Quincy mayor and school leaders present FY2026 level-service budget; committee questions rentals, special education costs and athletics fees

City and district leaders presented the Quincy Public Schools FY2026 budget on May 21, describing a level-service appropriation from the mayor that funds contractual obligations, restores positions previously paid for with ESSER grants and responds to special-education cost pressures. School leaders said the budget preserves current programming while identifying a set of offsets and targeted increases.

Mayor Coke told the committee the city budget, including all departments, totals more than a half‑billion dollars; he said the “total in the budget toward education is $217,000,000,” and emphasized that the school appropriation is one part of the city’s broader support for education through public buildings, parks, police traffic supervisors, libraries and other services that serve students.

The school-side appropriation presented by district officials is $146,734,627, an increase of $4,198,000 over the prior year. District staff said funding sources include a mayoral appropriation of $138,384,627 (a 3.13% increase), projected circuit-breaker special education reimbursement of $8,350,000, and the elimination of roughly $1,000,000 in ESSER (federal) grant offsets that had supported operating costs in the prior year.

District financial staff outlined how the appropriation meets contractual…