# What comparable districts actually cut, and in what order Researched 2026-08-17. Used to seed the "What districts actually do" preset in the priority builder, as a counterweight to Lunenburg's own revealed ordering. ## Case evidence | District | Situation | What happened | |---|---|---| | **Easthampton** (MA) | Override failed May 2026 | $2.7M cut, of which **$2.5M (93%) was personnel** — ~40 educators. Programs, electives, clubs, athletics, arts and music faced major cuts or elimination. | | **Bridgewater-Raynham** (MA) | Overrides failed 2026 | $6.4M shortfall vs level service → **40+ positions** across teaching, support staff, administration and facilities. Explored **self-funded athletics at $900–$1,000/student/sport** before cutting teachers. | | **South Hadley** (MA) | Override failed 2026 | Students faced a year with **no sports, no AP classes**, and no extracurriculars. | | **Groton-Dunstable** (peer) | Override failed; deep staffing cuts | Ch.70 aid up only $583,568 since 2008 — flat aid against rising transport, utilities, SpEd and health insurance. Select Board later moved to shield schools from further cuts. | | **Winchester** (MA) | $250k athletics deficit | Athletic fees raised $400 → **$600**, plus $845 hockey / $385 golf / $185 swim surcharges. | | **Duxbury** (MA) | ~$167k/yr shortfall projected over 4 years | Per-season fee $250 → **$300**; hockey $400 → **$500**; launched an advertising pilot. | ## The observed sequence Districts converge on roughly this order. Cheap and visible first; expensive and educational last. 1. **Raise revenue before cutting** — athletics user fees ($300–$1,000/sport), facility rentals, advertising, parking fees. Politically easiest; raises modest money. 2. **Non-personnel first** — supplies, textbooks, curriculum adoption cycles, professional development, equipment replacement, technology refresh. 3. **Transportation for non-mandated purposes** — athletic and field-trip transport. 4. **Sub-varsity and enrichment** — middle school sports, freshman teams, clubs, advisors. 5. **Attrition only** — hold vacancies open rather than lay off. Cheap politically, arbitrary educationally: you lose whichever role happens to retire. 6. **Support staff** — paras, custodians, secretaries, classroom assistants. 7. **Specialists** — interventionists, reading specialists, librarians, coaches/mentors. 8. **Electives and arts staff** — music, art, world language, upper-level electives. 9. **Classroom teachers** — where the money actually is, so this is where large deficits inevitably land regardless of stated priorities. 10. **Advanced academics collapse** — AP catalog shrinks because enrollment-per-section thresholds can no longer be met after teacher cuts. This is usually a *consequence* of step 9 rather than a decision. 11. **Administration** — cut late and cut little; districts cite compliance risk. 12. **Legally mandated services** — SpEd, ELL, nursing. Effectively never cut; doing so invites state findings and compensatory-services liability. ## The lesson for Lunenburg **Easthampton's 93%-personnel ratio is the number to internalise.** Non-personnel lines are too small to close a seven-figure gap. Lunenburg's own arithmetic agrees: - Every athletics line, fully eliminated: **$451,830** (of which $233,922 is already cut) - All band and music supplies district-wide: **$17,073** - All art supplies, four schools: **$30,685** - All clubs and after-school advisors: **$11,731** Against a projected FY28 gap of $700k–$1.1M. The frills cannot close it. Only classroom positions are big enough — which is precisely why class size, not athletics, is the real variable in every scenario the model produces. ## A revenue lever Lunenburg has not pulled Neither the FY27 budget documents nor the addendum mention **athletic user fees**. At Winchester/Bridgewater-Raynham rates ($600–$1,000/sport) and a plausible 300–400 participations, fees could offset **$180k–$400k** of the $451,830 athletics cost. This is worth modeling as an explicit lever, since it materially changes whether athletics survives the first two years of cuts. --- # Part 2 — Local districts, FY27 budget cycle (primary sources) Added 2026-08-17. Unlike Part 1 (press reporting), every figure below comes from the district's own published FY27 budget document or meeting minutes. PDFs and extracted text are in `sources/peers/`. ## The headline | District | Enrollment | FY27 budget | Growth over FY26 | Health ins. | Ch.70 | |---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:| | **Lunenburg** | 1,581 | $26,572,288 | **+1.08%** | +7.9% | — | | Ashburnham-Westminster | 2,184 | $40,233,975 | +2.90% | +13.1% | +2.05% | | North Middlesex | ~3,900 | $38,381,000 | +3.00% | — | — | | Wachusett | 6,507 | $134,809,232 | +4.44% | — | — | | Ayer-Shirley | 1,704 | $36,743,801 | +5.50% | +14.4% | +1.5% | | Groton-Dunstable | 2,324 | $54,187,751 | +6.46% | +8.9% | — | **Lunenburg's schools grew 1.08% while every neighbor grew 2.9%–6.5%**, in a year when health insurance rose 8–14% and Chapter 70 aid rose 1.5–2% everywhere. That gap is the whole story. ## District detail ### Groton-Dunstable — the cautionary tale FY27 total $61,085,099 ($54,187,751 general fund), operating +6.46%. Wages +5.42%, benefits +7.92%, health insurance +8.9%, substitutes +$200k, maintenance +$145k. - **Budget reductions in FY24, FY25 *and* FY26** — personnel cuts across all job classifications, producing "increased class sizes, reduced class offerings and reduced staff and student support." - FY26 cut 3.0 FTE by not filling vacancies; those posts are not in the FY27 budget, so the FY27 proposal *starts* below level service. - District states an operational override is needed "now and in the foreseeable future," blaming Chapter 70 hold-harmless status. - Reviewing athletic, kindergarten, preschool and student activity **fees**. - Deliberately weaning off $400,000 of one-time revenue. - Source: `peers/groton-dunstable-fy27-budget-book.pdf` ### Ashburnham-Westminster — the opposite choice FY26 $39,116,620 → FY27 $40,233,975 (+2.9%). Salaries +3.4%, benefits **+13.1%**, retirement +9.6%, transportation +5.2%, Chapter 70 +2.05%. - District goals **explicitly** include "Maintain Class Size" and "Ensure that co-curricular, arts, music and athletic budgets are preserved." - Accordingly: **athletics +2.7%, marching band +4.8%**, and girls ice hockey *reinstated* — funded by user fees. - Paid for by cutting **2.0 elementary FTE (−$130,000)**, out-of-district tuition budget (−$100,000), technology (−5.8%), and drawing **$600,000 from reserves** (up from $400k). - Collects $215,000/yr in student fees. Enrollment falling: 2,225 → 2,184. - Held total town assessment growth to +1.85%. - Source: `peers/ashburnham-westminster-fy27-presentation.pdf` ### Ayer-Shirley — the cost squeeze in one line Level-service budget $36,743,801, +$1,917,231 / +5.5% over FY26. Net school spending portion +8.7%. **Health insurance +14.4%** — steepest in the group. Chapter 70 +1.5%. Central office shows "budget offsets and reductions." Source: `peers/ayer-shirley-fy27-expenses.pdf` ### North Middlesex — the tightening vice Projected a **$64,000 deficit at 3% budget growth versus $1.5 million at 5%**. - ~30% of students receive special education — far above the state average. - Already using: soft spending freeze, deferred capital and technology, positions shifted onto grants, vacancies held unfilled. - Received $302,000 in extra Circuit Breaker and Chapter 70 aid in FY26. - Town administrators call overrides "politically challenging." **Townsend has not passed an override in 20 years.** Revenue growth ~2%/yr. - Source: `peers/north-middlesex-finance-subcommittee.pdf` ### Wachusett — pushing it onto the towns Revenue $129,076,000 → $134,809,232 (+4.44%). Closed the gap through assessments: minimum local contribution +4.14%, but **discretionary contribution +9.21%** ($25.0M → $27.3M) — while enrollment fell in four of five member towns. Source: `peers/wachusett-fy27-budget-presentation.pdf` ## What the local set proves 1. **Nobody closed a seven-figure gap with extras.** Every district used personnel, reserves, deferrals or higher assessments. 2. **Priorities are a genuine choice.** Ashburnham-Westminster protected athletics, arts and music by name and cut elementary teachers to do it. Lunenburg did the reverse. Same pressures, opposite answers. 3. **Fees are the untouched lever in Lunenburg.** AWRSD collects $215k and funds a whole team from fees; GDRSD is reviewing four fee categories. Lunenburg charges nothing. 4. **One-time money is everywhere, and it runs out.** AWRSD $600k reserves, GDRSD weaning off $400k, Lunenburg $453,722 in September. 5. **The squeeze is structural.** Health insurance 8–14% against Chapter 70 at 1.5–2%. No district solved it; they only chose who absorbs it.