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.