Often times in budgeting discussions, particularly surrounding schools, officials are accused of hyperbole.
But in Uxbridge, the use of the word "Armageddon" received little pushback recently when used to describe the prospects the schools would face should they fail to get a budget at a Special Town Meeting on Tuesday.
At Annual Town Meeting on May 14, voters struck down a proposed $27.6 million budget, despite the fact that the Board of Selectmen, the Finance Committee and the School Committee supported it.
Since that time, fingers have been pointed, discussions at meetings have turned heated, and boards in town are further apart on the budget figure than they were May 14.
At a meeting last week, officials agreed they must emerge Tuesday with a budget, as failure to do so would mean the district would effectively shut down July 1.
However, selectmen, in a 3-2 vote, also said they couldn't support a trim of just $61,000 the School Committee recently recommended.
The schools lost by five votes on a majority vote May 14, but, because of town bylaws, must get two-thirds of the vote at Special Town Meeting – a serious hurdle, officials noted, in a fiscally conservative town during a time of great inflation.
Below is a primer on what’s behind the schools’ request, what some of the opposition has been and what might happen if consensus can’t be reached.
How did we get here?
There is not consensus among town officials about why the May 14 vote failed. Interviewsand reviews of public meetings suggest a mix of factors, including concern over a heftier-than-normal increase, instability in the school district, and discontent with the superintendent.
Turnover in the school district has been brisk in recent years, and the current superintendent, Michael Baldassarre, has faced many challenges – and much criticism – since he took the job in 2022.
But there’s far more history behind the schools' requested budget increase, including decisions the school district made prior to Baldassarre’s time in town.
On its face, the district’s requested increase of about $2.6 million – about 12% over what the district received last spring, or 10% more when one factors in a warrant article Town Meeting approved for the schools last fall – seems high.
The schools only received a 3.5% increase last year, and have averaged about 2.5% percent annually over the past decade, according to school department figures.
However, the schools say a number of factors have converged to necessitate the higher-than-normal increase, most of which, they argue, are outside their control.
Essentially, school officials say, increases in costs, coupled with the loss of alternative funding they were using in lieu of tax money, are forcing them to ask taxpayers to contribute more than they have in prior years.
The proposed fiscal year 2025 budget, despite the increase, actually trims several positions, officials have said, the details of which have yet to be finalized.
While the concept of paying more for services that are at, or a bit below, normal levels has been tough to swallow, officials say the alternative is to continue a slide in quality they’ve been trying to reverse.
A review of budget meetings this year shows the district’s finance director, Karin Sheridan, has repeatedly warned town officials that next fiscal year essentially needed to be a “catch-up” year.
According to school department figures put together by School Committee member David Shinnick at a website he’s created, SaveUxbridgeSchools.com, both the amount proportionate to other towns that Uxbridge spends on its schools, as well as the taxpayers' share of discretionary funding, has declined in recent years.
The state has a formula, called “Net School Spending,” that calculates the minimum amount a town is allowed to fund its schools, based on a number of factors, including its ability to pay.
District figures show that while Uxbridge exceeded the state average in Net School Spending in Fiscal 2020 by about 3%, it’s fallen behind other towns since then, spending nearly 7% below the average in Fiscal 2023.
At the same time, the portion of the town’s share above Net School Spending attributed to taxpayers has also shifted.
In Fiscal 2020, about $6 million of the $6.9 million the schools spent over Net School Spending was footed by taxpayers.
Since that time, the district has used a combination of one-time COVID money and money it had built up in revolving funds to supplement the budget, while decreased the percentage received from taxpayers.
In Fiscal 2021, the town’s budget was $6.9 million above its required Net School Spending figure, $4.8 million of which came from taxpayers. In Fiscal 2022, the town’s budget was $7 million above Net School Spending, $3.7 million of which came from taxpayers.
With COVID money and revolving fund money drying up, the schools now have fewer non-tax revenues to devote to the budget, requiring a heftier tax increase in order to keep a similar level of service.
At the same time, school officials have said, mandatory costs this year are increasing. According to district figures, of the approximately $2.6 million requested increase, about $700,000 comes from salary increases and $600,000 from expanding transportation costs.
The district recently entered into a new contract with its teachers that included raises, something Baldassarre has said was sorely needed to keep up with other towns.
State figures show that in 2020-21, the most recent year for which data was available online, the average Uxbridge teacher salary was $78,836 – about $8,000 below the state average.
The busing costs are also contractual costs, officials have said. School Committee members at recent meetings have said they intend to explore possibilities to offset transportation costs in the future.
Sheridan, the district’s finance director, told the committee recently that in addition to costs increasing, next year’s bottom line was a bit higher because of steps she’s taken to create a more realistic budget.
Sheridan, who was hired in December, said prior budgets had underfunded multiple categories, including substitute teachers.
She said she increased the budget in a number of areas to ensure the figures on paper match the reality, and also shifted some categories to align with state standards.
Sheridan said in meetings this spring she didn’t see much fat to trim in the budget.
Multiple Finance Committee members, including Chairman James Hogan and member Deb Stark, have said they believe the schools need more money than the $27.6 million being proposed.
The schools originally presented a budget to the Finance Committee that requested a nearly 18% increase, saying while they understood such a jump would ultimately be too high, they wanted to share the needs of the district as they saw them.
District decisions, framing at issue
While some officials argue the confluence of factors converging this year justifies the increase the schools seek, others have said that past and current choices play a role in the crisis, and that the burden on taxpayers would be too large.
The town has long lived by the budgeting concept of not using one-time funds for recurring expenses, but the district, under Baldassarre’s predecessor, elected to use the one-time COVID money to fund new staff.
School officials have argued the unique challenges of the pandemic required those positions, and that the need has not gone away. But other officials, including Selectman Peter DeMers, have noted the decision from years ago was the district’s own choice, and that the municipal side of the town did not use COVID money to fund salaries.
About $550,000 of the budget increase for next year is attributed to school officials' shifting the loss of those previously COVID-funded positions to the general fund budget.
Baldassarre and other school officials have argued that without the money, kids who still have increased struggles following COVID will fall further behind.
They’ve said test scores in general have slipped in town, and that the quality of the education for the kids will continue to decline if the schools don’t get more funding.
“It comes down to the money,” Aaron Lenart, who served on the School Committee until last month, said at a Finance Committee public hearing last week. “How long do we want to be mediocre?”
Officials said at the meeting that the town was recently penalized by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for not devoting the level of taxpayer funds the state determined it could afford to pay given recent municipal growth.
Town Manager Steve Sette told the T&G the calculation is a complicated one that he doesn’t believe is very clear, or totally fair.
He said he believes the town has done the best it can to fund the schools in recent years, including providing millions for capital projects.
A number of residents at last week’s public hearing said they want to support the schools, but that between inflation and tax increases, they’re concerned many people, including the elderly and those on fixed incomes, won’t be able to stay in town.
For others, the district’s framing of the budget – and the conduct of Baldassarre – have been an issue.
Superintendent a flashpoint
While Sheridan gave detailed budget presentations spanning many hours at public meetings prior to May 14, the district elected not to put on a presentation on Town Meeting floor.
The decision – which a former School Committee member Ed Maharay and said was his suggestion – has been criticized by many in the wake of the failed vote.
Messaging and framing by the district – especially Baldassarre – have been flashpoints in town for some time.
He has been involved in multiple controversies, including a devolving relationship with a prior School Committee that preceded mass resignations of six members and a feud with Selectman Stephen Mandile that precipitated a lawsuit the School Committee settled for $60,000.
Many residents signed a petition urging the School Committee to not renew Baldassarre’s contract, alleging he has been divisive for the town. He maintains a blog that, according to a January School Committee evaluation, he’d used antagonistically.
Kara Guy, chairwoman of the Uxbridge Special Education Parent Advisory Council, told the T&G after Town Meeting that while she supported the budget despite concerns about the superintendent, she believes the concerns spurred others to vote no.
It’s unclear to what extent the vote may have been influenced by concerns over Baldassarre. After Town Meeting, two incumbents who voted to give Baldassarre a new contract in January lost, and the board now has a majority of members who either voted against the contract or have been critical of his tenure.
Baldassarre’s messaging surrounding the budget has been criticized following May 14. At a recent meeting, DeMers accused him of lying, while Baldassarre and a public relations firm he employed corrected a press release that contained an inaccurate statement about Town Meeting.
Sette, asked after the vote failed May 14 what would happen, erroneously stated the schools would receive a level-funded budget.
In a press release the following day, the schools wrote that the statement had come before the vote.
The corrected press release, while acknowledging the error, also asserted that Sette had made the incorrect statement at past meetings – an assertion Sette disputes, and which the T&G has been unable to independently verify.
The schools have removed the public relations firm, which was criticized on Town Meeting floor, from the budget.
Baldassarre and Sette, a few weeks after Town Meeting, quarreled at a School Committee meeting, with Sette stating he believes the superintendent has treated him unfairly.
A review of budget meetings this spring shows evidence of tension between the two men in the past, including one meeting in which Sette indicated he didn’t believe he’d been involved in the budget process early enough.
What happens next?
Two-thirds of voters will need to pass some budget figure for the schools Tuesday, or else the district, and town, would face serious consequences.
Without a budget in place by July 1, the district would be forced to cease operations. Pink slips all district employees have already received pursuant to contracts would become real, and summer programming, including for children with special needs, would not occur – a situation officials have said would likely lead to lawsuits against the town.
A lawyer told the School Committee it’s possible state officials or a judge could somehow take action to force the town to provide an education for its kids – something it’s legally required to do – but the details of how that might work, he said, are unknown, and something that should be avoided at all costs.
The district has already suffered fallout in the form of talented people leaving, Baldassarre has said, and word of the turmoil will make it harder to attract and retain quality educators.
The School Committee, following the vote of Selectmen to not support its current $27,590,000 budget ask, has taken steps this week to lower that figure, with a subcommittee, including Baldassarre, electing to recommend trimming about $150,000 on Thursday.
Baldassarre told the T&G he anticipates the full School Committee to vote on a revised budget Monday night, and that it’s possible selectmen could revisit their vote in light of any reduced figure prior to Special Town Meeting.
Baldassarre said it was relayed at the subcommittee meeting that Sette supported the new figure, and he thanked the town manager for doing so.
A review of past budget hearings shows Baldassarre at many points this spring saying he wanted a smooth relationship with the town, and that he respects the will of taxpayers.
Asked whether he believes concern about his leadership is playing a role in the budget crisis, Baldassarre said he does not.
“I don’t think there’s a large group of people saying, ‘We’re so mad at this guy, we’re going to demolish our entire education system,’” he said. “That would be so sinister, I just don’t think it’s possible.”
Baldassarre, who was peppered with questions at Tuesday’s Finance Committee meeting, appeared at one point to make an overture to critics, remarking that he isn’t very good at politics.
Susan Franz, a former selectwoman in town, opined Thursday that while the friction between the superintendent and town officials has generated much attention, “the fundamental issue remains how to educate our children and provide resources when all residents have been squeezed by years of rising costs in food, property taxes and water/sewer bills.”
Franz applauded Sheridan for, in her view, “correctly analyzing the long-term below-inflationary funding in our school budgets,” but said she also does not believe trying to make up a lot of ground in one year is tenable.
Franz said the requested increase has a “solid basis,” but, in her view, should be implemented over two or three years, not in a “single budget shock."
“Give our community a number that makes sense, and we will willingly contribute our resources, time, and money to secure our kids' future,” she said.
Tuesday’s meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at Valley Chapel, 14 Hunter Road. Check-in starts at 4 p.m.
