Pawtucket School Committee approves second passage of FY27 budget amid funding concerns

The Pawtucket School Committee approved the second passage of the fiscal year 2027 budget at a special March meeting after a roll-call vote that the chair recorded as 3–2.

A committee member used the only substantive floor discussion to press for more sustained funding for teachers and students, saying the district’s finances are relying on short-term measures. “The teachers deserve better,” the member said, arguing that the committee should seek a larger, more stable city appropriation rather than rely on one-off fixes.

The member raised specific concerns about recent accounting and funding changes. They said the district is seeking about a $463,000 increase to replace a one-time $500,000 grant that is no longer available and warned that the district tapped roughly $4,500,000 from its surplus this year to close a budget gap, which leaves fewer reserves for next year.

During the remarks the member described recurring staffing gaps — for example, vacant special-education positions — that have sometimes been handled through ad hoc calls to the superintendent rather than through sustained staffing resources, and they contrasted those short-term fixes with what they called structural underfunding.

After brief discussion the committee took a roll-call vote. The clerk recorded affirmative votes from James Shallow, Matthew Wildenhayn and Joanne Benullo and negative votes from Angelis Rosa and Omar Reyes; the transcript does not record an audible vote from Juan Pablo Barrera. The chair announced the motion had passed and moved to adjourn.

The special meeting included no public commenters; the chair said nobody had signed up to speak. The committee adjourned after the vote.