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.