Bedford School Committee confronts $4.3 million HVAC shortfall at annual planning session

BEDFORD — May 18, 2026 — Bedford School Committee faces $4.3 million HVAC shortfall and rising labor costs at annual planning session. The board met Monday for its fiscal year 2028 planning meeting, where Business Administrator Lisa Ambrosio and Superintendent Michael Fournier outlined roughly $4.299 million in HVAC and mechanical work left unfinished after a $5 million bond was exhausted by post-COVID construction inflation, with about $590,000 in bond interest to be returned to taxpayers unless voters authorize a new use. Fournier told the board that contract increases and anticipated health-insurance growth alone will add at least $3 million to the baseline before any new spending, and that FACS at McKelvey and ASL at the high school have already been cut. Resident and former educator Nate Feldman urged the board to "define need clearly" and tie superintendent goals to measurable, time-bound actions, saying "hope is not enough" without a baseline, target, and reporting schedule. The committee voted 5-0 on routine items and directed staff to return with updated facility-use fee policies — including proposed custodial rates rising from $40 to $50 per hour — and capital condition maps ahead of the August planning session.