Whitman Finance Committee Votes 7-1 to Recommend Zero for Non-Mandated School Busing

WHITMAN -- April 21, 2026, Whitman Finance Committee votes 7-1 to recommend zero funding for non-mandated school busing in the fiscal year 2027 budget. The vote, taken at the April 21 meeting, follows a detailed presentation by resident John Gellman, who used Appendix A of the district's First Student busing contract and the Massachusetts House fiscal 2027 budget, which shows roughly $250,000 more in Chapter 70 aid for Whitman-Hanson than the governor's proposal, to argue that folding all transportation into the district's operating budget would save Whitman approximately $212,000 and reduce Hanson's assessment by $23,000 while preserving all busing. The Whitman-Hanson Regional School District's current submission carries a separate non-mandated busing line of $235,440 and a total operating assessment of $20,883,764. Committee members acknowledged that if the district does not revise its assessment before town meeting and Hanson does not accept a renegotiated split, non-mandated busing could be eliminated next year; they cited a $45,000 crossing-guard budget as a potential safety backstop. The committee also voted 6-0 with two abstentions to restore the assistant town administrator salary to the town administrator's recommended $105,968, and tabled a vote on the town clerk salary to April 28, the only remaining line where the committee diverges from Town Administrator Mary Beth Mirasola's budget.