Plympton School Committee Reviews $783,000 Budget Hike, Votes to Join Regionalization Study

PLYMPTON -- January 27, 2025, Plympton School Committee reviews a 19.7 percent budget increase and votes to join a regionalization study. The committee's director of finance and operations presented a preliminary fiscal year 2026 budget showing a $783,138 increase over the current year, with special education costs rising 55.4 percent, or $475,635, driven in part by new out-of-district placements and line-item reclassifications; salaries account for 68.7 percent of the proposed spending. The committee took no final vote on the budget, directing administration to post the full line-item detail online and to break down the special education increase before the next meeting, scheduled for the Monday after February vacation. Separately, the committee unanimously voted to appoint a member identified as John to a three-town regionalization study group funded by a $125,000 state grant held by Kingston, with the chair noting that legal counsel has advised Halifax and Kingston could theoretically regionalize without Plympton if the town declines to participate. The district is also projecting a roughly $50,000 current-year deficit, down from nearly $200,000, that it plans to address at a special town meeting in May.