By Adam Swift
At a special meeting last week, the school committee approved the language for a school override vote expected to take place in the late winter or early spring.
Previously, the committee had brought forward a tiered question to the town council for approval, giving voters the option to select one, both, or neither of two override amounts.
At the Jan. 15 special meeting approved a two-question menu option for the override ballot.
The first question asks that the town be allowed to assess an additional $3.5 million in real estate and personal property taxes for the funding of the Fiscal Year 2026 school operating budget. The second question asks that the town be allowed to assess an additional $1.45 million in real estate and personal property taxes for the funding of a school stabilization fund for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2025.
Initially, the school committee had approved a tiered override question, asking voters to weigh in on $4.95 million and $3.5 million overrides, with the top amount winning approval taking precedence.
School committee finance subcommittee chair Gus Martucci said with the menu option, voters can approve either amount, one amount, or neither.
School Committee Chair Jennifer Powell asked what would happen if the stabilization amount of $1.45 million passed, but the larger operational budget amount did not.
If only the $1.45 million override passed, Martucci said it would be used to start the school stabilization account, and the school department would be able to access the money if needed.
“So it wouldn’t go into the regular budget until we ask for it,” he said. “At that point, we would have to take a vote and then go to the town council and they would have to take a vote to give it to us.”
Superintendent of Schools Lisa Howard said that if only the smaller override amount passes, the school department would still be in the position where it has a large budget deficit.
“So the school committee would have to decide, like Mr. Martucci said, if they want to petition the town council to access that money that passed for the stabilization fund and be able to utilize that in the FY26 budget,” said Howard.
School Committee member Suzanne Leonard said it needs to be made clear to the voters that if only the $1.45 million amount passes, it is still less than half of what the district needs to keep it at a level-service position.
“If only one of these passes and it’s the smaller number, we are still in a position looking at pretty dramatic likely staffing cuts and (cuts to) extracurriculars,” said Leonard. “I worry a little and the messaging needs to be really clear that by voting for only the smaller amount, you are not going to protect us from the catastrophic cuts that would still need to be made.”
Howard noted that the idea of creating a stabilization fund is to lengthen the amount of time that an operations override will last and that the schools will not have to come before the town with another override request in the near future.
“Ideally, we would like to see both pass so that we don’t have to come back within the next few years to ask for an additional override given the rest of the financial needs of the community,” said Howard.
Town Council President Jim Letterie said he believed the new language for the override questions gives more flexibility.
“What it also does, is it guarantees if the $1.45 million passes, it is guaranteed to go into the stabilization account each and every year,” said Letterie. “A lot of this is based on education and letting people understand that there is a cause and effect.”
The town council was scheduled to take up the override language from the school committee at its Tuesday night meeting. Powell also said she planned on attending the meeting to reiterate the school committee’s desire to have the school override on a separate ballot from the proposed debt exclusion vote for a new fire station.