Westford Public Schools (WPS) Superintendent Christopher Chew presented his budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 (FY26) at the Dec. 9 School Committee meeting. The cost of his plan remains within the amount of funding the town has designated for the school district, eliminating a budget deficit and the need for another Proposition 2 ½ override vote.
Town Manager Kristen Las confirmed that there would be no proposal for an FY26 override vote in a Tri-Board (School Committee, Finance Committee, Select Board) meeting on Dec. 10.
“We had heard from the voters in May that there was no appetite for an override, so we are not proposing that in this budget this year, but we want to place caution that we continue to face a structural deficit for fiscal year 26 and beyond based on the Proposition 2 ½ constraints,” Las said.
Chew’s plan allows WPS to stay within the town’s allocated budget through the use of limited funds and the removal of positions left open by retirements, while also implementing new aid programs for students with disabilities at multiple grade levels.
Based on the final FY25 budget of approximately $67.5 million, the baseline budget recommendation for FY26 is projected to be about $70.5 million. The town budget allocation for the school district falls approximately $1.1 million below the level service recommendation.
As a result, the school committee was tasked with balancing the $1.1 million deficit through reductions and increased use of costs from the revolving and special revenue accounts.
The budget was determined by examining the planned budget for fiscal year 2025 (FY25) in comparison to the final budget for the year. Developing the budget also involved conducting meetings with the Tri-Board, analyzing enrollment numbers, and developing the Non-General Fund Guidebook (NGFG).
According to Chew, the NGFG was developed to provide residents with a clear view of the use of revolving and special revenue accounts, both of which are sources of limited funding that will be used to meet funding targets for different departments.
Reductions and Efficiencies
One of the most significant reductions included in the budget plan is a reduction of multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) interventionists across all the elementary schools from 24.2 full-time employees (FTEs) to 15.0 FTEs.
The committee’s decision is based on data displaying a decrease in the number of students requiring interventions. According to Chew, the reduction would allow the district to meet student needs while cutting a significant amount from the deficit.
These reductions would result in one reading interventionist and one math interventionist being present at each of the elementary schools full time. Three additional interventionists would travel between the schools.
“Looking at the current data, we’d be projected to continue to meet student needs […]. Our initial thought when we were looking at it and talking with the curriculum coordinators was potentially placing those three [interventionalists] at grades three to five with the math intervention,” Chew said. “As we look at the data, I think we have more flexibility [in regards] to placing them where they need to be.”
Further reductions would be taking place in the ROUTES program for postgraduate students. The current two postgraduate administrator positions would be reduced to one employee, who would take on the responsibilities of an out of district coordinator to create the position of Assistant Director of Special Education.
Retirements have also played a large role in preventing further reductions. The open positions left by the retirements of two elementary school teachers and a WA audio-visual specialist will remain unfilled to reduce the deficit. Additionally, due to the resignation of a part-time member of the elementary music staff, the two part-time positions will become one full time position. The shift to one full time position will result in fewer sections of music class at the elementary school where the reduction is taking place.
Westford has also qualified for a grant to install new cost saving efficiency lighting. The new lighting will be implemented at WA and Miller Elementary School as, according to Chew, upgrades to the WA and Miller buildings will have the most impact and are projected to save the town $42,000 in utilities.
In total, the FY26 reductions and efficiencies remove $583,261 from the $1.1 million deficit.
Requests
Despite the deficit, Chew’s budget proposal also included expanded programs aimed at providing services and support to students with disabilities or additional needs.
One such expansion is of the Medically Fragile program which would be added to grades 3-5 at Day Elementary School. The program, which is currently only available from Pre-K to second grade, would allow students with significant medical needs to remain within the district after second grade rather than move out of district to accommodate for their needs. The expansion would require the addition of 1.0 FTE Special Education teacher.
As part of the committee’s goal to increase equity among schools in the district, Chew has also proposed that Pre-K and kindergarten REACH classrooms, which provide support to students with autism and related disorders, be established at Nabnasset Elementary School. The current REACH program at the elementary school level is only present at Miller Elementary School, preventing students with intellectual disabilities from remaining in the same building as neighborhood peers when they enter the school system.
Additionally, an increase in the number of students requiring the REACH program in the future could unbalance the ideal ratio of general education to REACH classrooms in the building. Thus, establishing the program in another building would maintain a balanced environment within the schools of general education and REACH students.
The budget proposal includes 1.0 FTE Special Education teacher and 1.0 FTE Educational Support Professional (ESP) along with the implementation of the classrooms. However, additional ESPs will be present to accommodate for the increase in REACH students. According to Chew, some staff will be transitioning with students to the REACH program at Nabnasset School as ESPs from Miller when the classrooms are added.
An extension of the SAIL program, a social emotional learning program, to grades 6-8 was also a request in the proposal. The Day School has already established the SAIL program in grades 3-5 and Chew hopes to extend its support to students by adding it to one of the middle schools. The request would involve hiring 1.0 FTE Special Education teacher and 1.0 FTE ESP.
Subtracting the FY26 requests costs from the reductions yields a net total $316,198 decrease to the $1.1 million deficit.
Non-General Fund Enhancements and Main Revenue
Chew presented on the use of non-general funds from revolving accounts and special revenue funds which will be used to supplement the general revenue and eliminate the rest of the deficit.
The target balances of different costs across the schools were determined by the School Committee Finance Subcommittee. After identifying the over-budget targets, Director of School Finance Jenny Lin calculated the required amount of funding from the revolving and special accounts necessary to balance out, or offset, the cost of the target. The funds will be able to sustain the increases determined by the committee for the next few years. However, based on Lin’s calculations, the committee estimates that the non-general funds will no longer be usable in three to four years, creating a financial cliff.
“It’s very important for people to understand that increasing these offsets is not necessarily a best practice and it’s going to create some type of a fiscal cliff for us, depending of how we maneuver this over the next couple years,” Chew said. “In three to four years, new identified funding will be needed to support the general fund because the increased offset amounts will no longer be available.”
The funding from the revolving and special accounts has been spread out over a few years to allow for a gradual adjustment to the eventual lack of additional funds at the end of the 3 to 4 year period. The absence of the stable funding that would have been provided by the override has required the use of the accounts for temporary support for the general fund.
In addition to the non-general fund enhancements, the deficit will also be cut with sources of main revenue, specifically through Circuit Breaker, a state program that reimburses the district for the amount spent on Special Education programs in the previous fiscal year. Due to the higher expenses devoted to Special Education in FY24, the district received a larger reimbursement of $400,000 in FY25 that will be applied to FY26.
Additionally, Grant 240 is the largest grant received by the district and is designated for special education needs. The $820,000 from the grant is projected to be used to provide for the tuition of out-of-district students receiving special education.
Miscellaneous revenues that will be used to cut the deficit include $500,000 from School Choice students, $999,000 from athletic, activity, and music fees, $700,000 from bus and parking fees, and $394,000 in Pre-K and Early Arrival fees. School Choice fees will likely be increased to reach the target amounts in the future, according to Chew.
The committee also hopes to budget more for preventative maintenance, or the funds necessary for repairs to facilities, which is their goal through the development of a more stable budget. In order to support preventative maintenance, the budget would have to increase from $500,000 to $1 million.
The revenues and enhancements total to $806,179, which combined with the $316,198 from reductions and efficiencies, eliminate the $1.1 million deficit and allow the district budget to remain within the town allocation of funding for the schools.
Reflections on the Budget Impacts
In addition to the plans for future budget action, a public comment from fourth grade teacher Kristine Jussaume and a reflection of the budget impacts from Chew both spoke to the difficulties many staff members across the district have endured due to the failure of the override.
As both a teacher and president of the Westford Education Association (WEA), Jussaume described the struggles that have faced teachers amid growing class sizes.
“I cannot stress enough the importance of small class sizes […] Larger class sizes leave us educators feeling upset and defeated knowing our lessons could have been executed better had we had fewer students in our classrooms,” Jussaume said. “[Having fewer students in classrooms] allows us to teach the curriculum more effectively, but it also allows us to know our students better on a social and emotional level […]. That is the Westford we teachers and staff wish to maintain.”
Chew also acknowledged the work WPS staff has done to adjust to the larger class sizes and budget impacts, and expressed his gratitude for the environment educators have continued to cultivate.
“I am still very proud of our staff that our schools are still places of joy, but to think that [the adjustments to budget impacts haven’t] come at a cost would be naive,” Chew said. “Although our teachers do a tremendous job still meeting the needs of all our students, morale is low and I think that continued reductions will only play into that.”
