By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The School Committee unanimously approved the recommended fiscal year 2026 operating and capital budgets for local education during a March 25 meeting.
Superintendent Tom Geary has recommended a $34,196,514 operating budget for FY26, which is an 11 percent increase over FY25’s $30,806,245 appropriation. Due to a $4 million budget shortfall for FY26 and the School Department needing $1 million for technology upgrades, Town Administrator Rob Dolan has recommended that a $5 million Proposition 2 ½ override be approved at Spring Town Meeting on Tuesday, April 29.
After a public hearing was held on the proposed two spending plans (see separate story), School Committee member Jamie Hayman expressed his support for the $5 million override.
“We need the override and we have known this was coming,” said Hayman. “This was not a surprise. My concern with the operating override is I worry about how we are going to get new things in the future. This is for a level-services budget, and we have a lot of needs. We are keeping the same number of teachers and we are not adding things. As we look to the future, we have to get really creative.”
Hayman said the proposed FY26 school budget does not include funds for the new math curriculum that has been piloted at the elementary schools this year.
“What we did with technology is we brought in experts, got their opinions, they said what is broken and now we are fixing it,” said Hayman. “We brought in our (math) experts, they told us what is broken and we piloted some new curriculums, but we are not fixing it. Math is something that is going to impact 2,200 kids very, very quickly, and thousands of kids for years. If we are only going to have enough money in future years to fund level-services, we have to think about which services we are willing to give on in the future to be able to implement new curriculums. We talked about the civics teacher at the high school and what that can bring. All of these have a really deep impact.”
Hayman said he was not trying to “advocate for more money.”
“But I urge us all to really think creatively about how we can start to fund some of these, frankly in my opinion, really deep needs especially considering some of the cuts and some of the challenges we have seen over the last few years,” Hayman added.
School Committee member Jim Dillon expressed his support for the $5 million override because it will “honor our legal and moral obligation to meet the learning needs of all students, given when meeting those needs creates additional costs.”
“The answer for me is yes,” said Dillon. “I know that it is for everyone on the School Committee. I hope for everyone in this community, the answer is yes to that.”
Dillon also said the proposed override would allow the district to retain and hire high-quality teachers and staff at “a rate that is competitive with other similar North Shore school districts.”
“We have very high expectations for our teachers, and we have wonderful teachers in this district who are completely dedicated,” said Dillon. “We have to recognize that and our compensation should be competitive with other similar North Shore districts.”
Dillon also said he supports the proposed $1 million included in the override for school technology needs because it is an “imperative piece of high-quality education.”
“Technology enhances learning by making it more engaging,” said Dillon. “Technology provides access to important educational resources. A lot of us got to see that recently and so did all of the (Select Board), and some of the Finance Committee. Technology helps develop 21st century skills. Technology, if denied, withholds from students’ access to essential curriculum. That is a fact.”
Dillon said the proposed 11 percent school budget hike would support the needs of students, teachers and staff members.
“That is what this budget is about,” said Dillon. “Are we going to support those things in this community and remain what we are and have been as an elite school system, or are we not? The override is a lot of money at over $970 (per average household). But if you do break it down, it would come up to about $2.60 a day. That is less than a medium coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts.”
In response to a woman who asked a question from the audience, School Committee Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy said if Spring Town Meeting approves sending the $5 million override to a town-wide ballot vote on Tuesday, April 29, a
Special Town Election will take place on Wednesday, June 4 at the Lynnfield High School gym.
“It has to pass both of those things,” said Elworthy.
While Elworthy said the School Committee would “take every dollar that anybody would ever give us and find a good use for it,” she said that she supports the proposed 11 percent level-services budget.
“We understand that the people sitting in this room are very invested and engaged, and the people watching this are very invested and engaged in the schools, but there are 13,000 people in this town and an ask is being made of all of them,” said Elworthy. “A lot of departments in town are sacrificing as well. We feel that we have made a lot of those sacrifices in prior years. We felt very strongly that we don’t want to lose any further services or staffing at this point. That has informed the ask we have made.”
Elworthy recalled that the School Committee is currently in collective bargaining negotiations with the Lynnfield Teachers Association (LTA).
“The teachers’ contract is an estimate that is in this budget,” said Elworthy. “We have not settled the teachers’ contract yet.”
Elworthy said the School Department’s budget cuts over the last several years occurred because the district did not get the money that was “necessarily needed.”
“Services have been added over time, and things have been traded off and added,” said Elworthy. “I agree with (Hayman) there has to be creativity, but I think we have to weigh what we are asking for, which is an 11 percent increase for the budget when we have been getting 3.5 to 4 percent typically. There are great reasons behind that, and this is definitely the moment to do that. That is why I personally support this number and the level-services budget because it keeps the things we hold core to our identity in Lynnfield.”
School Committee member Kate DePrizio commended Geary and the School Committee’s work on the FY26 operating and capital budgets.
“All five of us had opportunities to be in each of the schools whether it be for tech or staff forums,” said DePrizio. “We have had opportunities to interact with staff and students to really see needs firsthand. I want to stress that we collectively have used a really researched and data-driven approach and thought process for this whole thing. I feel like we really tried to maximize absolutely everything we could to come up with this budget in a responsible way that prioritizes our teachers, our community and our students.”
School Committee Vice Chair Jenny Sheehan agreed.
“For us with the school budget, being at 11 percent is to keep it level because we want to kind of maintain that first, and look for places to cut or inefficiencies,” said Sheehan. “People always say can you charge a fee for this or that. There is no amount of fees that is going to get us to 11 percent. As Jamie brought up, if we are looking to buy a math curriculum, that could be a one-time purchase down the road.”
Hayman said Educational Technology Department Head Rochelle Cooper brought him “around on the use of technology in the elementary schools.”
“Seeing it was very, very, powerful,” said Hayman. “I agree with that.”
While Hayman said he supports purchasing Chromebooks for first, fifth and ninth grade students, he said the Technology Department should examine which devices can be repurposed.
“If you have 200 serviceable Chromebooks left over in any given year and you can put them back into circulation in some place so that we can get another year out of them, we are saving $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000 a year,” said Hayman. “As we make this ask from the town, I think we need to be thoughtful about how we are doing it and be thoughtful about ways to reuse assets that we have invested in over the years.”
Hayman recalled that the district “stumbled” into a grades 1-12 one-to-one Chromebook initiative during the pandemic after a number of devices were purchased with COVID relief funds from the federal government.
“This is the first time we have actually had to buy new ones,” said Hayman. “If we can buy less, it saves us a little bit of money.”
In response to a question from Elworthy, Geary said the Technology Department will be identifying which Chromebooks can be refurbished.
“I don’t want to put a number on it, but my understanding is two-thirds or three-quarters are really no good for student use,” said Geary. “But to refurbish and repair takes labor hours from our staff, and they are not able to do something else. What is the right balance? There is probably a balance, I agree.”
Hayman said he believes that a large number of Chromebooks need to be replaced.
Retired Technology Coordinator Kathy Dario exclaimed from the audience that the department repairs and repurposes devices “every single year.”
“It happens all the time,” said Dario.
Dillon said Chromebooks are “as critical or more in some cases as a pencil or pen in a classroom for a student.”
Elworthy said she agreed with Hayman that the Technology Department should repurpose the Chromebooks that are repairable.
After the discussion, the School Committee unanimously voted to approve the recommended $34,196,514 operating budget and the recommended $650,000 capital budget for FY26. As currently proposed, the $1 million in the override for technology would give the School Department $650,000 for the first year and $350,000 for the second year.
Merservey Lane resident Stephen Sorrentino noted that between 20 to 25 percent of Lynnfield residents are seniors, many of who are on fixed incomes.
“I happen to be one of them, but my house is certainly worth over $1 million,” said Sorrentino. “I am blessed that I have other income. I don’t mind the override and I don’t mind that it is going to fund the education of students in the town, but there are people who are constrained.”