On Monday the Boston Globe published “Mass. school districts face another year of dire cuts,” which highlights the financial challenges facing the North Middlesex Regional School District and other smaller regional districts.
Thank you to reporter James Vaznis for his factual, in-depth reporting on this very important topic.
We are sharing the article in text below for non-subscribers.
‘We are on a downward spiral’: Mass. school districts face another year of dire cuts
ASHBY — Residents of this town near the New Hampshire border have been on a roller coaster since early December over the future of its only school, which has just 150 students.
At first the news was bleak: Ashby Elementary was one of two schools the North Middlesex Regional School Committee targeted for closure in December to remedy a projected $3.5 million shortfall for next year. One month later, the committee rescinded that vote, which also spared Spaulding Memorial School in neighboring Townsend.
But then on Thursday night, the committee moved forward with shuttering Ashby as part of the superintendent’s proposed budget, which would also likely require voters approve a tax increase to fully address the shortfall.
“It’s going to be detrimental to the community,” said Richie Sun, who has children in the second and third grades at Ashby. “People will move out and people won’t move in. Home prices will fall.”
The precarious situation highlights the bleak financial picture many Massachusetts districts are again confronting as they grapple with inflation, and rising costs for special education, health insurance, and transportation, as well as the loss of federal pandemic aid and state assistance that fails to keep pace with costs.
And the funding problems could get worse if the Trump administration carries through with its threat of freezing federal grant programs.
Brookline has a potential $8.2 million budget shortfall for next year, while officials in Natick are preparing to cut $2.8 million, including dozens of positions, if voters don’t approve a property tax override. North Andover may temporarily close an elementary school and slash dozens of teaching and other positions.
The financial problems come just five years after lawmakers overhauled the state’s school funding formula, which is on track to increase school spending by more than $1.5 billion by 2027.
The bulk of that funding, however, has benefited about three dozen districts that have limited means to raise revenue and have among the highest concentration of students with disabilities, living in poverty, or lacking English fluency. More than 200 other districts, meanwhile, are receiving the lowest levels of increases allowed under state law, which local leaders contend aren’t nearly enough to address their needs.
Even districts that benefit the most from the funding increases are struggling financiall
“We are on a downward spiral,” said June McNeil, who represents Ashby on the North Middlesex Regional School Committee. “The state needs to reevaluate the funding formula and they need to do it now before the funding problems hurt our students more.”
But fixing systemic problems with state funding could take years. So far the biggest movement appears to be coming from the state Senate, where President Karen Spilka said in January it’s time to reexamine the funding formula. State Senator Jason Lewis, co-chair of the Joint Education Committee, filed a bill soon after, calling for the creation of a commission that would identify problems with the formula and find potential fixes.
The last time a legislative commission examined the funding formula was about a decade ago when it was short-changing districts by about $1 billion annually. It took four years to get changes through Beacon Hill.
In the meantime, Beacon Hill lawmakers have been pouring more money into public education beyond what they committed to in the 2019 overhaul.
Governor Maura Healey has proposed increasing the minimum per student aid amount from $30 to $75, which would boost overall state aid by 6.1 percent, to $7.3 billion next fiscal year.
“The Healey-Driscoll Administration recognizes that many Massachusetts school districts are struggling due to increased costs and high inflation,” said Healey spokesperson Karissa Hand, noting the governor is also proposing additional funding for special education and school transportation.
In many ways, North Middlesex highlights the problems many districts are encountering with the formula: School enrollment has largely been flat or declining and the towns in the district — Ashby, Townsend, and Pepperell — are predominantly middle-class bedroom communities with small commercial tax bases. That puts much of the burden on homeowners.
Although North Middlesex has received increases in state aid, it’s been minimal in comparison to the higher costs of running a district of about 3,000 students. Consequently, over the last two decades, state aid has declined from financing 60 percent of North Middlesex’s annual budget to 40 percent.
Superintendent Brad Morgan says the funding problems are worse for regional school districts because each municipality’s ability to pay their share varies, which complicates the calculations for state aid, and also makes it more difficult to gain voter approval for property tax hikes.
“I view it as a broken formula,” Morgan said. “Year after year after year, we are looking at overrides and making cuts. … At what point does North Middlesex not survive as a school district?”
Morgan is expecting health insurance rates will increase by about 10 percent next year, busing costs by 6 percent, and that tuition for out-of-district special education programs will increase by 5 percent. That’s after those costs unexpectedly went up during the current school year by $1.5 million.
The prospect of Ashby Elementary closing has hung over the town for years, and residents have fought back previous attempts. But the uncertainty, some said, has persuaded families to leave town or not move there, adding to the school’s enrollment troubles.
Inside Ashby, a banner hanging in the hallway summarizes a sentiment shared by many families: “A Small School With A Big Heart.”
On one recent morning, a roomful of second-graders quietly listened to their teacher as she read “The Frog Prince” for a lesson on fairy tales; in another classroom, a first grade teacher asked students to identify adjectives in sentence about a playground; and in the gymnasium, kids skipped in a giant circle on the hardwood floor as Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” played.
But at current enrollment, Ashby sometimes does not have enough students to support two classrooms per grade level, leaving some with fewer than 20 students and others with more than 25.
In an effort to save Ashby, the superintendent pitched another proposal in January that called for Ashby to serve only kindergarten and first grade, with students from Townsend filling some seats, and closing a school in Townsend.
Townsend residents protested. Some raised concerns about the Ashby building, where a wing has been sealed off due to asbestos concerns. Ultimately, they persuaded the School Committee Thursday night to save the Townsend school and close Ashby Elementary instead. The decision will save the district about $380,000 a year instead of $535,000.
Keri Battersby,whose son attends the first grade at Ashby, said she woke up the next morning crying.
“It was hard getting my son to school,” said Battersby, who is running for School Committee. “As of now, I don’t know where my son is going to school in September.”
But she added, “I promise you this town will not go down without a fight.”