Claims vs Facts
Claims vs Facts
The development of any school district's budget requires thoughtful, honest, transparent, and responsible collaboration among all stakeholders. Unfortunately, some recent public criticism has lacked these characteristics.
Rhetoric in the form of sound bites and misleading claims damages the good-faith collaboration required to produce a school budget that serves the best interests of all. The information provided below is in direct response to specific public claims made during this budget season.
The Facts:
While this claim is almost accurate statistically, it lacks important context and is not a fair criticism. The growth of the district budget has been identical to that of municipal spending in the region over the same time period.
10-Year Budget Growth (FY16-FY25)
WRSD Total Budget Increase: 46%
Total Non-WRSD Municipal Budget Increase for All 5 Member Towns Combined: 46%
In addition, a cumulative 46% increase over 10 years, only requires an average annual increase of 4.3%.
The Facts:
Even after accounting for changes in enrollment, the Wachusett Regional School District staffing lags behind neighboring school districts, DART peer districts, and statewide averages. Please see the Staffing Analysis page for more details.
Regarding enrollment, this year's decline of 122 students (1.8%) was equivalent to losing about 1 student in every 3 classrooms. This does not provide any economies of scale or efficiencies which might allow the District to reduce expenses.
The Facts:
Vocational enrollments cost all member towns more. This year (FY25), the towns' per-pupil cost for each vocational student is between $1,318 and $2,490 greater than the cost for each WRSD student.