By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The school system has begun fiscal year 2026 in a good financial position, Superintendent Tom Geary said during the School Committee’s Oct. 7 meeting.
Geary recalled that the School Department’s operating budget for FY26 totals $34,194,132, which is an 11 percent increase over FY25’s $30,806,245 appropriation. He said the district received a $650,000 capital budget for technology upgrades and replacements in FY26. Voters approved a $4.65 million Proposition 2 ½ override last June, which was primarily allocated to fund the school system’s FY26 operating and capital budgets.
“The successful override vote last June positioned us to have great success to start the year and to move through the year,” said Geary.
Geary said the School Department has received $1,095,123 in grant funds for FY26. He informed the Villager that the school system received five entitlement grants from the federal government: The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) Grant, the Early Childhood Grant, the Title 1 Grant, the Title 2 Grant and the Title 4 Grant.
While Geary said the School Department usually receives $600,000 from the IDEA Grant, he said during the School Committee’s meeting that the grant was reduced by about $50,000, totaling $536,000.
“I think some of it was due to changes in our population, which is okay, and I think some of it came from changes in Washington,” said Geary.
Geary also said the School Department received the METCO Grant and the Genocide Education Grant from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). He said the district received a School Health and Services Grant from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which Geary said “flows through our Nursing Department.”
The superintendent said the district had $27,000 in savings from summer special education programs.
“That is about a $200,000 line item and we came in about $27,000 under budget,” said Geary.
Geary said the School Department’s salary savings is $176,000 under budget. He informed the Villager that the $176,000 was for “the budgeted salaries for teachers who left (resigned, retired, took leave), compared to the salaries of those we hired in the open positions.”
“That is terrific,” said Geary during the School Committee’s meeting. “We have had numbers like that in the past. We had gotten away from it, but it was terrific to see us investing in younger educators as our workforce turns over.”
Geary said the School Department received an additional $46,000 from DESE’s Circuit Breaker Account. According to DESE, the Circuit Breaker Program “provides financial assistance to public school districts in order to offset the cost of delivering high-cost special education services to students.”
“The state had a surplus in their Circuit Breaker Account, so they funded us an additional $46,000 that can be used this year,” said Geary. “That got us off to a terrific start.”
While Geary said DESE has released the $1.4 million Circuit Breaker estimate, he said the finalized number has yet to be released.
“That is $200,000 higher than we had estimated,” said Geary. “We don’t file our Circuit Breaker reports until July, so when I am proposing a budget in Novemberish, that number is at best an estimate. We have students who are coming and going, and I try to refine the number as we go along but it is far from perfect at that point, so it is an estimate.”
While Geary said the School Department was able to prepay $150,000 in special education out-of-district tuition at the end of FY24, he said the district did not prepay any special education tuition at the end of FY25.
“The last fiscal year was really tight, so we were not able to do that,” said Geary. “That $46,000 we received from the state will be really helpful.”
Geary said the School Department’s special education out-of-district tuition and transportation line item is about $125,000 over budget. He budgeted $2.8 million for special education out-of-district tuition and $662,000 for special education transportation.
“I know that sounds like a significant six-figure number, but it has actually been far worse in the past at this point,” said Geary. “I am very, very comfortable with that number as far as things go. That $125,000 line item being in the red is not a concern at this point. You never say never, but we are hopefully in a good spot going forward.”
Geary said the district hired four elementary special education paraprofessionals in order to support students.
The School Department has $110,000 remaining in the FY26 capital budget, which Geary said will be used for a networking project.
“That was budgeted and planned for a networking project,” said Geary. “We wanted to get all of the other things that had to be done before the start of school or shortly after the start of the school year done first. We are on target with that, and the $110,000 is a comfortable number to be used for that networking project.”
Geary said the $650,000 capital budget has been used to purchase 36 Smart panels for classrooms, 475 Chromebooks for students and 75 laptops for teachers. He said the capital budget also allowed the Technology Department to install wireless access points at all four schools and replace Lynnfield Middle School’s PA system, which he said was a safety issue. He said firewalls were scheduled to be installed over the long Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day weekend.
“We needed to a little bit longer to do that,” said Geary.
Geary said he feels “very comfortable” with where the School Department is financially to begin FY26.
“We are not miles into the black, but I am comfortable with where we are at right now,” said Geary.
School Committee member Jamie Hayman asked Geary if “we are going to be in a position where we have to go back and ask for more money from the town?”
“As of today, no,” said Geary.
Hayman said in response: “That is really all that matters at the end of the day.”
In response to a question from Hayman, Geary said Lynnfield Community Schools ended FY25 with about an $180,000 balance in the LCS account. He informed the Villager that Community Schools has a $179,000 balance in its account.