School officials warn loss of federal grants would sharply increase town budget request; special-education and Title I supports singled out

Falmouth Public Schools finance and operations leaders told the School Committee on March 11 that federal grants now at risk in Washington represent a significant portion of the district budget and that cuts would substantially raise the district—s town funding request for fiscal 2026.

"We have roughly $1,630,000 in grants, today," Paul (Finance Director) said, adding that if those grants were eliminated the district—s budget request would increase from about 5.5% to roughly 8.3%. Paul and other administrators urged the committee and the public to consider how reductions would affect services for multilingual learners, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students.

Why it matters: School officials said the at-risk federal dollars underwrite a range of services that are embedded in classroom instruction and support, not stand-alone programs that can simply be cut without changing how the district operates. Administrators and teachers said that loss of the grants would affect staff coaching, summer programs, out-of-district tuition offsets and specialized services.

Details from the presentation: Paul summarized the district—s student populations and the grants tied to them. Multilingual learners make up about 7.8% of the student body (up from about 4.4% in FY20); the district receives a Title III federal grant in the…