By Dakota Antelman — [email protected]
Schools superintendent Laurie Hunter said the 2026 fiscal year is set to bring “significant reductions” in K-8 staffing as administrators weigh middle school consolidation, declining enrollment, and other factors.
Hunter presented her recommended K-8 and high school budgets to the School Committee with assistant superintendent of finance and operations Robert Conry on January 7. As she discussed the broader budget process, she said, “Sometimes you don’t need everything you already have.”
A draft budget narrative said “approximately seven redundant [Concord Middle School] positions will be reduced” as the district moves away from its two-building middle school model.
Though the cuts are the result of CMS consolidation, Hunter warned they could “trickle down into K-5” because kindergarten, elementary, and middle school staff are all part of the same bargaining unit.
In addition to CMS cuts, the January 7 presentation showed a 4.32 full-time equivalent reduction in special education aides at Willard Elementary School.
In an email after the meeting, Hunter told The Concord Bridge, “Willard had reductions in previous years that the budget hadn’t captured.” This adjustment, she said, aligns the 2026 fiscal year budget with actual staffing.
“Those are significant reductions,” School Committee member Tracey Marano said as Hunter summarized the cuts.
“They are significant reductions,” Hunter agreed.
The Concord Teachers Association did not immediately respond to questions about reductions at CMS or the Willard School.
FY26CPSSUPERINTENDENTSRECOMMENDEDBUDGET01-07-2025FINALCMS consolidation
Hunter’s Concord Public Schools budget for the 2026 fiscal year is roughly $47.6 million. Her CCHS budget is about $40.5 million.
At CCHS, Conry said, cuts for several teaching and non-teaching positions will amount to a 1.17 full-time equivalent reduction.
“Based on enrollments and other moving pieces,” Hunter said the reductions are “not unexpected.”
Beyond enrollment dips, contractual salaries and costs for special education tuition and transportation have increased in recent years.
At CMS, administrators are making good on a promise to save $500,000 by opening the new Ellen Garrison Building in place of the aging Peabody and Sanborn Schools. The plan for the 2026 fiscal year projects some savings on utilities and maintenance, in addition to staffing cuts.
Though CMS is set to lose 6.9 full-time equivalent positions to consolidation, two new instructional aides following students from the elementary level partially offset those cuts.
Administrators did not say which positions will be affected. This, Hunter said, is “partly because things are still moving.” She said it’s also “partly because we need to respect that these are people’s jobs.”
Hunter alluded to cuts in October when she said there would “probably be some reduction in force” at CMS “unless attrition naturally takes care of it.” In December, when discussing middle school consolidation, she told FinCom “that’s going to result in layoffs.”
‘Solid programming’
Hunter said school budgets meet a FinCom guideline that suggested capping spending increases at 2.4% for CPS and 3.48% for CCHS.
Hunter thanked FinCom for compromising on its more stringent preliminary guideline and spotlighted a decision to treat out-of-district special education tuition costs separately from other spending.
The change, which FinCom chair Eric Dahlberg said “isn’t necessarily how we will perform the calculation in future,” allows the schools to budget out-of-district costs without counting them toward the main spending limit.
Though she said “level service is a hard word to define,” Hunter said administrators feel both 2026 budgets bring “solid programming to children” and are “meeting all the goals that we’ve set as a community.”
As they scrutinize spending, some leaders have warned that Concord may soon have to ask voters to approve a tax hike above the state’s annual limit.
In her narrative, Hunter said, “The schools want and need to be part of the solution.”
“A continued collaborative and productive approach among town and school leaders and committees is essential,” she continued.
The School Committee plans to hold a required public hearing on February 4 and vote on the budgets that same night. The budgets will go to Town Meeting in June for final approval.
