Gloucester Schools face cuts of up to 24 positions

On April 29th, the School Committee voted 6-1 to approve a level-funded  $56,828,897 million school budget for the 2027 fiscal school year. Mayor Paul Lundberg was the only no vote. However, without additional funding, the district may have to cut up to 24 positions. 

The approved budget from the school committee calls for an estimated 2.5 million dollar increase to maintain the level of service. This does not include the recommended target investment of 1.15 million dollars to allocate for additions and long-term goals.

“There are three drivers of budget increases,” Superintendent of Schools Ben Lummis said. “Salary, wages, special education costs, and health insurance.”

One of the major issues brought up in the last meeting, April 8th, was whether or not healthcare would be included in the school budget. There has been an estimated 1.3 million dollar increase in healthcare costs for the 2027 fiscal year.

“I’m very concerned about going from a 382,000 dollar increase to almost 1.4 million dollars against our budget,” said School Committee member William Melvin.

With the anticipation of cuts to the staff and school resources, Lummis presented four possible scenarios for Gloucester Public Schools, depending on the final decision made by the City Council. 

The scenarios range from a funding increase of 1 million to an increase of 1.75 million, resulting in cutting at least 11 to 24 positions. The school district has until Thursday, May 7th, to inform staff with professional status that their positions may be terminated.

“If we’re going to eliminate 24 positions, it’s likely that not every position is going to be a new hire, so there are some veteran teachers that may be laid off, which is alarming to me, that may be detrimental to the GPS,” President of the Union of Gloucester Educators, Rachel Rex, said. “So that is why we all must work together to solve this budget problem.”

These cuts would impact all of the Gloucester schools, including increased class sizes, reduced support for multilingual learners, as well as students with disabilities, and eliminating multiple Kindergarten classes.

Following the meeting, Lummis sent an email to students and the families of Gloucester Public Schools: “The budget process is not over. The final funding level from the City is not yet finalized, and School Committee members have vowed to continue advocating for the full Level Service Budget. The severity of any potential budget cuts and how many students are affected depends largely on the final recommendation made by the Mayor and the subsequent approval process by the City Council.”

Mayor Lundberg will present the proposed budget to the City Council on May 5th

“If the School Committee is saying the amount that is presented to the City Council is not the amount, and we [the School Committee] want more money,” Mayor Paul Lundberg said. “Then that more money has to come from the other departments; there’s no more revenue.

The next School Committee meeting will take place in the GHS library on May 7th.