Gloucester School Committee Gets State Aid Warning, Backs Special Education Overhaul

GLOUCESTER -- March 26, 2025, Gloucester School Committee weighs $2.725 million school budget increase as state legislators warn of structural aid shortfall. Senator Bruce Tarr and Representative Ann-Margaret Ferrante appeared before the committee Wednesday to caution that Gloucester's status as a minimum-aid Chapter 70 district limits its share of the state's $420 million education increase to roughly $225,000, based on a proposed $75 per-pupil minimum aid figure, down from $104 last year. Ferrante, vice chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, put the full state budget math bluntly: $880 million in new discretionary spending against education demands exceeding $1 billion, with full circuit breaker funding alone requiring $520 million of that total. Superintendent Ben Lummis presented a 5.43 percent budget increase for FY26 that would add paraprofessionals at East Gloucester Veterans Memorial and West Parish Elementary schools, launch co-teaching inclusion models, and expand emotional behavioral programs at Beeman and O'Malley Middle School, while reallocating three paraprofessional positions away from the district's preschool, a cut that prompted detailed public objections from a preschool teacher who warned it would compromise safety, IEP coverage, and bus supervision. The committee voted unanimously to direct the administration to negotiate a side letter with the Gloucester Teachers Association setting a firm deadline for teacher tuition-reimbursement documentation.