Select Board Votes Against Special Ed Fund

Select Board · Meeting of October 27, 2026

LUNENBURG — The Lunenburg Select Board voted 4-1 to recommend against moving $300,000 in free cash into a special education reserve fund, citing the absence of a written policy. Town Manager Jennifer Warren-Dyment said the fund, created by town meeting a year ago, is capped at 2 percent of net school spending under state law, and warned free cash may not be certified before the November 17 special town meeting. The board also deferred a $195,830 track and field engineering article pending clarification of its funding source, and took no position on two non-binding straw polls over demolishing the TC Passios building.

Members Brian Lehtinen and Glenn McLeod introduced competing draft flag policies built around the Supreme Court's Shurtleff decision, with Lehtinen saying his version would "encourage more civic participation" while another member warned any discretionary approval process risked running afoul of content-neutrality requirements. The board approved the full special town meeting warrant unanimously and plans a policy workshop at its November 10 meeting.

In the full story:

• Public Comment: Food Pantry Progress
• Honey Farms Liquor License: Change of Officers
• Videographer Appointment and Committee Resignations
• Town Manager's Report
• Select Board Chat Session Scheduling
• Introduction of Draft Flag Display Policy
• Special Education Reserve Fund Policy
• Special Town Meeting Warrant Review
• Substantive content and deliberation, by article
• Food Pantry Relocation and Municipal Buildings Updates
• Minutes, Warrants, and Committee Reports
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 3,074 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of October 27, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.