Board approves 2026–27 budget guidelines; staff to present detailed budget in February

The Newington Board of Education unanimously approved budget guidelines to guide development of the district's 2026—2027 operating and capital requests and directed administrators to provide the first full budget presentation on Feb. 4, 2026. The board voted to adopt the guidelines after a motion and second; the motion passed by voice vote with a recorded tally of 7 yes, 0 no.

The vote settles the calendar for the district's formal budget work this winter and sets a separate timeline for the capital budget, which the superintendent said would be brought to the board in November and December. "The capital budget will be seen by the board in November and December, and we're doing a lot of work on that right now," the superintendent said during the discussion.

Board members and administrators spent additional time on a proposed redesign of the budget book that reorganizes financial information by school rather than by line-item departments. The superintendent and central office staff showed a…