School Committee votes to accept mayor’s reduced FY2026 budget after hour-long debate

Superintendent Dr. Crowley presented the School Committee’s FY2026 budget and summarized educational priorities — reading specialists, early college expansion, arts and extracurriculars — that the proposed budget sought to sustain. He warned that the Superintendent’s office and principals would need to prioritize if reductions were required.

Committee members and the public discussed a $440,000 discrepancy between the school committee’s adopted number and the mayor’s budget submitted to the city council. The differences prompted detailed discussion of possible reductions: an assistant superintendent position (administrative), a school culture specialist at the high school, ML (multilingual) paraprofessional lines, and substitute-teacher funding among other lines. Dr. Crowley emphasized that cuts would be difficult and could affect student-facing initiatives.

After discussion the committee moved to adopt the mayor’s budget number; a motion to adjust the school department appropriation to $95,962,440 (the mayor’s submission) with administration-recommended cuts passed on a voice/roll call vote (all in favor; recorded as seven ayes). Committee members urged the public to contact city councilors ahead of the council’s June 9 public hearing and noted possible future conversations about restoring positions depending on council action or supplemental funding.

The committee also handled procedural motions earlier in the meeting — taking the Goodyear presentation out of order, returning to regular order, approving minutes and recording a public commenter’s remarks as a public document — all of which passed by voice vote.