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Auburn schools confirm $500,000 reduction in FY26 budget; district warns deeper cuts would affect services
Summary
School officials told the Auburn City Council the school committee agreed to reduce the FY26 operating request by $500,000 — partly by using $275,000 from fund balance — and said further cuts would require freezes, layoffs or reduced interventions for students.
Dr. Doris, a school department official, told the Auburn City Council at a April 17 workshop that the school committee has adjusted its FY26 operating budget and can reduce the request to the city by $500,000.
"This year we worked in partnership with the city to create a budget that had no new programs or services. Our priorities were to maintain student services, address rising student needs, and use existing positions to do that," Dr. Doris said. She said two budget adjustments — lower-than-expected health insurance costs and a cost-sharing agreement with the Lewiston Regional Technical Center — produced roughly $225,000 in operating savings. "So altogether, that was $225,000 that we were able to reduce from our overall operating budget."
Dr. Doris said the school committee discussed the council's request to reach a $500,000 reduction and "we talked about taking the additional $275,000 out of the fund balance. And we agreed to do that last night, so we're able to get to $500,000 as an overall reduction."
She warned of the tradeoffs if deeper cuts are required: "We would have to freeze open positions. We would need to eliminate teaching positions. We would end up with larger class sizes. We would have fewer interventions for our struggling students, and we would just overall have limited capacity to meet the increase in our students' needs."
Councilors thanked school staff and the school committee for the work to reach the reduction without adding new service cuts. Councilor Platts said the $500,000 represents about a 0.9% decrease in the school operating budget and noted other departments faced larger percentage reductions. Several councilors — including Walker, Campbell and Melton — praised the school department's efforts and emphasized a desire to avoid personnel cuts.
The council and school department agreed that the superintendent and school committee will return to the council on May 5 after the committee adopts the budget so the council can finalize the package for the June referendum.
Ending: The school department's FY26 operating request is reduced to meet the council's guidance by combining operating savings and $275,000 from fund balance; officials cautioned that further reductions would directly affect staffing, class sizes and student interventions.
