PEABODY — Faced with a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall, the Peabody School Committee voted Tuesday to eliminate five full-time teaching positions tied to the district’s daytime virtual school and reallocate 17.5 elementary staff positions to prepare for the fall reopening of Center School.
The 6–1 vote to cut the daytime component of the Peabody Recovery Education Program (PREP) came after committee members cited low enrollment and high costs. While the district will no longer employ five full-time PREP teachers, the night school portion of the program will continue through stipends.
Most of the program’s roughly 131 students, including 109 high schoolers, will be transitioned to in-person instruction, night programming, or other virtual options such as Greenfield Commonwealth Virtual School (GCVS).
“Under the circumstances, I would support the cut for now,” committee member Joseph Amico said. Amico added that “the district should retain the capacity to support students facing medical or personal challenges through part-time virtual learning.”
Mayor Edward Bettencourt Jr., who chairs the committee, acknowledged the difficult nature of the decision. “If we had the funding, we’d love to have smaller class sizes, but that’s a luxury we just don’t have this year,” he said.
The committee also voted unanimously to approve a first tier of reductions related to staffing changes across elementary schools. Those 17.5 positions — primarily classroom teachers, specialists, and support staff — will be shifted from schools that absorbed extra students during the temporary closure of Center School. The building is scheduled to reopen at full capacity this fall.
Superintendent Dr. Joshua Vadala said the reopening will cost roughly $2.25 million and require a reset of staffing levels at several schools, including Brown, Carroll, McCarthy, South, and West.
“Because those positions were effectively budgeted twice — once in their current schools and again as placeholders for Center — moving the roles does not result in layoffs,” Vadala said.
“No one in this tier is losing a job,” Vadala said. “They’re being reassigned internally.”
With the approved cuts totaling $1.84 million and reducing 17.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions, the district’s proposed FY26 school budget now stands at $102,405,036. That still leaves a projected deficit of $3.8 million below the city’s funding target of $98,600,552.
The school department had originally requested a level-service budget of $104.2 million, which included contract obligations, special education increases, health insurance hikes, and a new transportation contract.
“The largest cost driver is a 14.19% increase in health insurance premiums — the biggest single-year jump in city history,” Bettencourt said.
Committee members requested additional information ahead of further deliberations, including a breakdown of potential middle and high school staffing changes, class size impacts, and administrative costs. Several members also pushed back against potential reductions to counselors, reading specialists, and special education staff, calling them essential to long-term student support.
“I can’t in good conscience cut staff at the Carroll Elementary School,” said committee member Beverley Griffin Dunne, who pointed to the school’s large student population and high needs.
The School Committee will reconvene May 15 and May 20 to weigh additional reductions and prepare for a public budget hearing scheduled for May 27.
