Lincoln School Committee receives sub-1-percent level-service budget proposal for FY26

LINCOLN -- December 5, 2024, Lincoln schools propose sub-1-percent Lincoln budget and a $568,000 Hanscom level-up. Superintendent Perry Graham and Administrator for Business and Finance Angela Wang presented a $13,690,284 Lincoln level-service budget (0.72 percent over FY25) and a $19,391,232 Hanscom budget that bakes in roughly $568,000 in one-time corrections to indirect-cost transfers and Middlesex retirement assessments flagged in the Collins Center reports. Two priority-one initiatives, $231,000 in one-time funding for a K-8 literacy curriculum and a full-time AIDE director split between the campuses, would push Lincoln to 2.29 percent and Hanscom to 2.84 percent. The committee also eliminated $12,000 to $15,000 in seventh- and eighth-grade bus fees for students living beyond two miles, drawing thanks from resident Jodi Gorman: "you've eliminated the bus fees so quickly." Member Susan Taylor pressed whether the budget was "too tight" given recent surpluses; a Jan. 9 working session was added before a tentative Jan. 30 vote.