Weymouth defers $25 athletic fee hike, demands more data before vote

WEYMOUTH -- June 7, 2023, Weymouth school budget panel tables a proposed $25 athletic user-fee hike pending fuller per-sport financial data. The School Committee Budget Subcommittee heard Athletic Director Rob O'Leary report a roughly $130,000 structural deficit in the athletics revolving fund, driven in part by a jump in free-and-reduced-lunch athletes from a projected 26 percent to 41 percent of participants, which cut fee collections to $206,087 against a $249,200 projection. A $74,250 line item added to the fiscal year 2024 operating budget is intended to bring the revolving account to near-zero. Community advocate Gus argued from the floor that the financial report omitted per-sport breakdowns, scholarship figures, and the $60,000 town offset, saying "the case has not been made." The panel separately referred a new $50 summer strength-and-conditioning fee to the full School Committee for a June 15 vote, and approved revised Extended School Year rates adding one dollar each for Education Support Professional, ABA assistant, and CNA classifications. The district also awarded its food-service contract to Chartwells on a one-plus-four-year renewal.