Hanover Officials Outline Budget Priorities Amid Override Dialogue
HANOVER — The Hanover School Committee is preparing for a critical budget decision as the town moves closer to a proposed $3.8 million override vote in May. At its Feb. 26 meeting, school officials detailed how different funding scenarios could shape staffing restorations, class sizes, and program expansions in the coming year.
Base Budget vs. Override Budget
The town manager’s budget submission includes a $38.7 million base budget, which represents a $1.9 million increase over the current fiscal year. This level of funding allows for some staffing restorations but falls short of full program reinstatement.
The $40.6 million override budget, however, would provide an additional $1.8 million, allowing the district to restore more teaching positions, reduce class sizes, and reinstate key programs that were cut due to previous financial constraints.
“This increased base budget amount does provide some opportunity to restore some additional positions over level services if the override is unsuccessful in May, which we certainly hope it is not,” said Michael Oates, Director of Finance and Operations.
The base budget would focus on reducing elementary class sizes and bolstering special education services, but restoring elective courses, curriculum leadership, and extracurricular programs would depend on the override’s approval.
Staffing and Program Restorations
Superintendent Matthew Ferron explained that the budget priorities are broken down into five key focus areas:
1. Reducing elementary class sizes by hiring additional teachers.
2. Restoring core academic offerings at Hanover Middle School and Hanover High School, particularly in science, math, Spanish, and English.
3. Expanding special education services to better support students transitioning between grade levels.
4. Rebuilding administrative and curriculum leadership positions to enhance school operations and academic support.
5. Reintroducing arts and wellness programs, including the reinstatement of a health and wellness curriculum at the high school, where currently no formal program exists.
“Through every crisis comes opportunity,” said Ferron. “So we're in that crisis mode now. We're working through it and the opportunity presents itself to build things back stronger, more strategic, more efficient.”
Concerns About the Budget and Override Strategy
Some school committee members expressed concern about how the override request is being communicated to residents and whether the town has a clear plan for informing the public.
“Has there been any conversation about communication from the town about the override?” said committee member Rachel Hughes. “Have they brought department heads together to talk about how they're going to start to share this budget publicly?”
School Committee Chair Pete Miraglia acknowledged that improving outreach is critical, especially given past challenges with override votes.
“I have been pushing to get a communication plan together with the other town departments and to try to create a single message so that it's a town override,” said Miraglia.
Ferron added that the goal is to ensure cohesive messaging across all town departments so residents clearly understand how the override impacts education and other municipal services.
“We were talking about it today,” said Ferron. “So trying to come up with some succinct, clear messaging that not only just from the schools but from all town departments, it's going to take a little bit of coordination.”
What’s Next?
With town-wide deliberations ongoing, school officials will continue refining their budget priorities and preparing for various funding outcomes. The final budget will be set in the coming weeks, with the override decision ultimately left to Hanover voters in May.
“We know what things cost,” said Ferron. “We have a good idea of what the budget outcome is. So let's get moving forward and build a couple of different plans.”
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