Lexington’s Town Meeting passed the fiscal year 2027 budget on Monday night after a month of discussion and debate. The budget was passed with a compromised amendment that adds $625,000 to the schools, in part to save about five teachers.
Town Meeting was poised to reconvene on Monday after a week off during the schools’ April vacation last week. But first, the members of the budget summit (the Select Board, School Committee, Appropriation Committee, and Capitol Expenditures Committee) met to discuss the FY27 budget and proposed cuts within Lexington Public Schools.
During that meeting, Eileen Jay, chair of the School Committee, suggested a compromise to a proposed amendment to the FY27 budget.
On the first night of Annual Town Meeting back in March, Dawn McKenna, who represents Precinct 6, proposed an amendment that asks the town to use $1.25 million in Free Cash (non-recurring funds) to save about 13 teachers from being cut in FY27. Her amendment was born after LPS superintendent Julie Hackett shared that the district would have to cut the equivalent of about 60 full time positions (this number frequently fluctuated) and 160 non-professional staff in FY27 due to declining enrollment and budget constraints. The district had a net loss of about 25 LPS employees after some cut staff were re-hired to fill open positions, Jay said during the meeting Monday.
The Select Board and Appropriation Committee disapproved of McKenna’s amendment after she first presented it to Town Meeting on March 30. The School Committee, however, supported it. The Select Board subsequently decided to table voting on the budget until after budget summit members could meet to discuss it further — that’s what took place on Monday.
The compromise to McKenna’s amendment that Jay proposed on Monday asks the town to appropriate $625,000 from Free Cash, in part to save a few teachers. Specifically, $375,000 would go toward saving five one-year staff positions — a mix of literacy coaches and math coaches. Those math coaches would work with special education students and the literacy coaches would work with teachers to help implement the new literacy curriculum the town has been piloting. The other $250,000 would go toward buying a one-year literacy plan.
“The intention was to come up with something that is a true compromise.” Jay said during the budget summit meeting.
The Boards and Committees reluctantly supported Jay’s compromise. Leaders argued that dipping into Free Cash after spending months formulating a balanced budget set the wrong precedent. Many people, including Town Meeting representatives, town staff, Board and Committee members, and residents, have argued relying on Free Cash is bad financial management. In the end, however, the Boards and Committees voted in support of Jay’s compromise in the spirit of finding a middle ground and advancing Town Meeting.
“Nobody on this side (the Select Board) is happy about this,” Select Board Chair Jill Hai said during the budget meeting. “We do not anticipate having this conversation next year and if we do, it will go very differently.”
“After this vote, we have a lot of work to do to get ourselves back in order,” Doug Lucente, a Select Board member, said. “I’m going to support this with that in mind, but we’ve got to do this work.”
The meeting of the budget summit groups then ended and the sixth night of Town Meeting’s annual session began.
To start, the precinct representatives took up Article 4, the FY27 budget.
Article 4: FY27 budget
McKenna reluctantly supported Jay’s compromise, arguing her amendment was simple and she found a lot of people she spoke with liked it.
“I believe firmly that this is a win, we started with no opportunity to put more money back into the school budget,” she said. “What I do know in my gut is that absent this [$625,000] there would be a lot more pain.”
Town Meeting members voted in favor of amending McKenna’s amendment to reflect Jay’s compromise with about 84 percent support.
The group then voted in favor of passing Article 4, with the compromised amendment, with about 98 percent support.
“This is not just a successful resolution for this amendment for FY27,” Jay said during Town Meeting. “Far more importantly, it represents an ability for the town boards and committees to come together to solve difficult issues.”
Article 8: Fund town survey
Town Meeting discussed Article 8, which asks the town to appropriate $60,000 so the Vision for Lexington Committee can conduct a town-wide survey. The purpose of the survey is to engage the community in envisioning long-term goals for the town.
Town Meeting members Bridger McGaw of Precinct 6, Peter Shapiro of Precinct 4, and McKenna were concerned about funding this article at a time when the budget is tight. Shapiro also argued the results of the survey in the past have been “self-evident.”
John Zhao, a Town Meeting member from Precinct 5, urged fellow members to vote yes on this article because the results of the survey could shape future town decisions.
Town Meeting passed the article with about 67 percent support.
Consent Agenda
Town Meeting also passed the remaining items on the consent agenda, less Community Preservation Act related items the group already debated and voted on, and Article 11a. Town Meeting member Alex Tsouvalas, of Precinct 5, called to have that article removed from the consent agenda for further discussion. The motion under that article asks the town to appropriate $60,000 for landscaping equipment for Pine Meadows Golf Course. Tsouvalas argued the chemicals that will be funded with this article could be harmful and further consideration should be given before that it is voted on.
Town Meeting passed the consent agenda, without those items, with about 98 percent support.
Other articles:
Town meeting looked at Article 16e, which asks the town to appropriate $400,000 to replenish Lexington High School’s emergency repair account. Over the past three years, the town used most of the existing money in that account to fix failing systems such as the school’s HVAC and the air conditioning unit in the IT room when they failed. Town Meeting passed the article with about 99 percent support. They passed Article 16d, which asks the town to appropriate about $4.5 million to replace the rooftop HVAC systems at Fiske Elementary School, with 100 percent support. And the group passed Article 19, which asks the town to establish, amend, dissolve and appropriate money to and from specified stabilization funds, with 100 percent support.
Town Meeting will reconvene on Wednesday, April 29, at 7:30 p.m. at Cary Hall for the next night of its session. Interested members of the public can attend in-person or can stream the meeting through LexMedia.