Silver Lake School Committee defers FY27 budget vote, orders two-scenario assessment

School Committee · Meeting of February 5, 2026

HALIFAX -- Silver Lake Regional School Committee defers a $42.4 million FY27 budget vote as staff cuts and a capital fund divide members. The committee, meeting February 5 at the Halifax campus, directed outgoing Finance Director Sarah and Superintendent Jason Peru to bring two versions of the FY27 assessment to the three member towns before a rescheduled vote on February 26: one holding to a 2.5 percent increase with roughly $586,000 in reductions including five teaching positions, and a second at an estimated 3.7 percent increase restoring level service, both versions retaining a $700,000 line for a regional stabilization account to address more than $50 million in identified building repairs. The committee voted unanimously to exercise year seven of the First Student transportation contract at a 4.51 percent rate increase, locking in a figure Sarah called far below the 10 to 15 percent a competitive rebid would likely have produced.

The district's certified excess and deficiency fund came in at $809,358, less than half last year's $2.2 million, and members were unanimous that none of it should be used to patch the operating budget. Proposed town assessment increases stand at 1 percent for Halifax, 3.4 percent for Kingston, and 8 percent for Plympton, with no member town having signaled appetite for a Proposition 2.5 override.

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Source: the School Committee meeting of February 5, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.