Berlin Select Board Endorses $9.9 Million Tahanto School Budget for Annual Town Meeting

BERLIN — March 30, 2026 — Berlin Select Board backs $9.9 million Tahanto school budget over Finance Committee's lower figure. The board voted unanimously Monday to support an administrative proposal of $9,911,633 for the Tahanto Regional School District, a 7.3 percent increase over the prior budget and roughly $157,000 below the district's most recent ask, while the Finance Committee has approved a competing figure of $9,749,226 — leaving a $162,000 gap for Annual Town Meeting voters to resolve. Three Tahanto students — Olivia Carroll, Sahasra Palla, and Jada Rodriguez — urged the board during public comment to restore a reading specialist and a biology teacher, and the district's superintendent confirmed both positions remain in the proposed budget. The board also removed two articles from the town meeting warrant, including one on Conservation Commission fee authority it determined could be handled administratively, and reordered the budget article so the two regional school budgets are voted on first — a change officials said would let families with young children leave earlier on a night that now starts at 6:30 p.m. rather than 7:30.