O P I N I O N
THE SOAPBOX
Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.
I recognize the difficult nature of this budget cycle, and appreciate the need to equitably distribute education dollars across the entire state. I’d like to provide some important background information on our School District Budget here in Manchester.
In the FY26 budget the Board of Mayor and Aldermen passed on June 3, we included $127,818,908 in State Adequacy Education Dollars.
According to the State Senate’s numbers, when the school budget is built next year, the District will need to include $115,247,161 for State Adequacy Education Dollars.
That is a cut of $12,571,747 to the School District with the highest enrollment and the students and families with the greatest needs.
To be clear, our enrollment is no longer in decline. This year in fact, we leveled off. As you know, like most entities, the majority of our dollars are spent on salaries and benefits. This year, we reduced the Manchester School District’s budget request by $8 million, while still allocating an additional $3.5 million.
As a result of our own belt tightening, we eliminated 28 funded vacancies, among other cost saving measures, saving millions of dollars. There are no more vacant positions like this to eliminate.
Contractually, we are legally obligated to meet previous commitments made, and while we can build a plan to further reduce spending, there is no plan that does not include eliminating teachers.
The bottom line is, for every million dollars in reductions, we can anticipate having to eliminate 15-17 positions. Assuming no other cost saving measures, a reduction like this would result in the elimination of between 150-200 positions.
The City of Manchester stands ready to work with the Legislature to ensure we are meeting the needs of our students and families.
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