BOE votes on $227k+ of cuts

The Board of Education held a special meeting on May 7, 2026, to learn how Superintendent of Schools Scott Sugarman intends to cut $227,215 from its budget request. For now, the only casualties are open positions that won’t be filled, subscriptions and licenses, and some stipends. But Sugarman warns, “We are really at a precipice here.” If the next budget fails at referendum, the next round of cuts may be harder to stomach.

This brings the requested increase down from $1,375,329 to $1,148,114. But, it’s important to keep in mind that of the more than $32 million budget request, only $22,004,637of it has to be raised from taxes. The rest is covered by grants and revenues.

District dues: CABE Membership and district license fees	$25,000
Purchased services: telecommunications	$16,000
Retire offset	$75,000
2 open para positions	$28,000
Food service/FRC debt and benefits	$20,000
Substitute	$30,000
FY26 Adjustments	$27,000
District stipends	$6,215
Total	$227,215

Sugarman explained that the district was able to restructure some of its telecommunications contracts, and will eliminate $16,000 from that line item. It will also pre-purchase some goods and services this year, eliminating the need to put them in next year’s budget. That could mean dipping into the non-lapsing fund to cover up to $13,500 of the purchases.

The district will also find savings by leaving a couple of paraeductor positions open, but is only budgeting for half the savings just in case it legally has to hire one of them. While food service and Family Resource Center employees’ salaries are not contained within the school budget, their benefits are. So Sugarman says it won’t fill an open position within food service, and seeks to cover the Family Resource Center benefits with a grant. Throw in some retiring employees who the district plans on replacing at a lower cost, or not at all, a reduced budget for substitutes, and a reduction to stipend positions and you get to the more than a quarter million dollar reduction to budget proposal.

But, as we all know, it’s entirely possible that the BOE will be back here again in a month or two after another referendum. “I’m not saying this to scare people, I’m saying this to prepare people,” said Sugarman before discussing some of the options that might be on the chopping block the next time around. 

The district may need to choose between sports at the middle school level and sections of English classes. They may need to rethink the intervention program, he suggested. Whatever the future brings, Sugarman said, “We’ll deal with it together.”

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