Cumberland School Committee approves amended FY26 budget as federal Title II/III funding remains uncertain

Cumberland School Committee members approved an amended fiscal year 2026 school budget 7-0 Thursday evening, adopting measures that rely on one-time funds and personnel changes while flagging uncertainty over federal Title II and Title III grants.

Superintendent-level staff presented the amended budget during a June 5 budget workshop at the Cumberland High School transitional building, saying the town had added $820,000 to the school budget but that remaining gaps were being closed with a mix of fund balance, one-time expenditures and targeted cuts. The committee voted to approve the amended budget on a motion by Miss Bennett, seconded by Miss Shea; the vote was 7-0.

The committee was told administrators had already recommended not filling a high-school special education position and eliminating two coaching positions that were funded through federal grants. "Because there was talk of potentially cutting grant funding...we were forced to eliminate those 2 coaching positions in anticipation that that grant money wouldn't come in," said Tony (staff member). He told the committee one of the removed coach positions was funded by Title II and stationed at Garvin and the other by Title I and stationed at BF Norman.

School staff outlined the arithmetic the committee relied on. The presentation listed about $78,000 in Title I rollover funds and roughly $34,000 from IDEA to use in the budget; administrators said they also expect to apply $166,000 in one-time expenditures. Additional line-item moves included transferring Lexia software costs from the general fund into federal title funds, trimming Chromebook parts and a $12,000 insurance premium savings from the trust. Staff said they were comfortable increasing some Medicare and tuition estimates by $30,000 and that Medicaid reimbursements had come in about $25,000 higher than originally budgeted.

Administrators repeatedly warned that the district still faced material uncertainty. One staff member said a statewide superintendent meeting on Tuesday raised the possibility the federal government could cut Titles II and III — "Title 3 is MLL. Title 2 [supports] a lot of work," the staff member said — and that loss would be roughly on the order of $300,000 as discussed in the meeting. The committee was told any shortfall from federal grants would be addressed in July or August and likely through non-personnel budget adjustments if necessary.

Committee members pressed staff on classroom impacts. On the high-school special education position, staff said student counts were fluctuating and that the exact classroom impact could not be calculated until enrollments settled: "I can't tell you right now the exact impact till the dust settles," one administrator said. On the coaches, staff said the positions support teachers and curriculum implementation rather than providing direct one-to-one student services; removing them would reduce capacity for classroom coaching and schoolwide data work.

A member of the public, Julie Bonnerheim of 14 Katie Lee (address given at the meeting), urged the committee to assume federal funds would not arrive and to review line items closely. "You probably shouldn't expect some money because looking across the board at the state, they're not getting the money that they expect," Bonnerheim said, and asked whether the district had reviewed all line items and staffing.

Administrators said they would return to the committee at the July 17 meeting with updated figures if federal or state allocations changed. They also noted the district was drawing down fund balance to close the current-year gap: staff said the budget included about 1.2 (units as presented by staff) of fund balance and that once recent adjustments were accounted for that number was about 1.366 in the materials presented; they warned that repeated use of fund balance would leave less cushion for future years.

The committee approved the amended FY26 budget, then heard public comment and adjourned at 5:51 p.m.