Plympton School Committee Defers Budget Vote, Sets March 26 as Decision Date

PLYMPTON -- February 24, 2025, Plympton School Committee delays FY26 Dennett Elementary budget vote to March 26, holding a revised spending plan at $4,492,849. The committee, chaired by Jason Fraser, worked through the level-service budget line by line at its February 24 meeting, trimming $77,200 in unfilled vocational school placements and $2,000 in homeless transportation placeholders before deferring a final vote pending results from a shared-cost budget session and a Silver Lake Regional School District assessment review. Special education costs drive a 55.4 percent increase in that category, and the total cost of education for the town, Dennett operating budget plus the Silver Lake assessment of $3,308,523.91, reaches $7,960,576.91, a 9.4 percent increase over FY25. With $190,272 in circuit breaker and federal grant offsets applied, the net operating charge to the town is $4,683,121. Fraser acknowledged the town is "precariously close" to needing a Proposition 2.5 override but urged against a rushed ballot question, saying overrides "take 15 to 18 months to put together." The committee also left open the possibility of restoring $81,978 in paraprofessional and math interventionist positions not currently in the level-service plan.