The Taunton Public Schools finance subcommittee on Oct. 1 received budget and invoice updates for special education legal services and other vendor contracts and voted to approve two warrants covering FY25 and FY26 expenses.

In a review of special education legal services, Monahan told the subcommittee the FY26 budget set aside $50,000 for special education legal matters, and that July invoicing of $6,100 left a remaining balance of $43,846.96. "We're beginning our new fiscal year for FY26. This is for our special education and student services related matters. FY'26, we've budgeted just like last year, $50,000 for these legal matters. For July 2025, we were invoiced for $6,100 which brings our total balance for the rest of the fiscal year for $43,846.96," Monahan said.

Members voted to "receive and place on file" the memorandum on special education legal expense. Committee members asked whether the pace of invoice activity matched last year; Monahan said she could check the prior-year pacing and reminded members the district budgets separate legal lines for special education and for employment/contracts.

The subcommittee also reviewed an invoice package for Coaching for Change. Monahan said the district is working with Coaching for Change in two schools this year, down from three last year, and that each invoice is accompanied by a brief description of services rendered. A motion to receive and place the Coaching for Change memo on file carried unanimously.

On bills payable, the committee approved an FY25 warrant for $20,084.18 and an FY26 warrant for $860,526.35 after discussion about several line items. Staff explained recurring or districtwide charges such as kitchen hood cleaning, district science supplies from Carolina Biological Supply, AP Capstone summer training (identified as English-related), HVAC air filter purchases, large custodial equipment and supplies purchases for district tile floor cleaning, and a $30,000 instructional-service contract at the high school identified as a business-department program called "1 Goal." The warrant discussion also covered evacuation chairs for upper-floor evacuations and textbook and software licensing charges for high school math.

Committee members questioned a $5,084.50 RS rental charge for a boom lift used at Taunton High School. Subcommittee members asked whether buying a boom lift would be more economical than recurring rentals. Monahan said staff would investigate cost, liability and maintenance tradeoffs and report back. "We could look into it. The other thing we must remember too, it's a liability, the upkeep, and making sure the maintenance of that as well. But I can look into seeing how much it would be versus what we are renting," Monahan said.

Before approving the FY26 warrant, a member moved an amendment to pull voucher number 25867 for $717.50 (Yonder Inc., additional lock boxes for the high school) for separate consideration; the maker of the motion accepted the friendly amendment and the amended motion passed. The committee then approved the full FY26 warrant as amended.

Motions recorded during the subcommittee meeting were approved by voice vote with no recorded roll-call tallies in the transcript.

The subcommittee agreed to continue monitoring vendor spending patterns and asked staff to return with follow-up information on recurring costs that might be candidates for capital purchase or interdepartmental cost-sharing (for example, partnering with DPW/Facilities).