HANOVER — Oct. 28, 2026 — Hanover’s first look at a fiscal 2028 school budget projects a $406,078 gap to maintain current services, the district’s finance director told the School Committee last Wednesday, with options to close it that include drawing on the special education reserve this year. The committee also heard a parent’s objections to a proposed cell tower near Cedar School and split on a PTA fundraiser.
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Budget 1.0. Director of Finance and Operations Michael Oates said level-service costs for fiscal 2028 are projected at $47,713,181, against an anticipated town appropriation of $42,550,006 and $4,757,097 in supplemental funding, leaving a gap of about $406,078. The model assumes a 2.75% increase in the town appropriation and a 2.65% cost-of-living increase for teachers and nonunion staff, a 10-year average that has not been negotiated. Overall operating costs rise about 4.62%.
Oates outlined a second scenario: a 3% town increase, drawing on the special education reserve this year to cover unexpected special education costs, and applying for state extraordinary relief, which together could raise the circuit breaker rollover into fiscal 2028 by $500,000 to $900,000, with $700,000 used as a planning estimate. Those are proposals, not adopted actions. Superintendent Matthew Ferron said a request to use the special education reserve will likely come to the committee in the next few meetings.
Oates said the projections still show a sizable fiscal 2029 gap. Budget 2.0 is scheduled for Dec. 9, with a hearing and committee vote planned for Jan. 27 and Town Meeting on May 3.
Questions about the reserve were left open. Libby Corbo asked whether the reserve’s listed $750,000 balance is correct. Asked where an earlier excess above the allowed level went, Oates said he believes it reverts to free cash but would check. Ferron said the amount available is about 2% of fiscal 2027 net school spending, roughly $680,000 to $685,000. Asked whether the transfer was done by vote, Oates said he was not sure (1:19:58).
Cell tower comment. During public comment, a Cedar School parent questioned placing a proposed cell tower on elementary school property, citing federal exposure limits set in 1996 and districts that restrict towers on school land, and asked for a full technical exposure analysis and a look at alternatives. Ferron said town officials would meet the tower company Monday to look at alternative locations, that the project has not gone out for bid, and that no decisions have been made. Corbo countered that votes are already being taken, with a surveyed location about 180 feet from Cedar School and Town Meeting set for Nov. 9.
