Weston School Committee approves $47.5 million FY25 budget, restores third bus

WESTON — March 4, 2024 — Weston School Committee recommends $47.5 million school budget and exits inter-district school choice. The committee voted unanimously March 4 to send a $47,533,800 FY25 budget to town meeting, restoring $130,000 to fund a third replacement school bus on a 10-year cycle while declining to add a Field School makerspace aide or a 0.1 FTE high school health teacher. Superintendent Dr. Midge Connolly Zaleski warned she may have to pull a student support assistant out of the makerspace to staff a new elementary social-emotional program. Member Jane Li argued the district should use Regis and Wellesley student volunteers before hiring an aide: "If this is important enough, we can get someone from Regis." The committee also unanimously withdrew from state school choice for 2024-25, citing the $5,000-per-student reimbursement, and tabled a literacy-curriculum resolution after Member Stephen Dietz objected that tying the district to DESE and EdReports curricula was "a little heavy handed."