Medford School Committee approves FY26 municipal request; budget totals $87.6 million

The Medford School Committee voted to approve and forward the district's fiscal year 2026 municipal request on a 6'yes, 1'abstain roll call, sending a proposed $87,583,000 budget to the mayor and city council for consideration.

The adopted municipal request would raise the district's base budget from about $83 million to a proposed total of $87,583,000. The proposal, the committee was told, does not include new school-based positions at this time and preserves funds for salary adjustments, maintenance, special education and technology while shifting some programs previously paid for with federal grants into the general fund.

Noel Velez, a district staff presenter, told the committee the public hearing was held under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 71, Section 38N and that the notice ran in the Boston Globe on March 13, 2025. He said the district had held two prior public hearings on the preliminary budget on March 5 and March 20.

Why it matters: The budget is the School Committee's formal municipal request to the city. Approving the request allows the city and mayor's office to incorporate the schools' ask into the municipal budgeting process; final appropriations will be set by the city council. Committee members said the approved request balances near-term operational needs with continuing uncertainty about federal grants and the timetable for classroom-schedule changes at the high school.

Key details

- Proposed total: $87,583,000; 2025 base cited in the presentation: $83,000,000. - Enrollment projection: roughly 4,235 students (the presenters said this reflects about 20 more students from the graduating eighth-grade class and an estimated 34 additional kindergarten students). - No new school-based positions included in the FY26 request; the district said it will reassess staffing later this spring as federal grant clarity and collective-bargaining outcomes become available. - Voter-approved ballot questions: Presentation noted two ballot questions passed last fall'Question 7 ($3,000,000 to stabilize the school budget) and Question 8 ($4,000,000 to support implementation of a new high school schedule); district presenters said these measures supported budget stability and the schedule change implementation.

Major budget increases and shifts explained by district staff

- Salary and step increases for bargaining units and nonunit personnel account for the largest share of the increase. - Maintenance and capital: The presentation identifies an increase of about $122,000 to regular maintenance lines and approximately $330,000 in extraordinary maintenance for capital-type repairs (examples given included air conditioning for technology rooms and fire-alarm panel replacement at the Missatuck school). - Technology: The district proposes a $92,000 increase on the administrative-software/technology side and funding for a director of network operations and a network technician to address aging servers and infrastructure. - Special education and transportation: An estimated $100,000 to $104,000 increase for special-education transportation; the district plans to carry over some circuit-breaker funds from FY25 to subsidize costs and requests $170,000 in circuit-breaker offsets. - Program funding moves: Two instructional software products (ST Math and the MAP Assessment Program) that had been paid for with federal grant funds are proposed to be funded from the general fund because they are no longer eligible for grant support. - New/expanded line items: extended-year special-education programming (+$53,000), Project Transition (first-time line of about $12,000 for 18-to-22 programming), added summer programming at the high school (+$30,000), PSAT expansion (+$2,000) and an eighth-grade language proficiency assessment (+$2,000). - Security and staffing adjustments: The budget adds two security monitors to align payroll with actual staffing and proposes funding for City Year contracts in two schools (the presentation cited $130,000 charged to the general fund and $70,000 to the before-and-after-school program).

Savings and offsets the district identified

District presenters outlined approximately $1.0 million in potential offsets and revenue sources: a homeless-transportation reimbursement line with an available $391,000; $170,000 in circuit-breaker funds for special education; available balances in the culinary arts/meat program funds (cited as supporting $400,000 of positions); a potential $80,000 shift of a teacher salary to Title II (if grant funding is available); and $30,000 from eliminating a single "split-shift para" position that did not attract applicants. The presenters said those steps would reduce the district's net appropriation request if used.

Questions and committee discussion

Committee members praised the finance team's effort to align budget line items with actual payroll and to make year-to-year comparisons clearer. Member Russo said the clarification work "does a disservice to the community" when prior budgets scattered positions across departments and called the improved alignment "the beginning" of clearer budgeting. Several members pressed for later review once federal grant decisions and collective bargaining are final, with the presenters saying June'July is when staffing needs informed by enrollment and contract settlements will be reassessed.

Public hearing and vote

The public hearing opened and closed with no speakers in favor or opposed. Member Graham moved to approve the school committee's municipal request; Member Russo seconded. On roll call the committee recorded six affirmative votes and one abstention from Mayor Lungo Kerrio; the motion passed and the municipal request will be transmitted to the mayor and city council.

What remains unresolved

District staff emphasized that several items depend on external clarity: final federal grant awards (Title I'IV and IDEA), collective-bargaining settlements and the final high-school schedule'all factors the presenters said could alter hiring and fund shifts later this spring. The committee and presenters agreed to revisit staffing and any needed amendments once those variables are settled.

Ending

The committee approved the municipal request and then moved to adjourn. The district presentation and the committee's vote advance the FY26 request into the city budgeting process; final appropriation decisions will be made by the mayor and Medford City Council.