said the kindergarten warrant is a ‘‘special warrant article for full day kindergarten’’ that would allow the district to ‘‘raise and appropriate the sum of $885,100’’ to implement full‑day kindergarten at Peter Woodbury, Memorial and Riddle Brook elementary schools and to qualify for a startup grant equal to half of base adequacy funding ($520,408 as calculated for estimated enrollment).

Corninger told the board the district budgeted conservatively for enrollment, estimated kindergarten enrollment at about 178 students, and built in teacher costs ($800,625) plus supplies, technology and professional development; he estimated the net appropriated raise needed would be $364,692 and gave an illustrative homeowner impact of roughly $0.06 per $1,000 of assessed value. Corninger also explained that any grant funds appropriated for full‑day kindergarten that are not expended must be returned to taxpayers and cannot be used for other purposes.

The board also reviewed the larger operating budget. Corninger said personnel costs account for roughly 76% of the district’s budget and noted a $1,000,000 increase in health insurance costs driven by contractual obligations. He presented the proposed FY2026 operating budget of $90,909,204 (an increase of $795,987, or 0.88% over FY2025) and said the operating budget as presented yields a $0 tax impact because higher revenues and valuation offset the increase. He described a negotiated three‑year teachers’ contract with a first‑year cost item of $1,983,173 (discussed as $1.9 million earlier in the presentation) and an estimated first‑year tax impact of about $0.32 per $1,000.

Board members and a public commenter asked how the kindergarten startup grant would be applied and whether it was a continuing offset; staff replied the state’s startup grant is applied against the kindergarten line and that, if approved, full‑day kindergarten would remain in the budget and be included in adequacy calculations going forward.

After the hearing, the board moved and approved a recommendation to voters for Article 2 (full‑day kindergarten). The board also voted to recommend Article 3 (the teacher contract), Article 4 (a conditional article if Article 3 is defeated), and Article 5 (the operating budget). The board signed the warrant and completed the procedural steps necessary to post the warrant articles and related MS‑26 materials for the deliberative session and ballot vote.

Next steps: the district’s deliberative session is scheduled for Feb. 4, 2025, and the official ballot vote is set for March 11, 2025. The board’s recommendations will appear on the warrant materials posted with the MS‑26 forms ahead of those sessions.