Weston School Committee Defers Robotics Funding Amid Budget Uncertainty

WESTON — August 25, 2025 — Weston School Committee defers robotics funding increase, citing salary baseline uncertainty and loss of $275,000 state literacy grant. Superintendent Karen Zaleski told the committee Monday that a review of fiscal year 2025-26 accounts with Finance Director David Coelho revealed the district's salary baselines may be unreliable due to unresolved lane-change and contract-allocation questions — with at least one robotics coaching stipend having been drawn from an already-overdrafted science line item. Zaleski said the district will not have a clear budget picture until "late fall" and that the loss of the PRISM literacy grant had forced central office to strip discretionary spending to protect a K-5 ELA curriculum rollout, calling the budget "absolutely tight." The robotics program, which serves 183 students and carries roughly $47,000 in existing district funding, will not receive the proposed additional $12,000 at this time; coaching stipend amounts were pulled from the consent agenda for a future meeting. The committee voted 4-0, with one abstention, to adopt five co-equal school year priorities including the high school-middle school building project, collective bargaining, policy review, and fiscal stewardship.