WHATELY — A big increase driven by special education costs is projected in Whately Elementary School’s fiscal year 2026 budget.

A joint Select Board, Finance Committee and Whately Elementary School Committee meeting last week discussed the $2.62 million budget proposal, which is a 10.11%, or $207,785, increase over the current year.

On top of general year-over-year increases, the addition of two new instructional assistants to address students who require one-on-one support — to the tune of $66,000 — is driving the budget increases, as the school is unable to shuffle around current staff to meet the needs.

“We have two students entering that require one-to-ones. We don’t have two sixth graders leaving that require one-to-ones,” explained Darius Modestow, superintendent of the Frontier Regional and Union 38 school districts. “Either we hire two staff people for these two positions or we cut within to do those two positions. That’s kind of the difficult spot the school’s in, therefore, the request is to add to the budget.”

Modestow explained there are 16 Whately students in preschool, an increase over previous years. Preschool students with special needs, he said, also attend school for free, which cuts into potential revenue that could offset the two requested positions.

Finance Committee and Select Board members asked Modestow if these positions would need to be funded each year moving forward.

“Where I’m coming from is, looking down the road, how are we going to fund it?” said Select Board member Fred Baron, who also asked if it’s “unusual” to need to hire two instructional assistants for special education purposes in one year.

Modestow said it is unusual to have to hire two positions like this in a “school this size,” but there could be a chance for reductions in future years when students who need one-on-one support graduate from sixth grade.

If students need their one-on-one support throughout the six years at Whately Elementary, then those positions will be expected to remain in the budget going forward, at least until other one-on-one instructional assistants are freed up when students graduate sixth grade.

An investment in those students now, though, could potentially reduce special education costs in the future, according to Modestow, who also emphasized that while it’s financially beneficial to begin early interventions, it’s also a net positive for students and families.

“The plan is you get those services early so there’s less and less need,” he said. “The idea with special education is you want to keep them in your district, not only financially, but kids and parents want to stay in their hometown.”

While special education and the new positions are a major driving force in the budget, a level-service budget alone would have reflected a 6.9% increase due to general increases, as well as covering $40,000 that was previously funded using Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) money.

The school will also retain a part-time math interventionist position that was potentially on the chopping block to save money for the instructional assistant positions.

Additionally, the school is on the hook for $58,000 in sick leave buyback, but Modestow said they are leaving it out of the budget and will instead have it serve as a standalone article at Town Meeting.

“We’re not hiding that, we’re funding it in a different way,” Modestow said, adding that the budget would have been a 13% increase if the sick leave buyback was included.

Whately Elementary will hold its budget hearing on March 6. If approved by the School Committee later in March, it will then go before residents at the April 29 annual Town Meeting. Education makes up about 62% of the town budget.

“I can’t remember the last time we had pushback at Town Meeting for a budget,” Finance Committee Chair Paul Antaya said, noting “there are questions, but we rarely have to deal with that.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.