Methuen School Committee begins FY26 budget debate as special-education staffing, class sizes and custodial cuts loom

Methuen School Committee members and district leaders spent most of their March 31 meeting focused on the Methuen Public Schools’ preliminary fiscal year 2026 spending plan, with the superintendent warning that staffing shortfalls for special education and English‑learner services could force costly out‑of‑district placements.

The discussion, which followed one public commenter’s call for clearer budget accounting and contractor performance records, ranged from requests for finer service‑level data and class‑size scenarios to potential short‑term savings tied to bus routing and longer‑term ideas such as redistricting and expanded vocational (CTE) certification.

Dr. Kwong, the district superintendent, told the committee that about $1.3 million in “net new positions” are needed to maintain federally and state‑required services, and that without some requested positions “we will 100% be out of compliance for service delivery for our English learners.” She said special‑education positions and related services (speech, occupational therapy, 1:1 nurses and paraprofessionals) reflect statutory obligations, and that failing to fund them would shift costs into compensatory services or out‑of‑district placements—both of which generally increase the district’s expense.

Why it matters: committee members repeatedly emphasized that the district is operating near the state’s net school spending floor and that contractual increases, transportation and special‑education tuition make balancing a FY26 budget especially difficult. Several members urged immediate outreach to state…