Taunton School Committee raised substitute nurse pay to $225 a day and reworked central office jobs Oct. 7
The district expects to spend nearly $4 million more than the state requires this year. Members meet again Monday, Nov. 2, to clear about $1.7 million in bills. There is no Nov. 4 meeting because several members will attend a state conference.
TAUNTON The Taunton School Committee voted Oct. 7 to raise the daily pay for substitute and per diem school nurses from $150 to $225 and approved a restructuring of central office jobs that eliminates an unfilled position paying about $105,950 a year, according to the meeting's minutes, posted Oct. 22.
At the same meeting, members were told the city has committed $600,000 to repave part of the Taunton High School campus and that the district expects to spend nearly $4 million more on its schools this year than the state requires. The committee meets next in a bills-only special session Monday, Nov. 2, to clear about $1.7 million in bills.
Nurse pay and central office jobs
The new nurse rate covers the 2026-27 school year and took effect Oct. 8. It depends on a memorandum of agreement with the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which Superintendent John J. Cabral was authorized to finalize. The minutes record a 7-0 roll call, with the committee's eighth member absent for the vote.
The central office changes reclassify the communications coordinator job as chief of staff and strategic communications and set salaries of $84,000 and $75,500 for two confidential administrative assistants. The pay changes are retroactive to July 1, and the roll call on them was also 7-0.
On labor, members authorized early talks with the Taunton Education Association on a possible one-year extension of its contract through fiscal 2029; the minutes record five in favor and two abstaining. They let negotiations continue with the Taunton Educational Secretaries and Assistants Association over adding computer technicians to that bargaining unit and taking two supervisor jobs out of it, with six in favor and one abstaining. Any final agreement returns to the full committee.
High school paving
Cabral said the city's $600,000 covers about a third of the high school's paving needs, the first phase of a proposed three-year plan. Site work had begun, and paving was set to start that Friday and Saturday, Oct. 9 and 10, with Lot C first, then Lot B, and student and staff parking moved during the work. A second phase would cover the rear of the school, including the lot near the baseball field and the road along the football field, and a third the lots near the tennis courts. He said Friedman Middle, Martin Middle and East Taunton Elementary schools will also need work.
The money picture
Director of Finance Kevin Almeida reported that the district met the state's net school spending requirement for fiscal 2026, spending about $154.1 million against a required $153.5 million, roughly $632,000 more than required. For this year, he projected spending of about $164.5 million against a required $160.5 million, or 102.5% of the minimum.
Almeida said the district closed grant account deficits totaling nearly $3 million, and none remained as of June 30. One $30,000 water improvement grant expired before its project was finished, about a year before he arrived. The granting agency turned down an extension, and the money went back. He said the district plans to apply for a new water improvement grant for Taunton Alternative High School.
The district has budgeted $50,000 this year for the law firm Stoneman, Chandler & Miller, which handles school law, public records requests and personnel matters. Its bills for July through September total $23,747.90, leaving $26,252.10, according to an Oct. 28 finance office memo.
Trips, a van and a solar flower
The committee approved a district trip to Ireland for April 16 to 24, 2027, after a member questioned its estimated cost of about $4,000 per student. Members also asked the Special Programs Subcommittee to draft a policy requiring at least two bids, and preferably three, for comparable overnight trips.
Cabral proposed buying a $44,231.25 van to take Taunton Alternative High School students to district work sites, where they work alongside grounds and custodial crews. Members asked to hear first from Kevin Avitabile, the principal for alternative learning, whose three-year plan for the program was on the Oct. 21 agenda.
Cabral said Taunton High and Parker Middle School will receive a solar flower installation from the city, the Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant and contractor Consigli, at no cost to the schools. The sunflower-shaped array is about 17 feet across when open and tracks the sun. He also said the district expects to renovate its Hamilton Street building without the city borrowing for it.
As of Oct. 14, the district had filled 150 of the 157 jobs it posted in the Taunton Education Association unit, with five more pending. Two special educator jobs remained open, one at Mulcahey Elementary and one at Taunton High. High school traffic stays on the committee's action list under a vote asking the school safety officer to watch conditions as students leave the building and decide whether more oversight or crossing guards are needed.
What's next
The Finance and Law Subcommittee meets at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, followed at 5:05 p.m. by a special Committee of the Whole meeting, both in the Elizabeth Pole School library, 215 Harris St. The bills to approve total $1,676,308.58 for fiscal 2027 and $10,624.50 for fiscal 2026. There is no Nov. 4 meeting because several members and Cabral will be at the annual conference of the state's school committee and superintendents associations, Nov. 4 to 6.
On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, seven school buildings serve as polling places: Elizabeth Pole Elementary, Martin Middle, East Taunton Elementary, 2 Hamilton St., Mulcahey Elementary, Edmund Hatch Bennett Elementary and Friedman Middle. Poll workers arrive about 6 a.m., and a custodian will be on site all day, Cabral wrote the committee.
The next regular meeting is Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 6 p.m. Residents who want to speak sign up in advance, and meetings are recorded and posted on the district website. The central office is at 215 Harris St., 508-821-1100.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every fact comes from the Taunton School Committee's own records: the minutes of its Oct. 7 meeting, the packet for its Oct. 21 meetings and the notice and packet for its Nov. 2 meetings, plus the district's home page. We read them all on Oct. 30. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar, recomputed the spending margins and the legal services balance, and checked each vote count against the members the minutes list as present. No student is named.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (6)
- Taunton School Committee, minutes of the Oct. 7, 2026 meeting (21 pages)The roll call of eight members; the substitute and per diem nurse rate, $150 to $225, effective Oct. 8 (7-0 roll call, one member absent); the central office restructuring, $84,000 and $75,500 salaries, the unfilled $105,950 job, retroactive to July 1 (7-0); the TEA extension talks (five in favor, two abstaining) and TESAA negotiations (six in favor, one abstaining); the $600,000 paving and its phases; the net school spending figures; the grant deficits and the returned $30,000 grant; the Ireland trip and the bids policy referral; the $44,231.25 van; the solar flower (City of Taunton, TMLP and Consigli, sunflower-shaped, about 17 feet across, tracks the sun, no cost to the schools); the net school spending margin of about $632,000 as the minutes give it; the Hamilton Street renovation; the traffic action item. File posted Oct. 22, 2026 (server date). Read Oct. 30, 2026.
- Taunton School Committee, packet for the Oct. 21, 2026 meetings (82 pages)The Oct. 16 meeting notice (meetings recorded and posted on the district website) and the Oct. 21 agenda (public input sign-up in advance, item D) with the alternative learning presentation by Principal Kevin Avitabile (page 33); the Oct. 14 staffing update, 150 of 157 TEA postings filled, 5 pending, 2 open (pages 73 and 74); the Oct. 15 planner memo on the bills only meetings and no Nov. 4 meeting (page 75); the Oct. 16 memo on school buildings as Nov. 3 polling locations (page 80). The Oct. 21 agenda lists no van purchase. Student names in the packet are not used. Read Oct. 30, 2026.
- Taunton School Committee, notice and packet for the Nov. 2, 2026 meetings (49 pages)The Oct. 29 meeting notice: Finance and Law at 5 p.m., special Committee of the Whole at 5:05 p.m., Elizabeth Pole School library, 215 Harris Street; bills payable of $10,624.50 (FY26) and $1,676,308.58 (FY27); the Oct. 28 legal services memo ($50,000 budget, $26,252.10 balance); upcoming meetings, including Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. File posted Oct. 29, 2026 (server date). Read Oct. 30, 2026.
- Taunton Public Schools, "Current Agendas, Packets and Minutes"Lists the Oct. 7 minutes and the Oct. 21 and Nov. 2 packets. Read Oct. 30, 2026.
- Taunton Public Schools home pageCentral office at 215 Harris Street, 508-821-1100. Read Oct. 30, 2026.
- Wikimedia Commons, "Taunton High School entrance," Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0Photo of the Taunton High School entrance, Aug. 21, 2016, used with this story. Read Oct. 30, 2026.
