FY 2027 School Budget Development Timeline and Documents

On Tuesday, April 14, the Board of Public Education voted to recommend a $179.3 million budget for the 2026-2027 school year to the City Council. “This important milestone reflects months of thoughtful collaboration, careful planning, and a shared commitment to supporting all of our students,” said Superintendent Ryan Scallon. “This budget represents a balanced approach—one that is fiscally responsible while ensuring we stay the course to success for every student, in alignment with our Strategic Plan.”

As the next step in the fiscal year 2027 (FY27) budget process, the Board of Public Education will hold a public hearing and vote on Tuesday, April 14, to recommend a FY27 budget to send to the City Council. Earlier, on March 31, the Board held a first reading and a public hearing on the proposed budget, which is for the 2026-2027 school year. The budget currently before the Board is the Board's Finance Committee Recommended Budget. The Finance Committee voted on March 23 to recommend to the Board a budget that made some adjustments to the Superintendent’s FY27 budget proposal. The committee voted to cut the budget by $1.1 million, which would lower its impact on the school portion of the tax rate from the 7.3 percent initially proposed to 6.43 percent. The Board will hold a second reading and public hearing on the budget on April 14 and vote that evening to recommend a school budget to the City Council for bottom line approval. The Board's hybrid meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at Casco Bay High School and the public can attend in person or via Zoom at: https://tinyurl.com/3c3tayaj
Learn more about the FY27 budget and watch our Budget in Brief video series to better understand how the school funding formula works.

The Board of Public Education's Finance Committee on March 23 held a public hearing on the proposed school budget for the 2026-2027 school year (FY27). The Committee also voted to make adjustments to the FY27 budget that would lower its impact on the school portion of the tax rate from 7.3 percent to 6.43 percent and approved sending its recommended budget to the full Board. The Board is slated to hold a first reading and public hearing on the Finance Committee's recommended budget on March 31. Watch the Finance Committee's meeting on YouTube: https://youtu.be/T6h8qBUwn4s

On March 10, Superintendent Ryan Scallon presented the proposed budget for the 2026-2027 school year. He started his presentation of the fiscal year 2027 (FY27) budget with a report of the improved outcomes for students the district has seen over the past two years of implementation of its five-year Strategic Plan—particularly for economically disadvantaged students, multilingual students learning English, and students with IEPs in reading and in math. The proposed budget aims to build on that progress while confronting fiscal challenges.