A district in north-central Massachusetts is considering shuttering two of its elementary schools due to significant funding issues.
District administrators and the North Middlesex Regional School Committee on Thursday announced the potential closure of Ashby Elementary School, the town’s only school, and Spaulding Memorial School in Townsend at the end of the school year, as well as cuts to programs and teaching staff. The district placed the onus of the blame for funding on the state.
“This is not a money management problem. Every year the school district finishes well in the black. Every year. This is a state-funding problem,” said Superintendent Brad Morgan.
The District for Elementary and Secondary Education did not comment on the allegation of problematic money management, but told GBH News that North Middlesex has experienced declining enrollment. The district has lost about 1,800 students since 2000.
The district currently has seven schools.
The school committee said it needs funds from the town, state and federal government. Current estimates show that the district’s services budget for 2025-2026 may need to be reduced by up to $3 million. The closure of the two schools won’t eliminate what the committee is calling a “looming budget shortfall.”
Angela Lyden is a parent of three in the school district. Her youngest is in a middle school, Hawthorne Brook in Townsend. She says along with the elementary school closures, the district approved a plan to move grades 6-8 to Nissitissit Middle School in Pepperell. That reconfiguration would result in her son having to go to a town 35 minutes away, without traffic.
“It’ll take away from their time at home, their time after school to do extracurricular activities, to have time to do homework. It’s just a big change for us,” she said.
Lyden said she’s asked the district for details about how busing will work, but hasn’t heard back.
“Right now [the bus comes] at 7:30, his school starts at 8. You know, it could be as early as 6:30 in the morning that he has to get on the bus,” she said.
Along with the closures, there could be program reductions, significant layoffs, and increased fees for student parking, athletics and clubs.
Voters in Ashby and Townsend declined to approve a Proposition 2 1/2 override that would have allowed schools to maintain service levels this school year, so the district had to dip into rainy day funds. School committee members will try again in early 2025, hoping that voters vote to approve an override for the upcoming school year. But it’s a heavy ask.
“We would be asking our residents for something that they really can’t afford,” said Morgan, adding that many residents are seniors with fixed incomes.
The school committee and district administrators said the budget crunch has been exacerbated by an “inequitable state funding formula,” which has prioritized large urban districts over smaller regional districts. Further, funding is based on enrollment, meaning districts may struggle to meet the individual needs of all students, added Morgan.
“Things such as special education, multilingual learners all far exceed what the state gives us per student our per pupil expenditures and cost,” said Morgan. “The enrollments dropping, but the student needs have increased dramatically over the past several years.”
The school closures would save approximately $1 million of the $3 million upcoming budget shortfall. The school committee will have a budget hearing Feb. 3, and will recommend a budget to the towns in March. The schools will be closed if they don’t receive adequate funding from town, state and federal governments for next year. The school committee says the towns are currently saying no to more funds, so it would be up to the state and feds to provide funding at levels never before seen by the district.
