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Superintendent presents fiscal‑26 priorities; principals request targeted hires, literacy support
Summary
The superintendent presented a FY26 ‘superintendent’s budget’ with a 7.4% request above FY25 and a guideline target of 4.5%; elementary and middle‑school principals asked for special‑education and reading positions, restored classroom staffing, and additional counseling and health support.
Superintendent Dr. Michael Conti opened the school committee’s budget discussion on March 25 by describing the early stages of the fiscal‑2026 process and presenting the district’s initial requests and enrollment‑driven restorations.
Conti said the superintendent’s budget as presented reflected a total request about 7.4% higher than fiscal 2025 and noted the district’s guideline of 4.5%: "we came in at a 7.4% increase over fiscal 25. We know our guideline ... is 4.5%, which means that we are really trying to work down about $1.82 million to get down to guideline," he said. Staff emphasized that the document before the committee was the superintendent’s proposal; the committee will adopt the final budget to submit to town meeting.
Elementary principals thanked the committee for past support and outlined specific staffing requests tied to curriculum changes and student needs. Pat (Memorial School) asked the committee to add "a special education teacher position. With the increase in students with complex learning profiles ... I request this position in order to meet the needs of my most vulnerable students," she said. Pine Glen's principal asked for a second reading specialist to support foundational literacy as the district adopts a new ELA curriculum and to assist diverse learners.
Principals also raised operational concerns about level‑funded classroom supply budgets: one principal noted teachers continue to stretch personal funds for basic classroom materials and encouraged the committee to consider the cumulative strain on classroom supplies and instructional supports.
At the middle school, Principal Tim McMahon and staff described expanded extracurricular participation and improvements to school climate, then presented staffing asks tied to student needs and enrollment. The middle school requested increasing reading specialist capacity (from 1.5 to 2.0 FTE), restoring a health‑department position (to return toward prior staffing levels), adding a 1.0 FTE counselor to bolster tier‑1 social‑emotional supports, and boosting ELL staffing toward a round 3.0 FTE to support recent enrollment of beginning‑level multilingual learners.
Administrators requested a stipend for scheduling work given the complexity of middle‑school team scheduling and asked the committee to consider the proposals amid the district’s broader enrollment and budget constraints. Conti and principals said several classroom positions driven by enrollment growth were already built into the operating budget, while other requests were new position requests on the accompanying request list.
No formal budget votes were taken; staff said they would continue to refine the superintendent’s budget and meet with ways and means and the full committee in coming weeks.
