On Wednesday, March 25, the North Middlesex Regional School Committee submitted a letter to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means to urge the Legislature to take a new look at the school funding formula. The following column reflects the views of the full committee.
Across Massachusetts, we take pride in our commitment to public education. It is a cornerstone of our communities, our economy, and our future. But for regional school districts like North Middlesex, that promise is becoming increasingly difficult to uphold. It is not because we lack effort or local support, but because the funding system no longer works.
North Middlesex Regional School District serves the communities of Ashby, Townsend, and Pepperell. Like many regional districts, we have spent years making responsible, and often painful, financial decisions to live within our means. We have closed a neighborhood elementary school in Ashby. We have reduced 40+ staff in two years. We have consolidated services, limited instructional materials, and increased fees for student activities. We have deferred essential maintenance on our buildings.
These are not hypothetical scenarios or warnings about the future. They are the realities our students and educators live with today.
Despite these efforts, we continue to face significant budget gaps year after year. We have relied on one-time funds, such as Excess and Deficiency (E&D), to balance our budget. This approach is neither sustainable nor responsible in the long term.
At the same time, our member towns are doing everything they can to support our schools. Local officials in Ashby, Townsend, and Pepperell have made difficult choices, often reducing other municipal services, to meet rising education costs. But there is a limit to what local taxpayers can absorb. That limit has been reached.
The core issue is not a lack of local commitment. It is a structural inequity in the way Massachusetts funds public education. It disproportionately impacts regional school districts.
Under the current system, regional districts face unique financial pressures that are not adequately addressed in the state’s funding formula. Transportation costs, regional agreement constraints, and limited local revenue flexibility all contribute to a model that leaves districts like ours at a disadvantage. Meanwhile, minimum state aid increases have failed to keep pace with rising costs, effectively leaving regional districts behind. For North Middlesex, from FY24 to FY25 alone, the state increase in Chapter 70 aid per student increased by 4.6%, while the aid specifically allocated to North Middlesex increased by 1.4% – less than one-third of the average increase. Compounding that, due to the rising costs mentioned above, the district’s per-pupil expenditure increased by 8.4%, even after significant cuts to staffing and programming. This 7% gap is just the latest in multiple years of funding shortfalls.
This is not just a North Middlesex problem. It is a growing issue across the Commonwealth, affecting communities that have chosen regionalization to deliver efficient, high-quality education.
Without meaningful reform, the consequences will continue to fall on students: fewer academic opportunities, larger class sizes, reduced programming, and diminished support services. Educators will continue to be asked to do more with less. And local taxpayers will be forced to shoulder a burden that should be more fairly shared by the state.
There are clear, reasonable steps the Legislature can take to begin addressing this imbalance. Increasing minimum aid to $500 per student would provide immediate relief to districts struggling to meet basic operational needs. Bringing Unrestricted General Government Aid (UGGA) in line with the 6.78 percent benchmark recommended by the Massachusetts Municipal Association would better support the communities that fund our schools. And establishing a commission to examine the long-standing “hold harmless” provision would allow for a thoughtful and necessary review of how education funding is distributed.
These are not radical proposals. They are practical steps toward a more equitable and sustainable system.
Massachusetts has long been a national leader in education. But leadership requires recognizing when systems need to evolve. Right now, regional school districts like North Middlesex are being left behind by a funding structure that no longer reflects today’s realities.
The students of NM deserve better. The educators of NM deserve better. And our communities of Ashby, Townsend, and Pepperell deserve a system that works with them and not against them.
The time to act is now.