Berlin-Boylston School Committee Appoints Hoffs, Previews $26.9 Million Budget

BERLIN -- February 10, 2026, Berlin-Boylston Regional School Committee appointed Jacqueline Hoffs to a vacant seat and received a preliminary $26.9 million FY27 budget proposal at its February 10 meeting. The committee voted 4-0, with one abstention, to seat Hoffs, a seven-year Boylston Elementary PTO co-chair and vice president of the Boylston Education Collaborative, filling the unexpired term left by Lori Hart through November 2026. Finance Director Aaron presented the operating budget at $26,928,214, a 10.19 percent increase over the current year, describing it as a worst-case figure likely to decline before a public hearing on March 10. Priority requests include restoring a biology teacher and a reading specialist cut from last year's budget, adding a full-time float nurse district-wide at roughly $60,000, and purchasing a pre-K through grade 5 I-Ready math curriculum at $110,000. Interim Superintendent Al Ganem opened the meeting with a blunt warning that recent interactions with district staff, including an administrator who felt their job was threatened and staff members who left meetings in tears, were unacceptable, and said he had consulted attorneys about possible no-trespass orders for individuals whose behavior escalated.