School committee approves $85.37 million FY26 budget after 4-2 vote

The Beverly Public Schools Committee of the Whole voted to approve the district's FY26 budget, $85,372,614, at its May 22 meeting, with the vote recorded as 4 in favor and 2 opposed.

The budget proposal, which the committee will forward as part of the city budget to the City Council, represents a multiyear increase that committee members and city leaders called historic. Mayor Michael Cahill said the school allocation is part of a two-year local effort that adds roughly $12.7 million to the schools, funded mostly by the city with some state aid. "This is enormous," Cahill said. "I've called it historic and people have challenged me on it. It is absolutely historic."

Why it matters: Committee members framed the vote as a balance between a large local investment in schools and constraints elsewhere in the municipal budget. Cahill told the committee that the city projects $7.761 million in new revenue next year and that most of that new revenue would go to the schools; he outlined offsets on the city side such as reduced road-and-sidewalk spending, lower capital-equipment lines and use of reserves to manage competing needs like pensions, health insurance and collective-bargaining costs.

Most important facts: The committee approved the superintendent's recommended FY26 total of $85,372,614. Committee discussion before the vote focused on program and staffing trade-offs embedded in the superintendent's recommended budget, including middle-school configuration, special education staffing, preschool operations and substitute coverage. Superintendent Dr. Cherchek and district staff outlined the budget assumptions, projected state aid increases and how reductions and reallocations were made across schools.

Supporting details: Mayor Cahill gave a city-level explanation of how the increase would be funded, saying the proposed municipal revenues would allow $7,105,000 of new money for schools while leaving limited discretionary dollars for other city services. The superintendent described reductions that were largely handled through attrition or reassignments and said building principals participated in roster-by-roster reviews to confirm special-education coverage and other services.

Next steps: The committee voted to approve the superintendent's recommended total; the budget will be included in the city budget presented to the City Council on June 2. The committee also discussed, but did not resolve, an operational amendment that would reassign a math interventionist to fifth grade to avoid creating a three-teacher team at that grade (see separate article).