Haverhill superintendent reports enrollment growth, widening student needs as FY26 budget is presented

Superintendent Margaret presented the Haverhill Public Schools’ FY26 priorities and data to the Haverhill City Council, saying the district’s all‑in enrollment is 8,435 and that the student population is shifting toward higher needs and greater multilingual representation.

The presentation highlighted enrollment and demographic change as key drivers of the budget discussion. Margaret said the share of multilingual learners is about 14 percent at the high school and roughly 19 percent in kindergarten. She also said 61 percent of the district’s students are low‑income and 71 percent are considered “high needs” — a category the superintendent defined as students who are low income, English learners, have disabilities under IDEA, or both.

The superintendent framed those shifts as the reason the district prioritized people and intervention services when federal ESSER pandemic funds arrived, while trying to use nonrecurring spending where possible. “We made deliberate choices and did a combination of one‑time investments, capital, and investments in people,” Margaret said, noting the district used some ESSER funds to hire counselors and interventionists rather than reduce classroom staffing.

The presentation covered academic outcomes and programs: Haverhill students ranked relatively well among DESE “like communities” in science and have shown…