Budget season formally kicked off at the School Committee’s January 30 business meeting with a 2025-26 budget overview presentation and recommendation to set the preliminary budget at $116.1M. This represents a 2.9 percent increase over a base budget that has been reduced by retirement of debt ($1.6M) and removal of $1.7M in allocations used in 2024-25 for unanticipated, non-recurring expenses. The School Committee’s budget guidelines for 2025-26 limit the overall budget increase to 3 percent.
Acton’s preliminary assessment is set at $79.8M, a 0.97 percent increase. Boxborough’s preliminary assessment is set at $16.8M, a 5.25 percent increase. Each town’s share is determined proportionally using a three-year rolling average of enrollment by town as required by the regional agreement.
Superintendent of Schools Peter Light, reported that the actual cost of maintaining services at current levels would require a total budget of $118.1M, an increase of 4.76 percent, and he emphasized that the preliminary budget proposal of $116.1M already reflects $1.9M in budget cuts including net reductions of 18.64 full-time equivalent staff. “A fourth year of cuts is taking its toll on everyone in the district,” said Light. “As we developed the 2025-26 budget, we absolutely remain committed to our core values of wellness, equity and engagement, but you will see that [our ability to meet these commitments] are starting to crack in terms of having the resources we need.”
Budget discussions continued on February 8 at the School District’s annual budget workshop, a public event that provides opportunities for liaisons from the Acton and Boxborough Select Boards and Finance Committees, as well as school leaders, staff, and members of the public to hear more detailed presentations on the District’s finances, budget cuts, enrollment trends and forecasts, and educational programs and impact and to ask questions and provide input.
At the workshop, the School Committee acted on a proposal by School Committee Chair, Adam Klein, to increase the preliminary budget to $116.8M in order to take full advantage of an anticipated increase in revenue from the state’s Chapter 70 program.
The focus of discussion was on a per student “minimum aid” increase that would more than double the state’s statutory minimum of $30 per student provided to school districts impacted by declining enrollment and increased costs. The Acton-Boxborough School District stands to receive an additional $300-$700K in additional minimum aid, depending on how things shake out during the state’s budget development process.
Budgeting that revenue now would allow the School Committee to allocate about $120K of those funds more flexibly and “potentially restore student-facing services in the areas where we’ve been making significant cuts,” Chair Klein said.
Superintendent Light told the Committee, “Historically, the legislature does not decrease chapter 70 aid from the Governor’s proposal. In the last two years, the state legislature has, in fact, increased minimum aid to $104 per student. State Senator Jason Lewis has filed a bill to increase this amount to $150 per student, and we’ve asked our state legislative delegation to support it.”
The preliminary budget amount of $116.8M voted by the School Committee on February 8, is a do-not-exceed amount.
The School Committee will continue to deliberate on the 2025-26 budget at their February 27 business meeting.
The School Committee’s annual budget public hearing is scheduled for March 13, followed by a final vote on March 20. Final approval by town meetings, the legislative bodies in the towns of Acton and Boxborough, will take place in Acton on May 5 and in Boxborough on May 12.
Diane Baum is the School Committee beat reporter for the Acton Exchange. She served on the Acton-Boxborough Regional School Committee from 2015 to 2021.