North Andover Schools Propose $72.2M FY27 Budget, Drawing on Circuit Breaker Reserves

School Committee · Meeting of January 8, 2026

North Andover schools propose a $73.7 million FY27 budget while planning a Proposition 2½ override for 2028. Superintendent Pamela Lathrop presented the recommended budget of $73,705,289 to the School Committee on January 8, proposing to draw $1.5 million in circuit breaker reserves to meet the town manager's $72.2 million allocation — the number that will go before town meeting on May 12. The budget adds six special education positions, an assistant principal at the AVECC early childhood center, a new school bus, and $175,000 for roughly 700 replacement Chromebooks, funded at a 4.05 percent increase over the current $69.2 million FY26 budget.

Lathrop said flatly that the circuit breaker draw "is a stopgap" and that the district "need[s] to actively start planning for an override for FY28," with the town projecting only a 2 percent increase for schools the following year. During public comment, Erin Harris of 135 Stephen Street warned that younger students are already underperforming older cohorts on MCAS and that delaying the override ask "will cost our kids." The committee takes no vote on the budget until its January 29 meeting at the Senior Center.

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Source: the School Committee meeting of January 8, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.