Wayland School Committee unanimously approves $56 million FY27 budget

WAYLAND — February 11, 2026 — Wayland School Committee unanimously approves a $56 million FY27 budget focused on sustaining current services. The committee voted 5-0 to approve Superintendent David Fleishman's recommended fiscal 2027 budget of $56,036,431 after a joint session with the Finance Committee produced no reservations. Administrators said transportation and special education account for roughly 93 percent of the increase in non-personnel costs, citing regular, homeless and out-of-district special education transportation and Chapter 766 tuitions. The district's special education reserve sits at $250,000, with hopes of carrying it forward and adding another $250,000 to build a roughly $550,000 cushion — "only two move-ins," one member observed. The committee also signaled it would push to broaden proposed warrant article DD, which would fund a study of the Holiday Road/Orchard Lane parcel, to explicitly include potential school use, calling it "an evaluation, not a commitment."