The Derry Cooperative School District fiscal advisory committee voted during its December meeting to forward a proposed 2026–27 operating budget to the board for the public hearing and deliberative session.

The proposal shows an 8.79% increase in expenditures over the current year. Administrators told the committee that significant, contractually obligated costs — including the teachers’ contract (referred to in the meeting as the DEA agreement), Pinkerton Academy tuition and upcoming bond interest payments — account for much of the growth. Administration identified $864,000 of “controllable” requests they asked the committee to consider trimming to limit the tax impact.

"The real premise is the children," Superintendent Michael Flynn said, explaining why administrators prioritized services for students while seeking savings in nonrecurring and noninstructional line items.

Business Administrator Jane Samad walked members through how the presentation’s expense and revenue lines interact with unreserved fund balance and state special-education aid, noting a revised special-education aid estimate increased from about $1.2 million to roughly $1.8 million in the administration’s revised revenue forecast. Samad also presented a worked example of the tax-rate effect under specific assumptions and said the default budget equivalent would be $13.90 and the presented proposal equates to $13.84 in that calculation.

Administrators emphasized the parts of the budget they cannot change: negotiated salary-and-benefit obligations, some special-education costs required by law and bond payments. The presentation flagged Pinkerton tuition (reported in the slides as approximately $2.1 million) and a bond payment of about $2,000,000 as major fixed drivers. Committee members and administrators discussed teacher turnover (noted as 30 departures last year versus an expected typical turnover of about 10), and the administration described targeted reductions — halving the new mentor program and reducing some curriculum purchases — to avoid adding recurring costs.

The committee moved to accept the proposed budget as presented — recorded in the meeting as being $337,951.20 below the default — and members voiced assent in a go‑around. The transcript records the motion being made by Derek Anderson; the meeting did not record a detailed roll-call vote in the transcript. Administration said reserves and the revised revenue estimates give them confidence that modest tuition swings or enrollment changes could be absorbed.

A public hearing on the budget will be held at the board meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 6 p.m.; the deliberative session is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 7 at 10 a.m. in the West Running Brook gym; the voting session is set for Tuesday, March 10 at Pinkerton Academy’s Hackler Gymnasium (7 a.m.–8 p.m.).