Foxborough School Officials Seek Budget Hike For Band Instruments

FOXBOROUGH, MA — School officials are seeking a major increase to the budget at town meeting to pay for school transportation needs, musical instruments and other band equipment. School Business Manager William Yukna at Monday's school committee meeting said the capital spending request for fiscal year 2021 of $558,500 represents a 43 percent increase from the previous year.

The increase would cover a multi-year plan to replace $225,000 of aging band equipment. It would cost taxpayers $75,000 a year for the next three years and replace 20-30-year-old instruments and choral risers at several schools, music director Cami Tedolid told the committee.
Tedoldi said the instruments that need to be replaced include 15 cellos, 7 string basses and several brass instruments. Among those instruments are a tuba costing $9,600 and two saxophones worth about $5,700 each.

Tedoldi said the aging instruments are owned by the school department and are assigned to students who already own their primary instrument. Families cannot be expected to pay, in some cases, close to $10,000 to learn a secondary instrument.

"They just need to be replaced," Tedoldi said. "It's not the best learning experience for our students."

According to Yukna, the music department spends $10,000 to $15,000 per year in instrument repairs, and none of the instruments have any trade-in value.

Besides band equipment, the budget request also asks for a $82,500 mini bus,$160,000 for two regular-sized schools buses, $200,000 for computer software upgrades and $40,000 for four new copiers.