Lewiston superintendent presents $117.2 million school budget; insurance update may cut local request

Lewiston Superintendent Jake Langley told the City Council at a workshop that the Lewiston Public Schools current FY2026 budget request is $117,177,091 and that the school committee recently approved a local tax increase request of 3.44 percent, which the district estimated would raise the local portion to $31,382,997 and increase the mill rate by about $0.46.

The budget presentation centered on two late developments that could change the local ask: a health‑insurance projection and continuing work to expand in‑house special‑education services. “Yesterday afternoon, we got verified information that Lewiston Public Schools health insurance increase would be 3.3%,” Langley said, describing the number as a “welcomed sigh of relief” after earlier, larger projections. The superintendent said the committee expects to consider adjustments based on that figure and that he anticipates between $200,000 and $400,000 could be removed from the current request.

Why it matters: health‑insurance and collective‑bargaining increases are among the largest drivers of the school budget. Langley said the district had originally budgeted at 10% for insurance and that the difference between a 10% assumption and the 3.3% projection is about $865,000; how much of that the committee returns to taxpayers will depend on its public…