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Schools trim budget request by $465,000

The fiscal 2026 budget request that School Committee members voted to approve last Monday was about $465,000 smaller than the budget the committee had discussed just a week before. The new school budget, while it would still require a Proposition 2½ override from voters, shows a 5.9% increase over fiscal 2025, rather than the 8.8% increase in the earlier version. The revised budget will now go to the Finance Committee for its consideration.

Gone from the reduced budget were one new special education teacher and several current positions—a learning assistant, two tutors, and two recess aides. As Superintendent Linda Dwight explained at a budget subcommittee meeting Monday morning, she prioritized keeping teachers and so had to cut support positions.

Also gone was the substantial balance the school district has usually kept in the Devens fund, which holds the tuition Mass Development pays for educating students who live in Devens. In the past, the final quarterly tuition payment for each school year had been set aside to cover unexpected costs during the next school year. But this year, to reduce the schools’ request from the town’s omnibus budget, nearly all the Devens fund is being designated to offset line items in the budget, particularly salaries. Both Dwight and School Committee Chair Abby Besse said several times that it has been difficult to ask town voters to support an override while keeping a balance in the Devens fund.

Additional savings came from lowering the estimated costs of special education transportation, reducing some hours for payroll services, asking the PTO and the Harvard Schools Trust to increase funding for some activities, and charging the before-and-after-school program AlphaBEST more to meet rising utility costs.

Special needs, coaching, and a new literacy program add to the budget

Among the new costs included in the latest budget is one new special education teacher for grades 6 to12, rather than the two that school administrators had hoped to hire. (This position was also requested last year, but was not filled because the second tier of the override did not pass.) The district is also seeking to contract with an outside service for occupational therapy, rather than add a new employee for that work.

The earlier version of the budget asked the town for about $142,000 to cover coaches’ salaries for the sports programs. But the new version asks for $70,000, with the rest to come from the Devens fund for this year. Consultants from the financial firm TMS, who helped develop the budget, said coaching salaries are part of the town omnibus budget in every other school district they know of.

Another major expense for the coming year is the purchase of a new literacy program for Hildreth Elementary School students. The literacy task force has recommended a program from EL Education, which will cost $77,000. The School Committee is expecting a presentation on the program at a meeting in the near future.

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