By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Voters will decide the fate of the proposed $4.65 million Proposition 2½ override during a Special Town Election on Wednesday, June 4.
Spring Town Meeting overwhelmingly voted in late April to send the $4.65 million override to the Special Town Election on June 4. Similar to previous elections, the polls will be open from 7 a.m.-8 p.m. in the Lynnfield High School gym on June 4.
The last Proposition 2½ override that Lynnfield residents voted on and subsequently approved occurred in June 2011. According to the June 2011 Special Town Election results, voters approved that override by a 1,613-1,052 margin.
The proposed $4.65 million override seeks to address the town’s $4 million deficit and $650,000 for school technology upgrades and replacements. School Committee Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy said during Spring Town Meeting that 56 School Department employees will lose their jobs if voters reject the proposed $4.65 million override.
“The educational excellence of LPS is on the line with your vote,” said Elworthy. “Not moving forward with an override budget for the schools will drastically damage our school system and, in my opinion, render it unrecognizable. I need to be clear that this is not a scenario that may happen without an override. It is a scenario that will happen without an override.”
Elworthy said during Spring Town Meeting that the $650,000 included in the override would upgrade the district’s technology infrastructure and hardware.
“Technology is no longer a nice to have,” said Elworthy. “It is an essential component of the learning process for our students. Teachers are utilizing tech to deliver personalized learning to students and increase teacher effectiveness in the classroom. This override includes a budget for desperately needed upgrades to our infrastructure and software that will allow us to deliver 21st century learning and teaching to our students and, without it, our students will fall behind.”
Town Administrator Rob Dolan explained how the $650,000 will be used in years two and three during a recent “Town Talk” episode.
“After year one when that money is spent, that remains in year two and year three to make sure we can cover the cost of year two and three of the teachers’ contract, historic health insurance increases and all of the inflationary drivers of this deficit to protect us,” said Dolan. “At the end of the day, what is this override all about? We are one town, but this really is a school-based override. Why did you move to Lynnfield? Well, most people say they moved here for our schools.”
Dolan recently said that the proposed $4.65 million override would result in an average annual $898.72 tax impact on a house assessed at $1,045,013.
Early voting will take place in the temporary Town Clerk’s Office, 525 Salem St., Door 4, on Wednesday, May 28 and Thursday, May 29 from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Early voting will conclude on Friday, May 30 from 8:30-12:30 p.m.
Town Clerk Amanda Haggstrom said residents can also vote-by-mail for the Special Town Election on June 4.
“Ballots have been mailed out for those who have already requested to vote-by-mail for the June 4 override election,” Haggstrom wrote on the Lynnfield Town Clerk’s Office Facebook page. “Ballots can be returned via the postage pre-paid envelope or in the drop box located outside of the temporary offices at 525 Salem St. Ballots must be received by the Town Clerk’s Office by 8 p.m. on June 4. The deadline to submit an application to vote-by-mail is May 28 at 5 p.m.”
The last day to apply for an absentee ballot in-person is Tuesday, June 3 at 12 p.m.
Potential budget cuts
In addition to voting to send the proposed $4.65 million override to the Special Town Election, Spring Town Meeting voted to approve a $73,075,332 balanced budget that includes significant reductions in the event the override gets rejected.
Superintendent Tom Geary gave a breakdown of the 56 layoffs that would occur if the override does not pass during a recent School Committee meeting. Four classroom teachers, one shared physical education teacher with Summer Street School, four kindergarten paraprofessionals, seven interventionists and one special education paraprofessional will lose their jobs at Huckleberry Hill School if voters reject the override.
Four classroom teachers, the shared PE teacher with Huckleberry Hill, four kindergarten paraprofessionals, two preschool paraprofessionals, five interventionists and one special education paraprofessional will be laid off from Summer Street/Lynnfield Preschool if the override fails.
Ten Lynnfield Middle School teachers will be laid off if the override is rejected. Geary said eight classroom teachers, two each in grades 5-8, will lose their jobs. The middle school’s French teacher will also be laid off, which would result in the program being eliminated. One PE teacher will be laid off from the middle school if the override gets rejected.
Geary said three interventionists and one special education paraprofessional at LMS will lose their jobs as well if the override fails. He also said there will be LMS general education teachers who will be “involuntarily transferred” to other schools. He said two LMS educators will be transferred to Huckleberry Hill, one will be transferred to Summer Street and one will be transferred to Lynnfield High.
The superintendent also said each class at LMS will have over 30 students in them if the layoffs occur.
“This age group of students, ages 10-14, is going through the most changes, and we are going to give them less resources,” said Geary. “Thirty-two kids in a classroom turns into crowd control.”
Geary said three classroom teachers in the English, Math and Science Departments as well as the French teacher at Lynnfield High School will be laid off if the override gets rejected. The high school was forced to eliminate the Italian and Latin programs two years ago due to budgetary constraints.
“This will bring us down to one world language,” said Geary.
Geary also said one adjustment counselor and two special education paraprofessionals at LHS will lose their jobs if the override fails. He also said the high school will have “larger class sizes and reduced elective offerings.”
In addition to the layoffs at all four schools, Geary said District Lead Nurse Toni Rebelo will lose her job if the override is rejected. One special education BCBA position will be eliminated if the override fails.
Additionally, Geary said the School Department will be receiving $250,000 for school technology in the FY26 capital budget instead of $650,000 included in the proposed $4.65 million override if the proposal gets voted down during the Special Town Election on Wednesday, June 4.
“If the override passes, we will receive $650,000 to really address a lot of our infrastructure issues as well as hardware needs,” said Geary. “This will reduce us to $250,000, which hasn’t been enough in the past and it certainly isn’t enough now.”
The School Department’s athletic and extracurricular fees will also increase if the override fails.
Geary said two buses will be eliminated from the Department of Public Works’ school bus transportation program if the override fails, which would reduce the fleet from 12 to 10 buses. As a result of the $200,000 budget cut, he said the School Committee will need to change the district’s busing policy to comply with the state’s guideline.
“The state guideline is we have to bus anybody who lives over two miles for grades K-6,” said Geary. “That is all we are required to do.”
In addition to the budget cuts that would impact the School Department, the Lynnfield Public Library’s FY26 budget will be cut by $300,524 if the override is rejected.
“We currently have nine full-time and 15 part-time wonderful staff members,” said Library Director Abigail Porter said during a recent Select Board meeting. “We will have to lay off two-thirds of them that will be a mix of full-time and part-time employees. We will be left with nine people.”
Porter also said the library would be forced to reduce its hours of operation if the override fails.
“We are currently open 64 hours spread over six days a week, including Saturdays,” said Porter. “If the override does not pass, we will only be able to be open for 40 hours a week with one evening and no Saturdays.”
Porter said the library will be decertified if the override does not get approved. If the override does not pass, she said residents will lose access to “over two million items through the NOBLE catalog and almost 96 million throughout the commonwealth.”
“This would include the reciprocal lending agreement that we have through Libby, our eBook database, which allows us to borrow from every library network in the state from home,” said Porter. “We would have access to only our physical collection and a few digital resources.”
Porter also said the library would be “ineligible for state aid” if it is decertified.
The Lynnfield Senior Center will also be forced to cut its FY26 budget by $149,984 if the override gets rejected.