Board of Education (BOE) members approved the proposed 2026-27 education budget in a unanimous vote at their Tuesday, February 3 meeting. The budget totals $96,086,919 — a roughly $4,342,275, or 4.73%, increase over the current year.

Superintendent of Schools Anne Uberti presented the 2026-27 Proposed Operational Budget Plan to the BOE at its January 13 meeting. After having two weeks to thoroughly review the budget, BOE members discussed the proposal at their meeting last week on January 27.

Another meeting was scheduled on January 29 to continue discussion of the proposal if necessary; BOE members felt as though they did not need the additional meeting, so it was canceled.

The BOE reconvened for its February 3 meeting to discuss the budget one final time and vote on budget adoption. Community members could speak about the budget proposal in a public hearing at the start of the meeting. However, no one made a comment during the public hearing.

BOE Chair Alison Plante said a handful of additional questions were put in their joint Google spreadsheet before the meeting. Beyond that, the BOE would entertain any proposed adjustments or final comments on the budget proposal.

BOE member Donald Ramsey said they previously discussed the policy surrounding interschool transfers of money. He asked if a school could transfer money within its own building to help out departments that might need it more in a particular year.

An example, he said, is if Newtown Middle School’s technology education does not need its total allocated budget for a particular year for some reason and another area, such as kitchen sciences, needed a boost.

Director of Business and Finance Tanja Gouveia said if a school requests a transfer, it is sent to her. This, she said, is how it happens at every level.

Gouveia said the district does not do a lot of transfers, noting how they let all of the accounts run into the negative or stay positive during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“[This], I think, is a lot more transparent, and I’d rather run the ship that way than have transfers done,” Gouveia explained.

Gouveia said she does not see many of these transfers at the school level, with them only happening maybe three to four times a year. These transfers, she said, are typically large.

“If they’re small, we’re not gonna do a small transfer for $500,” Gouveia said. “And again, I’d just rather see the accounts fall wherever they may. If they’re gonna be negative, let them be negative, and they’ll show up on our reports and we can discuss it at that time.”

Uberti said principals in the district keep an eye on their bottom line. If they are going red in a particular account, they are still making sure they are within their entire budget.

Principals are encouraged to do this, Uberti said, because it supports building the following year’s budget.

She noted how, last year, they noticed extra money in some of the training accounts across the schools. Uberti said it allowed them, as administrators, to have a good conversation about how that money is allocated, why it is budgeted if they are not using it, and readjust what they are doing for the next budget.

“So approaching it that way actually helps us be more efficient, but also ensures us that we get what we need where we need it,” Uberti said. “But if we need a transfer, we’ll certainly do a transfer.”

Newtown High School Principal Kimberly Longobucco, who was in attendance along with the district’s other principals, spoke on the topic.

Longobucco said she probably has the most complicated school-specific budget with the most line items, and does not regularly need to do transfers.

Longobucco said if they do have a transfer, it is often within the same department. However, it would be handled within its respective department before switching departments from one department into another.

“Also, we have so many preliminary conversations with our people about what they need beforehand that we’re very confident on what we put in our line items. So unless something drastic happens that we are not planning for, everybody has what they need,” Longobucco explained.

Math Interventionist

BOE member Melissa Beylouni asked if one math interventionist is enough for the high school. She also wondered how many students are currently identified or will be identified when they hire the interventionist.

BOE Assistant Superintendent of Schools Frank Purcaro said they have an idea of how many students need the interventionist, as they are piloting a group right now. He said they have identified 60 juniors who they are already working with because “we didn’t want to wait to have an interventionist come along to work with students that are currently in need.”

They anticipate around that number of students at both the ninth and tenth grade after looking at preliminary data with a team of math teachers. Purcaro said they have a little more data coming into ninth grade because they have two data points, that being the Smarter Balance Assessment and the Preliminary SAT (PSAT).

There is not as much going into tenth grade and eleventh grade, as Purcaro said they are really relying on the PSAT and unit assessments.

“We don’t have the same universal screen for students at that grade level, but when we take all of what we have ... and we take teacher recommendations, we think we’re gonna probably be around 50 students per grade level,” Purcaro explained.

Beylouni asked if one person is enough to fulfill that role, and Purcaro said he believes one person is enough. Purcaro he wants to show the position works before anything else. To do so, he said they need to test with one interventionist, put them in place, see what responsibilities they are giving them, and report on how it goes.

“I think that’s probably the most responsible way to do this. Instead of asking for two upfront, let’s put in the system that we think will be effective, let’s see what the pilot does this year with the students we’re working with, and then we’ll bring those data points to the Board,” Purcaro said.

If they feel they need additional staff, Purcaro said they will certainly ask for it.

Middle School Dean Of Students

Beylouni also had a question about the Dean of Students request for Newtown Middle School (NMS). She asked if it would be more prudent for the BOE to see data from the Dean of Students at Newtown High School (NHS) for one full year before asking for another one at the middle school.

The Dean of Students position at Newtown High School was included in last year’s 2025-26 budget, with LeeAnn Browett taking the position at the start of the 2026-27 school year.

Beylouni asked if there was any way Browett could help NMS with its chronic absenteeism issues.

“I guess I’m not understanding the numbers at the middle school of how [bad] ... the chronic absenteeism is for the need for another full-time person,” Beylouni said.

While Uberti said they have spoken a lot about the data around chronic absenteeism, as it is one of the essential functions of the dean, it is not the only responsibility they have.

Given the other added responsibilities that come with the position, Uberti said she does not think it would be successful to share that position between multiple buildings.

Another key component of the role, she said, is building relationships with students and families.

“And in order to do that, you really have to be in the building,” Uberti explained.

She added that the district has had some prior experiences with shared roles.

“In theory it seems like a great idea, but it’s rarely successful because you’re just not able to connect on a consistent basis with the staff, the students themselves, as well as the families, if you’re going back and forth between schools,” Uberti said.

That said, Uberti said a dean at NMS would be really important.

NMS Principal Jim Ross, who was in attendance at the meeting, spoke about the position.

One of the big components of the role, Ross said, focuses on chronic absenteeism. He said a lot goes into that work, including acting as a conduit to the families and coordinating interventions.

Ross presented data on the number of students who were chronically absent, spanning the last three years.

“Last year, [NMS] was at 10.2%, the year before we were at 10.5%, and the year [before] that we were at 11%,” Ross said.

He also looked at the State portal to get more recent data, and NMS is still in the double digits for chronic absenteeism as of mid-December.

Ross said there are 63 students that are currently chronically absent; 54% have met proficiency in English language arts and 55% have met proficiency in math.

“I know we work really tirelessly to serve that role, but we’re seeing limited gains and we’d really like to get that moving better,” Ross said.

BOE member Shannon Tomai asked about the other responsibilities envisioned for the role. While attendance would be “a big piece,” Ross said they would also deal with behavioral management systems.

“Obviously you have to respond when situations happen, but you also want to be able to work proactively,” Ross explained.

2024-25 had 236 documented incidents, 2023-24 had 318 documented incidents, and 2022-23 had 351 documented incidents. This does not include phone calls home, along with warnings and working with students in that capacity.

Ross said each incident requires a different amount of time, but some can take multiple hours. He added that this translates to more than once incident a day, and takes a lot of effort for him and NMS Assistant Principal Brian Walsh to manage.

Ross added, “We really hope to see those numbers decline, but also work really proactively with someone who can implement restorative practices, serve as a conduit to some of the families, and ... look at the trends of not only chronic absenteeism data, but also behavioral data, so that we can be more informed to make decisions to provide a strong climate and culture.”

He said the school already has initiatives, such as community days, but it would be great to have someone lead those efforts.

The NMS Dean of Students could also assist with arrival, dismissal, cafeteria supervision, and classroom management, provide professional learning to staff, and be on the school emergency response team.

Member Comments, Future Steps

Afterwards, many BOE members shared positive remarks on the budget. BOE member Doria Linnetz called it data-driven and a thoughtful assessment of what is needed for the district. She added that the world is changing very quickly.

“I feel like this process is so challenging because this is a budget for six months from now, and we’re trying to look around corners and understand what students are going to need and position them for success in the world. So it’s a challenging process, and I think everyone who was involved did an exceptional job,” Linnetz explained.

BOE member Christopher Gilson said he “agreed wholeheartedly” with Linnetz, calling the budget efficient and saying that it shows fiscal responsibility to the town and the taxpayers. He also said he appreciates that many of the investments made are in difficult truths.

“I’m glad that we’re able to look at things like at math scores ... to have a difficult look at behaviors and say, ‘This is a difficult truth, how can we make this right,’” Gilson said.

Tomai supported Linnetz and Gilson’s comments, and said they are making very smart investments in the future of their town.

Now having approved the budget, Plante said the BOE will “take the [budget] on the road.”

They will present the budget to the Board of Finance (BOF) next week. Afterwards, the BOF will have a few weeks to review the education budget. Plante said they will run through a similar process as in previous years: they will collect their questions, they will send them to the BOE in advance, and the BOE will give them robust, written answers.

“If not, we will sit at that table and discuss with them live, answer any questions they have. They will discuss amongst themselves, potentially adjust as they see fit, and then they will vote and pass their budget to the Legislative Council [LC], and we’ll do it all over again,” Plante said.

The LC has to adopt their budget by Wednesday, April 1. It will then go to referendum on Tuesday, April 28.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.