Lee School Committee Approves $13.9 Million FY27 Budget Unanimously

LENOX — April 7, 2026 — Lee School Committee approves $13.9 million FY27 budget and authorizes $120,000 emergency water heater replacement. The committee voted 6-0 Tuesday to adopt the fiscal year 2027 operating budget of $13,914,836, a 3.33 percent increase over the current year and well below last year's 5.99 percent rise. Superintendent Mike Schardt, presenting the budget at a public hearing before the vote, said the district added positions including a first-grade classroom teacher, a curriculum coordinator, and a pre-kindergarten teacher while offsetting costs through reductions in world language staffing, a clerical position, and an out-of-district tuition line. Revenue offsets — including up to $900,000 in school choice tuition and $338,786 in state circuit breaker reimbursement — reduce the net town appropriation request to approximately $12,223,050. Schardt told the committee the district has been advised to plan for a 15 percent reduction in federal Title I funding and warned that some of Tuesday's budget cuts "cannot be forever reductions." In separate action, the committee unanimously approved up to $120,000 from the school choice revolving account to replace a failing 900-gallon water heater at the middle-high school with an energy-efficient tankless system.