By Adam Swift
Two school override questions will be on the ballot for a special election on Saturday, April 5.
The two override requests, which seek to close an anticipated $3.5 million budget shortfall for the Fiscal Year 2026 operating budget and to set aside $1.45 million for a school stabilization account, will be on the ballot with the fire station debt exclusion vote.
The school committee had recommended that the school override votes and the fire station debt exclusion take place in separate elections.
At last week’s town council meeting, the council voted to approve new language for the school override votes, but elected to hold the override and the fire station debt exclusion votes in one election.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 5 for the special election. There will be regular polling locations, with Precinct 4 voting on Golden Drive and all other precincts voting at the old middle school on Pauline Street.
Town Council President Jim Letterie said the council chose to hold the election on a Saturday in the hopes that it would increase turnout and make it easier for people who work during the week to vote.
On the school side of the ballot, voters will be able to vote yes or no on both school override amounts. If both figures pass, it would equal the $4.95 million override request that failed at the ballot last November.
At last week’s school committee meeting, School Committee Chair Jennifer Powell and Superintendent of Schools Lisa Howard highlighted the importance of the full $4.95 million override request for the schools and the town.
After last year’s vote, the school committee initially recommended a tiered approach to requesting the override funds on the ballot, but Powell said that after further discussions, it was determined that the current menu approach to the override would be clearer and add more transparency.
“If voters vote for only the stabilization fund and not the money we need for the school year, we would still be able to use the stabilization money to help us with the budget, but we would still have a shortfall and be facing cuts,” said Powell.
If the $3.5 million passed but not the $1.45 million for the stabilization account, it would fund a level-services budget for FY26, but the schools would continue to have anticipated budget shortfalls in future years.
“What I would say to the voters is that we need the whole $4.9 million, and putting a bandaid on it is not a solution to the problem, it’s just a quick fix,” said Town Councilor Rob DeMarco.
Powell said there are no absolute numbers at this point, but she said that if the override fails, there would be staff layoffs and increases in class size since there would be no other way to close the budget gap.
Councilor John DaRos said supporting the override is an investment in the whole town, and not just the school department.
Howard noted that while many communities go for school overrides every five to seven years, there has not been one in Winthrop for close to 16 years.
The superintendent noted that if the schools do not have the money for a level-services budget for FY26, the cuts would need to come from staffing, since salaries represent a large percentage of the school budget and because there are other fixed costs that cannot be cut.