October 25, 2026
Reading Friends and Neighbors,
I write today to implore you to please support our schools and town by voting YES on the override question on November’s ballot. Although a tax increase is not ideal at a time when so many individuals and families are struggling with rising costs, the reality is that failing to pass the override will have significant impacts on the services and resources available to our community, and will be especially damaging to our students, who have benefitted from the thoughtful investments the school district has made in recent years.
It may be tempting to think there should be a solution to the financial challenges we face that would not require an override. Had you asked me only 2 years ago, I would have agreed with suspicions that both the town and school district could save money through more efficient management and planning. Since being elected to the Reading School Committee in April 2025, however, I have become much more familiar with the town’s finances and budgeting, and I am now convinced this is not the case. After entering the factory and seeing how the sausage is made, I firmly believe not only that our fiscal stewards prioritize responsible management in service of our community’s values, but that we need a successful override to continue to do so.
I dread having to implement any of the options available to the School Committee should the override fail. I do not want our high schoolers to lose access to the opportunities we’ve made available through Career Pathways programs, Dual Enrollment courses, or additional AP classes. I do not want to reduce the access our younger students have to art and music instruction, nor cut well-liked arts, computer science, and engineering electives at the high school. I do not want to impose additional extracurricular and athletic fees on parents. And I do not want to be forced to increase class sizes and eliminate teacher positions, or other roles, such as paraeducators and student adjustment counselors, that contribute to our students’ academic and socioemotional development. But these and other options are all under consideration, and staff reductions will be impossible to avoid given that personnel represent 81% of the RPS budget.
More information about the cuts that will occur if the override fails, along with explanations for why Reading faces a structural deficit and answers to FAQs, are available on both the town’s Override Hub and the website of the Vote Yes for Reading committee. I highly encourage everyone to review what is at stake, then vote YES to support our community, keep our school district strong, and ensure that Reading continues to thrive.
Lara Durgavich, School Committee Vice-Chair
Kensington Avenue