Nashoba School Committee Approves Plan to Cut Special Education Transportation Costs by $877,000

STOW — February 11, 2026 — Nashoba Regional School Committee hears budget now projected above 5 percent, approves plan to cut transportation costs by $877,000. At the February 11 meeting, Superintendent Kirk Downing and Assistant Superintendent Ross Mulcairn reported the FY27 operating budget has been reduced from near 7 percent to just over 5 percent through a series of adjustments including capping health insurance growth at 14.4 percent, saving $422,000, and a special education transportation restructuring plan that would save $877,000 by separating from the Assabet Valley Collaborative's contract management and hiring a new in-house transportation coordinator at roughly $80,000. "Spending $80,000 on a position to benefit a reduction in cost of $877,000 frankly is a no-brainer," Downing said. The committee gave informal consensus to include the coordinator position in the next budget iteration; the budget vote is mandated for March 11. Separately, Nashoba Regional High School Principal Dr. Boyton presented a sweeping program-of-studies revision eliminating "college prep" and "accelerated" level designations in favor of a core-academics-to-dual-enrollment framework, with a new UMass-aligned GPA scale launching for the class of 2030. The district also remedied an open meeting law complaint filed January 29 by formally announcing on the record that its prior executive session concerned Unit A of the Nashoba Regional Education Association.