Sheffield City Committee on Thursday approved a revised fiscal year 2026 budget that reduces planned spending by about $509,000 and authorized a request to the town council to transfer $100,000 from capital funds to operating funds.

The action came after the committee reviewed changes forced by a smaller-than-requested town appropriation and later state revenue updates. The committee approved the revised budget by voice vote after extended discussion about staffing, special education caseloads and one-time state offsets.

The superintendent gave a line-by-line overview of how the district moved from the department's February request (a 3.25% increase) to the version the committee adopted, saying the town council ultimately provided a 0.8% operating increase and $500,000 in capital. The superintendent said the district's originally requested FY26 revenue was $46,983,813 and the revised total budget revenue is $46,474,972 after reductions and newly confirmed state receipts.

Committee members and staff said new state funds partially offset cuts. The superintendent described several sources of new or revised revenue: an enrollment-related state payment reported late in the year (about $142,830), higher career-technical-education (CTE) reimbursement (about $34,550 estimated), a change in the state's high-cost special-education allocation (roughly $9,000), an increase in group-home funding (about $29,741), added YMCA after-school revenue (about $9,000) and a one-time increase in Medicaid reimbursement the superintendent said will net the district about $100,000 this year. The superintendent emphasized several of those items are one-time funds.

Even with those offsets, the superintendent said roughly $509,000 in reductions remained. The committee discussed specific personnel and program changes that result from that gap: the high school dean position that also served as CTE director (about $90,000 salary) was removed from the budget; planned elementary math interventionists and two MAP interventionists eliminated when a prior grant ended; postponement of new AP Calculus and American history textbook purchases; reductions to library purchases, classroom projectors and teacher hardware; and trimming technology purchases including kindergarten student devices.

Committee members pressed repeatedly on the equity and legal risks of higher special-education caseloads at the high school. One member said a special-education case manager at Smithfield High School would face caseloads of about 16to 17 students and called that "astronomical." The superintendent said the district will meet required IEP services but acknowledged the workload is heavy and called additional special-education staffing a high priority.

After debate, the committee voted to approve the revised FY26 budget. The committee also passed a separate motion to request the town council transfer $100,000 of capital funding into the district operating budget; that transfer must be approved by the town council and is not automatic. The superintendent and committee chair said the $100,000 request would be accompanied by a short list of proposed uses (the high school dean/CTE position, an additional special-education teacher and elementary math interventionists were named as examples), but emphasized the council has final authority.

The committee noted the budget remains adjustable during the year if additional revenue becomes available or if staffing changes free funds. Several committee members said they preferred to wait for any extra money before restoring positions, while others pushed to identify alternative cuts if the committee wanted to restore specific staff immediately.

The motion to approve the FY26 revised budget passed by voice vote. The motion to ask town council to transfer $100,000 from capital to operating also passed by voice vote and will move to the council for its decision.