Beverly council hears hours of testimony on proposed FY26 budget; finance committee refers proposal to full council

The Beverly City Council on Wednesday opened a public hearing on the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget and heard roughly 30 public speakers—mostly educators, parents and school employees—raising alarms about staffing and program cuts before the Finance and Property subcommittee voted to refer Order 171, the mayor’s FY26 budget proposal, to the full council for final action on Monday, June 23, 2025.

Why it matters: The hearing centered on proposed reductions that city school staff and parents say would significantly affect Beverly Middle School, preschool staffing and special-education services. Council staff and the city finance director told the council that state law and the city charter largely limit the council to approving or reducing the mayor’s submissions, and that failure to adopt a budget by the start of the fiscal year would trigger operational disruptions and other risks.

City budget overview and council guidance

Jerry Perry, the city council’s budget analyst, gave an overview of the municipal process and financial position. "It is my strong recommendation, as your budget analyst and management analyst that you vote Monday night to do a budget," Perry said, explaining that without an appropriation for July 1 the city would face interruptions in payroll and essential services. Perry said the mayor’s proposal includes new appropriations and new growth but that the city is at the levy limit and has no excess levy capacity.

City Finance Director Brian Ailes clarified procedural options and timing. Ailes told the council there are two formal actions the body can take: approve or reduce the budget; if the council takes no action, a 45-day provision tied to the mayor’s submission would allow the mayor’s proposed amounts to take effect automatically on July 17, 2025. Ailes and Perry also discussed the use of free cash, new growth estimates and the budget’s stated allocations.

Public testimony: middle school staffing, special education and preschool concerns

Dozens of speakers focused on staffing and program impacts at Beverly Middle School (BMS). Teachers and school staff described cuts to administrators, counselors, special-education staff and reading specialists and said the reductions would leave BMS — which multiple speakers said is among the largest middle schools in the state — unable to meet students’ needs.

Andrea Sherman, president-elect of the Beverly Teachers Association and a middle-school health educator, told the council that the middle school schedule and staffing changes were implemented without meaningful educator input and that "we feel it too" when council members described the scale of change. Sherman said the new schedule "does not create an upper-lower school model" and warned that interventionists would be assigned to full classes rather than to students who need help.

Several classroom teachers gave specific staffing counts and examples: Scott Sutera said grade 5 will lose a vice principal and a school adjustment counselor and two special educators, while Denise Lyden described being assigned to two grades and roughly 600 students after prior cuts to reading staff. Lyden said reading intervention staffing has fluctuated over recent years and that remaining reading specialists were repeatedly pulled for test proctoring, reducing intervention time.

Special-education teachers and advocates said program reductions over multiple years have left in-district programs under-resourced even as officials note a decline in out-of-district placements. "You can't cut special ed teachers, paraprofessionals and expect to meet increasing needs safely," Casey Fiore, an eighth-grade teacher, said, arguing that families who secure out-of-district placements are those with resources and that others are left in under-resourced programs.

Preschool paraprofessional staffing drew sustained comment. Judy Martin and other preschool staff said the current budget would reduce paraprofessional positions at McEwen Preschool from 22 to 16, a change they said would undermine supervision, safety and legally required services for young children. Written testimony from preschool paraprofessionals requested additional staffing and described daily operational strains when paras are pulled to cover absences.

Curriculum and elective program impacts

Speakers also warned of program losses beyond staffing. A sixth-grade student, Camille Gentile, urged the council to retain the German language program at the middle school. Stephanie Andrews, a high-school German teacher, said cutting middle-school German would damage the high-school feeder program and warned of a cascade of enrollment losses. Andrews also said the culinary arts position at the high school would not be rehired under the proposed schedule, and that other teachers would be asked to cover culinary classes without appropriate training.

What the council did

After the public hearing the Finance and Property subcommittee convened and Councilor Saint Hilaire moved to "approve Order 171 and refer back to the full council" so the full council could continue discussion and take a final vote at its Monday meeting. The motion was seconded and approved; the committee referred the mayor’s FY26 budget proposal to the full council for action on Monday, June 23, 2025. Council staff and members clarified that Monday’s session will be the substantive opportunity for the full nine-member council to propose cuts, offer amendments and take a final vote.

Next steps

The council president announced the full council will meet Monday, June 23, 2025, at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers for the final FY26 budget vote; that meeting will be posted under the Open Meeting Law and streamed on BevCam. The June 18 public hearing is closed; public comment will not be taken at Monday’s meeting, though council members said they have received additional written testimony.

Speakers and themes of the hearing

Speakers who testified included classroom teachers, special education staff, preschool paraprofessionals, parents, students and school committee members. Recurring themes were (1) staffing cuts at Beverly Middle School (administrators, counselors, special educators, reading specialists), (2) reductions in preschool paraprofessional staffing, (3) proposed elimination of the middle-school German program and impacts on the high-school feeder program, and (4) concerns that reductions would violate students' legally mandated services under IEPs.

Documents and process references mentioned during the hearing included the city charter, state law governing municipal budgets and the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law; council staff repeatedly reminded members that the council's statutory power is limited to reducing or rejecting the mayor’s proposed appropriation, and that a failure to act would trigger the 45-day effective provision referenced by city staff.

Ending

Councilors and staff emphasized that Monday’s full council meeting is the next formal opportunity to act on the FY26 budget. Council staff and the finance director urged passage of an appropriation on Monday to avoid operational disruption on July 1. Members of the public who testified asked the council either to reject the mayor’s proposal and request a reinterpretation of priorities or to identify additional local revenue or transfers that could restore school positions and programs.