Douglas Board of Selectmen Approves Grants, Website Upgrade Amid $762,000 School Budget Gap

DOUGLAS -- March 31, 2026, Douglas Board of Selectmen hears dire FY27 school budget with $762,000 gap and 19.5 positions already cut. Superintendent Paul Vieira told the board Tuesday that the Douglas Public Schools have eliminated 12 teachers and six paraprofessionals in a preliminary FY27 budget that still falls $762,000 short of the $17,357,982 needed to operate, even after a 4 percent town appropriation increase brought the municipal contribution to $16,595,910. Special education out-of-district placements, which have doubled from 10 students in FY22 to a projected 20 in FY27, are driving a $1.3 million increase in special education spending since FY25, with the district ending both FY25 and FY26 hundreds of thousands over its special ed budget. Town Administrator Matthew Wojcik said he will recommend a one-time transfer from reserves, describing fiscal year 2025 as "the fiscal high-water mark for the Town of Douglas", but was explicit the approach cannot be repeated in FY28. The board also unanimously accepted a $32,500 state IT grant and a $25,000 DCR Legislative Trust Grant, approved a $5,986.53 website upgrade with an AI search assistant, and voted to authorize a letter of support for a federal congressional earmark application for a fire station project ahead of an April 4 deadline.