Lexington School Committee Extends Superintendent Hackett's Contract Through 2031

LEXINGTON -- October 28, 2025, Lexington School Committee unanimously extended Superintendent Julie Hackett's contract through June 2031 and heard warnings of deepening budget pressure heading into fiscal year 2027. The 5-0 contract vote, covering July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2031, came after a two-year gap in renewal; the board extended the agreement by two years rather than the customary single year. A first-quarter financial report on the district's $146 million FY26 budget projected a roughly $2 million salary surplus at a 98.4 percent spend rate, but flagged likely overruns in transportation, substitutes, which ran approximately double budget last year, and the $7.2 million out-of-district special education tuition line. Hackett told the committee, "The question I am asking myself every day is what is the tipping point when you can no longer maintain the excellence of the system because you've cut too much." The district's Youth Risk Behavior Survey showed high school suicide ideation dropping more than five percentage points since 2023, but gambling emerged as a new concern, with roughly 10 percent of high school students reporting some form of betting in the past year.