Auburn School Committee weighs $500,000 city-requested reduction; leans toward using fund balance

The Auburn School Committee discussed how to meet a City Council request to reduce the School Department’s proposed FY 2025–26 operating budget by $500,000 at its April 16 meeting, with members indicating a preference for using one-time fund-balance reserves rather than cutting special-education outplacement spending. A final, formal vote on the budget is scheduled for a special meeting on April 30 at 6 p.m.

The discussion opened when Superintendent Sue Doris reviewed updates included with the committee’s budget memo, saying health-insurance premium increases came in at 13 percent (versus the 15 percent budgeted), producing a savings she calculated at $168,531, and that the district’s cost-sharing estimate with LRTC was $18,331 (budgeted at $74,800), a $56,469 variance. "Together, those updates reduced our operating budget by $225,000," Doris said. She reported the department’s revised proposed operating budget figures as presented in the memo.

City Council representative Adam Platt told the committee the council has not taken a formal vote but that a straw poll of…