A 338% Cost Increase the District Just Disclosed
During the D-Y Schools FY27 budget presentation, the superintendent disclosed a single line-item that explains a major piece of the override request — and almost no one at home is talking about it.
McKinney-Vento Act Transportation
- FY27 projected cost: $840,000
- Currently budgeted this fiscal year: $190,000
- Year-over-year cost increase: ▲ 338%
- Number of students in the program: doubling year over year
What the McKinney-Vento Act Actually Does
The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act requires school districts to provide enrollment access — and transportation — for students experiencing homelessness or housing instability, including students temporarily housed outside their school district. When a family is placed in temporary housing miles away from their school of origin, the district must transport the student long distances, every school day, at local taxpayer expense.
The 338% spike in this line item correlates directly with the surge in illegal immigration the Commonwealth has been absorbing since Governor Healey's August 2023 emergency declaration — over $1 billion in state migrant-shelter spending, with families now placed in hotels and shelters across Cape Cod (see Cost to You →). When those families are housed off-Cape or far from the schools their children were enrolled in, McKinney-Vento makes Yarmouth taxpayers pay for the bus.
Major Cost Drivers — D-Y Schools FY27 Budget Presentation
From the district's own slide deck. Note the line in the red box.
The Vans at the School
Long-distance transport to the D-Y campus is no longer a hypothetical — it is happening now, every school day.
The Question You Should Ask
A 338% increase on a single transportation line item, projected to $840,000, against $190,000 currently budgeted — and the program is doubling year over year. Before you sign a permanent override that funds this trajectory, ask the district: how much of the FY27 override is paying for federally-mandated transportation tied to the state's migrant-shelter placements? And what is the projected cost in FY28, FY29, and FY30 if the trend continues?