LEXINGTON — Three months ago, this wealthy Boston suburb voted to build one of the most expensive public schools in American history. This week, it started handing out pink slips.

The building is the point. The people inside it are apparently optional. The equity subcommittee's work is safe, though.

What went: language teachers, math coaches, elective programs, paraprofessionals, the entire district-wide digital learning coach program, secretarial staff, and classroom aides. Superintendent Julie Hackett sent the memo to staff on March 19. By March 25, the families knew.

"Behind every staffing decision is a real person," Hackett said, "and we have not arrived at these choices lightly."

The town, however, did arrive at them — just not by vote. For the $660 million building, Lexington held a special election and turned out in force. For the operating budget gap, the Select Board quietly decided there would be no override, no emergency ask, no ballot. The building project had already consumed whatever appetite voters had left for another tax increase. So the teachers go instead. Capital budget and operating budget are technically separate instruments. In practice, Lexington spent its political will on bricks.

Howard Wolke, a digital learning coach who has worked in Lexington schools for 19 years, is losing his job. His entire program is being eliminated — not trimmed, not restructured. Gone.

Robin Strizhak, president of the Lexington Education Association, said she's worried about students who need the most support. "The kids who have enrichment opportunities may still get the same grades," she said. "But our achievement gap — I can't imagine it's going to start to close further."

The School Committee, for its part, is framing the cuts as responsible stewardship. In a letter to the community on Thursday, the committee acknowledged the "real impact to real people" and noted the district deliberately cut deeper than the minimum required — better to do it all now than come back for more blood later.

Which is one way to put it.

Another: Lexington is a town with a median home value north of $1 million. Its residents voted 77% for Kamala Harris in 2024. They found the money — $533 million of it, after the state's contribution — to build a campus with gender-neutral bathrooms scored on an equity legend while the teachers who will actually use it are being shown the door.

A public hearing on the FY27 budget is scheduled for Monday at Town Meeting. Construction starts later this year. The building opens in 2029.

Plenty of beautiful classrooms. Fewer teachers to fill them.