Plympton School Committee Approves 2026-2027 Calendar, Introduces New Finance Director

PLYMPTON — January 12, 2026 — Plympton School Committee introduces new finance director and flags Medicaid revenue risk at January meeting. The committee unanimously approved the 2026-2027 school calendar — setting a September 2 student start date and June 17 end date — and welcomed Stephanie Hatton as incoming Director of Operations and Finance, replacing retiring Director Sarah Hickey. Director Hickey warned the committee that federal rollbacks of pandemic-era Affordable Care Act subsidies are expected to reduce Medicaid reimbursements to the town beginning January 1, 2026, describing the situation as "a window of uncertainty" around dollars "that we had been getting reimbursed for for the past five or six years." She also disclosed that out-of-district special education tuitions have already exceeded their annual budget by $36,000, with $190,000 spent against a $154,000 appropriation. Superintendent Jill Clifford said the district is proceeding on the assumption that a 2.5 percent budget increase is "probably tolerable" pending the governor's budget, expected at the end of January, with the formal budget hearing set for February 9.