Manchester Essex School Committee Cuts FY2026 Budget $85,000 After Insurance Break

ESSEX -- April 15, 2025, Manchester Essex Regional School District trims its FY2026 budget by $85,000 after a late health insurance negotiation. The School Committee voted unanimously at its April 15 meeting to reduce the previously adopted operating budget to $32,597,141 after the district's broker secured a final health insurance rate of 22.95 percent, roughly one and a half percentage points lower than the prior offer. Superintendent Kate Montesano credited persistent negotiation: "We kept being relentless with our broker." The committee also spent the bulk of the meeting debating two information requests, one seeking health insurance records, one seeking budget actuals, special education program breakdowns, and three-year projections, with Chair Chris Erickson arguing that any new document production must flow through the elected committee first. Manchester's town meeting is April 28, Essex's is May 5, and a ballot vote is set for May 12, with the superintendent warning that a failed override would trigger required staff notification notices before any second vote could be completed.