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Portsmouth School Committee trims FY26 draft but seeks options to avoid staffing cuts
Summary
Superintendent and finance director presented a second draft of the FY2026 school budget that reduces expenditures by $541,168 and lowers the town appropriation request to a 4.9% increase; committee members urged exploring options to keep the increase under the town's 4% statutory cap and avoid personnel or program cuts.
Portsmouth — The Portsmouth School Committee reviewed a second draft of the School Department's fiscal year 2026 operating budget Tuesday and directed administrators to look for further options to avoid cuts to personnel or programs.
Superintendent Dr. Kenworthy and finance director Christopher D'Iro presented revisions that reduce the draft budget by $541,168 compared with the first draft. That trimming lowers the proposed total expenditure increase to 4.0% over FY25 and reduces the town appropriation request to an increase of 4.9%.
Where cuts were made
District staff told the committee they attempted to reduce nonpersonnel costs before altering staffing. The reductions include eliminating one RBT position that district leaders said was no longer required ($25,000), removing a small amount of planned professional development hours ($40,000), trimming anticipated coaching/extracurricular stipends ($30,000), lowering assumed health-insurance premium growth from 8% to 5% for planning ($125,000), moving some costs into federal IDEA-B grant accounts ($25,000) and other discretionary reductions in supplies and equipment. The budget team described a cautious approach to adjusting health-benefit assumptions but said absolute staffing reductions were a last resort.
Tensions and next steps
Committee members pressed administrators about the remaining gap between the proposed appropriation and the town's 4% tax levy cap. Members expressed reluctance to remove proposed positions that they said are critical (for example, additional speech-language support and world-language expansion for middle grades). Committee members discussed asking the town council to pursue a legislative exemption or waiver to exceed the 4% cap, noting other municipalities have sought similar relief, and asked the superintendent to prepare options that could reduce the committee's request to at or below the 4% threshold.
Finance subcommittee and schedule
District leaders said a finance subcommittee meeting is scheduled for Monday to refine options; the committee expects a final FY26 draft for full committee approval at the March 11 meeting. After school-committee approval, the budget is submitted to the town administrator and presented to the town council during town budget deliberations in May and June.
Provenance: The committee reviewed the full line-by-line second draft and asked administration to return with further options before the March 11 vote. Ending: Administrators will pursue further budget reductions where possible, present options to the finance subcommittee and continue coordinating with town leadership about levy and capital needs.
