School committee accepts $237.99 million FY26 spending total; schedules a special meeting to spell out cuts

The Manchester School Committee voted May 12 to accept the City’s FY2026 general-fund appropriation for the schools — $237,999,925 — while reserving the committee’s statutory authority to determine how the district spends that appropriation. The vote to “accept for discussion” and then to approve the mayor-and-aldermen figure cleared the board; the committee subsequently directed the superintendent to present detailed, line-by-line impacts of recommended reductions at a special meeting.

The vote followed several hours of public comment and more than an hour of committee discussion about the consequences of the appropriation approved by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. Committee members and administrators described a $8 million gap between the Board of School Committee’s tax-cap-compliant budget (previously unanimously adopted in February) and the final appropriation from the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. The superintendent outlined recommended reductions designed to close that gap while trying to protect classroom sizes and key services.

Superintendent (Dr. Camille) told the board her team adjusted an earlier proposal that had 38 school-based reductions and other cuts. In the updated recommendations presented May 12, the superintendent said the district reduced the school-based personnel cuts to 22 positions — a $1.4 million…