Methuen officials present student-focused budget with requests for special education, CTE, STEM and wellness staff

Dr. Galopsie opened the Methuen School Committee budget workshop saying the administration’s goal was "to present a budget that's straightforward and clear, to be very transparent" and described a student-centered plan that prioritizes classroom instruction and services.

Assistant Superintendent Gina Bozak outlined staffing requests organized into bundles. For special education she asked for additional program assistants and 1:1 support in the Timoney, Tenny and Marsh schools, plus a special-education administrator in buildings currently served by evaluation-team facilitators. "To be able to provide all the services, we need additional support staff to cover the inclusion services that students require in the general education programming," Bozak said.

In career and technical education the district seeks a designated supervisor for Chapter 74 pathways and an additional multimedia production and broadcasting teacher to expand student access and revenue-generating course capacity. "We feel that that position is warranted in and of itself," the administration said about a CTE supervisor.

The presentation also included a proposed upper-school STEM/digital-literacy specialist to lead math and science curriculum adoption, a restored district health/wellness position and targeted counseling additions at the Marsh and CGS to address caseload and program needs. Administrators proposed hiring two LPNs and reallocating a float nurse to the high school to reduce overtime and float-pay costs.

Ian, who reviewed the foundation budget and DESE allocations, cautioned that headline increases overstate the district’s net change once offsets such as circuit breaker and entitlements are removed. He presented FY26 net school spending at roughly $99 million and a preliminary FY27 figure presented around $111 million before offsets; after typical offsets the effective increase, he said, is nearer to single digits percentage points.

The administration asked the School Committee to consider bundled priorities as a way to recommend which requests should move forward for the mayor and City Council review. The committee agreed to schedule follow-up workshops and a public hearing in the weeks leading up to the council’s May 8 review.