Auburn School Committee closes FY27 public hearing on $33.9 million budget proposal

AUBURN — April 8, 2026 — Auburn School Committee holds FY27 budget public hearing and approves $33.9 million spending plan for Town Meeting. The committee unanimously closed the public hearing on a proposed $33,968,107.62 FY27 district budget — a 3.92 percent increase over the current year's $32,687,276 appropriation — after Superintendent Beth Chamberland and each school and department head read their requests aloud; the budget relies on $3,685,802 in offsets and absorbed a $150,000 Title I federal funding cut and six unfilled positions. The board also unanimously approved 7 school choice slots at Auburn Middle School and 16 at Auburn High School for 2026-27, and approved audit adjustments to AMS student activity sub-accounts using interest earnings and inactive account balances to reconcile a discrepancy without touching active student club funds. Precinct 4 resident Eric Richards challenged the district's use of the word "audit" for its reconciliation work, citing a Massachusetts requirement for periodic external audits of student activity accounts and telling the committee there were "six-figure variances between the school and the bank account" documented by outside financial firms as far back as 2019. Principals Daniel Delongchamp and Matt Carlson both recommended keeping the no-cell-phone policy unchanged, reporting significant drops in disciplinary phone incidents — from 10 to 3 at the high school and from 55 to a projected 21 at the middle school — though the finding that roughly half of high school students reported feeling less safe without phone access drew pointed concern from committee member Meghan McCrillis.