Easton School Committee Ratifies Teacher Contracts, Hears Budget Audit Findings

EASTON -- June 25, 2026, Easton School Committee ratifies teacher union contracts and receives independent audit blaming a personnel accounting gap for the district's recent budget surplus. The committee unanimously ratified collective bargaining agreements with the Easton Educators Association Units A and C after returning from executive session at the June 25 meeting. Eric Mason, a consulting CFO from CliftonLarsonAllen, presented findings from a 60-plus-page operational review concluding that retired and departed employees were routinely removed from the district's payroll system but not from the personnel supplement, the budget document covering 75 to 85 percent of the district's roughly $50 million in annual spending, causing a slow accumulation of phantom salary lines over multiple fiscal years. Mason credited first-year Finance Director Spagna with independently identifying and correcting the error before CLA arrived, calling the one-year turnaround "usually not something that gets fixed in one budget cycle." The committee also accepted a $1,100 donation from All Town Fresh, approved equipment contracts for Easton Middle School cafeteria furniture and Oliver Ames High School art-department computers, and bid farewell to Superintendent Dr. Lisha Cabral, who retires June 30 after 13 years with Easton Public Schools.