Weymouth Schools Project $1.9 Million FY26 Deficit, Plan 27 Staff Reductions

WEYMOUTH -- February 27, 2025, Weymouth School Committee hears plan to cut roughly 27 positions to address a $1.9 million FY26 deficit. Superintendent Melanie Curtin and Assistant Superintendent of Finance Brian Conley told the committee Thursday that the district's projected fiscal year 2026 budget of just over $92 million, a 5.27 percent increase, outpaces likely town revenue growth of about 3 percent, leaving a $1.9 million gap, down from a $5.3 million shortfall the prior year. Planned reductions include eliminating the executive director of elementary education, leaving the director of fine and performing arts position vacant following a resignation, returning all seven elementary instructional coaches to classroom teaching, and cutting approximately 20 full-time secondary positions across grades 6 through 12. "It's really, really hard to think about these young educators that might lose their jobs," Curtin said. The committee also voted unanimously to approve the 2025-26 academic calendar and to hire Wessagusset Elementary Principal Lindsay Fradalillo as the new Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning; gifts totaling $205,795 for the first half of fiscal year 2025 were also accepted. A formal FY26 budget vote is set for March 27.