The Acton-Boxborough Regional School Committee opened its FY26 budget hearing and received a presentation from Superintendent Peter Light on the district’s recommended budget, including updated revenue estimates and proposed cuts.

Light said the recommended operating budget is a 2.11% increase over the previous year but warned that maintaining current services in future years likely will require a 5.25%–5.5% increase. He described several changes since the preliminary budget, including higher-than-expected health-insurance costs, additional special-education tuitions, and employees returning to employer health plans, all of which reduced the district’s earlier projected headroom. Light said those and other pressures consumed about $330,000 in added special-education costs and more than $300,000 for insurance rate changes, erasing most of the cushion the committee hoped might restore positions.

Nut graf: The superintendent and committee framed the FY26 proposal as a holding year that preserves many current services but requires targeted reductions to balance the budget; leaders warned that the district’s structural finances, demographic trends and rising costs mean larger budget increases or state aid would be necessary to avoid deeper cuts.

Most significant program and staffing changes described by administration included reductions in general-education classroom assistance at the elementary level, cuts to Tier 2 and Tier 3 academic supports, reductions in several secondary teaching positions (social studies, math and English), fewer campus monitors and some athletic stipend adjustments, and replacement of a vacated certified elementary librarian with a library media assistant. Light said the district also is not budgeting for a new case manager position despite a modest projected increase in kindergarten enrollment and that at junior high one team will be adjusted so some teachers will teach multiple grade levels.

Light and staff emphasized the district’s unchanged fiscal constraints: declining enrollment since regionalization (about 725 students over 10 years), a rising percentage of students classified as “high needs,” and looming capital costs including nearly $4 million for high school rooftop HVAC units. He also noted that the district moved health coverage from the Acton Health Insurance Trust into a larger pool, which produced some one-time savings that helped in FY26 but will not repeat.

Committee members asked for line-item detail on a $200,000 increase in “other admin supplies,” and Sherry (district finance staff) explained much of that increase reflected contracted services tied to an RFP on that night’s agenda, unemployment and separation costs, and software/financial system contracts rather than consumables.

Members publicly pressed the importance of communicating with state lawmakers about the limits of local revenue and the need for Chapter 70/Chapter 78 funding reform. The chair and other members said they would pursue coordinated advocacy (including an upcoming Ways and Means hearing) and provide a template letter for families to contact Beacon Hill. Committee members repeatedly stressed the district’s message that there is “nothing left to cut” if the goal is to maintain current service levels and that towns should expect larger assessments to support the schools.

Procedural actions from the meeting: committee members moved to adjourn the statutory budget hearing after public comment (motion moved by Vikram, seconded by Tory) and voted to adjourn the hearing unanimously. Later the committee voted unanimously to approve the consent agenda (minutes, budget transfers and warrants) and then voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

Ending: The superintendent and committee reiterated that a final FY26 budget vote is scheduled for next week (required to meet warrant/timing obligations), that approval requires a two-thirds weighted vote under the regional agreement, and that members should ensure attendance for that vote because absent votes count as no votes under the regional agreement.