Weymouth School Committee Tables Athletics Fee Hike, Approves Five Other Increases

WEYMOUTH — May 25, 2023 — Weymouth School Committee approves five fee increases, tables athletics hike for further review. The committee voted unanimously Thursday to approve fee increases across pay rider transportation (roughly 6.3 percent), evening high school SAT prep and credit recovery (8 to 10 percent), Johnson Middle School programs (5 percent), and new EdTech device-replacement fees for Chromebooks and iPads, while tabling a proposed 12.5 percent athletics fee increase over concerns that the change had been publicized before a vote was taken. Business Administrator Brian Butchacross said the athletics fee was needed to address a structural deficit in the revolving fund, but members called for clarity on revenues and expenditures before acting. The athletics budget goes before the Budget Subcommittee on June 7 at the Abigail Adams building. The committee also gave final approval to policy JLDD on life-threatening allergies — including a new handbook line requiring families to supply additional EpiPens for extended field trips — and to a Section D finance policy package that softened mandatory language in policy DGA from "will" to "may."