Committee votes to recertify $53.6M budget

School Committee · Meeting of April 8, 2026

GROTON — The Groton-Dunstable Regional School Committee voted 5-0 to recertify a $53,567,795 budget for fiscal year 2027, drawing $565,000 from reserves to avoid deeper staff cuts. Business official Sherry said a $1,434,455 funding gap was narrowed through $909,927 in expense cuts and reserve spending, leaving a net 8.4 full-time positions to be eliminated. Committee member Lacey, who presided over the meeting, called the plan "worth the risk" given an expected increase in state Chapter 70 aid.

Member Anhi said the district's letter-writing campaign to legislators had reached about 227 letters, telling the panel, "I just can't stress enough how important it is for our community to speak up." Separately, High School Principal Arena updated the board on a committee reviewing the school's block schedule, which gives teachers six classes a year and students four classes per semester.

In the full story:

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• Groton's community access TV: School Committee meeting, April 8, 2026
• The complete report: 878 words

Source: the School Committee meeting of April 8, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.