West Bridgewater School Committee cuts library post, lowers FY27 budget increase to 4.54 percent

WEST BRIDGEWATER — April 6, 2026 — West Bridgewater School Committee votes 2-1 to cut library media specialist, trimming FY27 budget increase to 4.54 percent. The three-member panel, meeting without two colleagues, removed a proposed library media specialist position budgeted at $72,473 from the fiscal year 2027 request, reducing the district's town appropriation ask from $19,526,865 to $19,454,392 against a total school budget of $22,493,868. Superintendent Mark Broadwell confirmed the district faces no immediate accreditation risk from NEASC, whose next visit is in 2030, but told the committee "the goal should be to hire the position and maintain the position long term." The committee also voted unanimously to redirect approximately $165,670 in surplus FY26 operating funds — generated by over-estimating Norfolk Agricultural School tuition costs — to three capital projects, including computers and clerestory window repairs at the middle-senior high school, rather than returning the money to town free cash; Town Administrator David Gagne has already drawn roughly $1.7 million from free cash to balance the current-year town budget.