Weymouth School Committee Advances $84 Million FY24 Budget, Opts Out of School Choice

WEYMOUTH -- March 9, 2023, Weymouth School Committee advances an $84 million FY24 budget and unanimously opts out of school choice. The committee voted Thursday to forward a level-service operating budget of $84,039,301, a 3.54 percent increase over FY23, to Mayor Robert Hedlund's office, with a formal budget vote scheduled for March 23. Assistant Superintendent of Finance Brian Smith told the committee that net new state aid for FY24 amounts to just $128,000, or 0.15 percent of the current operating budget, leaving the district reliant on the local tax levy. Mayor's Chief of Staff Ted Langell said the administration is targeting an overall 3 percent town budget increase and called the school request "solid" and "reasonable," adding that unexpectedly low health insurance cost growth, roughly 1 percent, freed up an estimated $1 million compared to earlier projections. A large contingent of Weymouth Education Association members in red shirts pressed the committee through multiple public comment periods to settle the expired Unit A contract; WEA President Mike Murphy disputed a previously cited average teacher salary of $95,490, saying the current figure is $83,377, a difference of more than $12,000.