Exeter board places $28.6 million operating budget, including pilot free-meal program, on March ballot

The Exeter School District presented a proposed operating budget of $28,628,762 for fiscal year 2026–27 and voted during its Feb. 3 deliberative session to place the article on the March 10 ballot.

Board Chair Heather Eichmeier, introducing the operating budget, said the district sought a “fiscally responsible budget that also met the needs of our student population” and noted many increases are fixed costs such as health insurance, benefits and required special-education services. Eichmeier also defended adding $428,355 to the appropriation to cover student meals, saying the board wants students to “come to school fed, ready to learn.”

Residents questioned the meal proposal and asked for more detail. Steve Kavanaugh told the board he supported ensuring students are fed but criticized the approach, saying, “what you're doing now is you're putting basically that cost on taxpayers,” and warned the change could be difficult to reverse. Christian Lizzier said he supported the overall budget but worried the universal meal change could “put at risk the funds from the federal government” and questioned long-term plans after what the board described as a one-year pilot.

District staff explained the $428,355 increase is split between funds: roughly $120,000 of the increase is in the separate food-service fund (to cover higher food-purchasing costs) and the remainder is recorded in the general fund as a revenue reimbursement. Assistant finance officer Michelle Larson said the district reviewed usage data and would monitor federal funding; central-office staff told voters that federal-reimbursement calculations use lagged data (looking back a year or more) so next year’s state/federal allocations would not automatically change, and that the board could restore parental-pay provisions in future budgets if needed.

District staff also cited local usage changes from an earlier suspension of parental pay (when participation rose from about 45% to the low 60s for students already eligible for free/reduced-price meals), saying the increase in participation informed the board’s decision to propose increased meal funding.

After discussion and public comment, the meeting’s moderator called for the question to end deliberations on Article 1; the voice vote passed and the article was ordered to appear on the March 10 ballot “as written.” The board also voted to limit reconsideration of the article at the session.

What happens next: Voters will decide on the operating budget and the meal appropriation on March 10, 2026. The deliberative session does not adopt the budget; it places the article on the ballot for the town vote.