Lowell School Committee Cuts $400,000 to Restore Three Student Support Specialists

FRAMINGHAM -- May 6, 2026, Lowell School Committee votes 7-0 to cut $400,000 and restore three student support specialists after a dispute over what the body actually approved at its prior meeting. The committee, chaired by Mayor Robert Gitcheer, spent the better part of the evening untangling a budget sequence in which six student support specialist positions at Lowell High School had entered a suspense account, three were traded away to restore a fine arts chair and a music teacher, and only three remained to be reinstated, though several members said they believed the full six had been restored at the April 22 meeting. School Committee member Pauline McFadden said she had watched a recording of that meeting and personally verified with an affected employee that six positions had come back, only to have to retract the confirmation. Gitcheer proposed, and the committee unanimously approved, cuts of $52,000 from a part-time positions line, $100,000 from committee expense reserves, and $248,000 from a Title I buffer fund totaling $400,000. The Superintendent cautioned that the Title I buffer exists to protect staff if federal funding is cut 15 percent in August but said the administration would honor the body's direction. Because the final FY27 bottom-line figure of $287,966,413 requires public notice with the restored positions included, a special meeting was set for Monday, May 12, at 5:30 p.m. to complete the vote.