Lexington school community rallies against teacher cuts as vote is delayed again

For the second week in a row, the school community in Lexington, Massachusetts returned to the annual town meeting, rallying against big cuts to the budget eliminating valued teacher roles. 

"It's just so, so important that we have a stable school with good educators," said eighth grader Josh Bell. 

"It just disheartens me," said Emily Shimron. "That's the main selling point of this town, truly."

Last week, a proposed amendment to pull from free cash put a pin in the budget vote after more than two hours of presentations and discussion. 

The funding debate comes just months after Lexington neighbors voted to approve $660 million for a new high school. 

"Lexington is probably one of the richest towns in America. They have all these rainy day funds saved. Gas prices are up, the health care premiums are already up, we've had a flatlining of commercial tax revenue. I think that's a rainy enough day to use all those funds they've stored away," said junior Asa Arons-Mele.

But as soon as the town meeting resumed this week, the select board chair announced they need more time with Lexington's school and financial leaders before they can vote. 

"Obviously it's not a permanent financial solution to continue using free cash every year. It would be a really good idea to just prolong this experience and give them more time to come up with a better solution," said senior Delia Tsouvalas.

Despite the disappointment of another delay, the school community remains optimistic. 

"I'll take any small movement forward as progress. Change can happen slowly. I do believe the money is going to come from somewhere and we're going to save these jobs," said teacher Gretchen Segars.

Town leaders must now arrange a date for a meeting of summit participants. The budget vote will be delayed until they can discuss the funding further.