Left to right: Dominik Lay, Danielle McFadden, Dave Conway, Erik Gitschier, Eileen DelRossi and Fred Bahou (Photo courtesy Jen Myers)

by Qinglong Diep

LOWELL – The Lowell School Committee voted unanimously last night to approve the FY2027 bottom line figure of $287,966,413 for it to be submitted to the City Manager.

The meeting took all of two minutes to call into session and adjourn, a far cry from the lengthy and sometimes contentious process that led to the budget being finalized.

The motion was made by School Committee member Danielle McFadden and seconded by Dave Conway. Fred Bahou was not present at the meeting to vote on this bottom-line figure.

Last night’s vote  also revised two of the three line-item reductions suggested by Mayor Erik Gitschier last week.

These adjustments aim to fund the return of three student support specialists at Lowell High School, a move Superintendent Liam Skinner estimated would cost approximately $400,000.

Line Item 40 (Part Time Computer Repair Technicians) went from $52,000 to $52,416 and for line item 4 (Budget Reconciliation), the number went from $248,000 to $220,895.

The only line item reduction that was kept was line item 4 (MGL C44 S64 Outstanding Prior Year Expenses) which would be reduced by $100,000. In the memo that was included in the meeting packet, the actual total to bring back the three Student Support Specialists at the high school would cost $373,311, a $26,689 difference between Skinner’s estimate from last week’s meeting.

Additionally, the two Clerk Schedulers and the music teacher for the high school, as well as the Director of Technology, were restored. At a previous meeting, Superintendent Skinner said that there were sufficient funds to restore them based on funding available in the suspense account.

These positions were recommended to be brought back but a formal vote was not taken when brought up at a past meeting.

When positions are added back into the budget following a School Committee member’s motion recommending that the Superintendent bring the position back, or to not cut it, any salary increases that an employee is obligated to receive at the start of next fiscal year must also be accounted for in that line item of the budget.

While School Committee members made various changes to different line items to bring back certain positions, there will still be a personnel decrease for next school year.

According to a budget document that was included in the April 22 meeting packet, the last three pages show where there are personnel decreases to each of the schools across the district for next school year.

The status update for most of the positions on this list was categorized as Vacant position or layoff while the least common status was retirement.

The Lowell Public School District budget will be submitted to the City Manager. Following that, the City Manager will present his budget, which includes the School Department budget, to the City Council in a forthcoming meeting.

Under Massachusetts General Law, the City Council cannot make any changes to the School Department budget, as that jurisdiction rests solely with the School Committee.