LtE: Support for the override

Dear Editor,

I am writing to encourage my fellow Reading voters to support the operational override, question 10 on the November 3, 2026 ballot. It's a short question (especially compared with the long text of question 9 right above it on the third page of the ballot), but it's an important question for the future of our town: "Shall the Town of Reading be allowed to assess an additional $6,500,000 in real estate and personal property taxes for the purposes of funding the general operation of Public Schools, Police, Fire, Public Works, Library, and General Government for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2027?"

I should note that I was just elected to the School Committee last spring, after serving four years on Reading's Finance Committee. The opinions expressed herein are my own, though the School Committee voted 5-0 at our October 15th meeting to endorse a yes vote on the override.

I hope residents have been reading the information found on the town's "override hub" at
https://www.readingma.gov/1094/Proposition-2-Override-FY28
which contains links for recordings and slides from presentations given by town staff and elected officials since the Select Board voted in August to place this override on the November ballot.

This website has also carried several stories about the potential impact, most recently covering the School Committee meeting of October 15th: https://www.thereadingobserver.com/meeting-recaps/school-committee-meeting-recap-october-15-2026 . The superintendent and his staff outlined several possible budget reduction options. All of them come with significant impacts to students in the district. Many come with additional costs, such that the net savings could be much smaller. Some are complicated and cannot be implemented in time for fiscal year 2027. Some are one-time savings that would put us back in the same place a year from now. The School Committee would have to choose several of them to reach the $3 to $4 million dollar amount that would be the schools’ share of the $6.5 million budget gap.

I encourage residents to watch the video of that Oct. 15 School Committee meeting (available on YouTube in the RCTV Studios channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1XYKDb3PMU), during which many teachers, students, and parents spoke up about the value of various programs and services that were listed as potential cuts. In order to maintain the excellence of the Reading Public Schools, I hope voters will join me in supporting the override.

Geoffrey Coram
Ridge Rd.