The Mason school warrant passed through deliberative session unchanged on Saturday, as the budget and three capital reserve requests were moved forward to the voting ballot in March.

Superintendent and Mason Elementary School Principal Kristen Kivela called the meeting “short and sweet,” with no amendments proposed to the four articles discussed. The budget for the district is proposed at $3.93 million, a 6.57% increase, or $242,259 more, from the current budget. Should it fail, the default budget would be $3.89 million. 

Tuition is the largest driver in the budget, with payments to the Milford School District, where all Mason students above elementary school age attend, being up by $164,194 due to more students moving up to the middle school than are graduating. The district is also adding a session of afternoon preschool, which has a cost of about $20,000. About half of the cost is offset by revenue from attending students.

Article 4 requests that $40,000 be added to the unanticipated tuition cost capital reserve, which is used to offset tuition costs for students attending the Milford School District. The same trend as this year, with larger classes moving up than graduating high school, is expected to continue for at least the next four years. Therefore, tuition payments will continue to increase.

Article 5 requests $30,000 for the capital reserve fund used to pay for unanticipated special education costs. Special education tuition and out-of-district placements were another driver in the coming year’s proposed budget, though the exact impact won’t be known until this summer, when new rates for tuition are set. Mason budgeted for an increase of up to $76,520, based on what is believed to be a worst-case-scenario increase.

The final article on the district’s ballot requests $20,000 to be added to the school building and ground maintenance capital reserve.

Voting is scheduled for March 12 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Mason Elementary School. All district issues are to be decided by ballot during voting.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.