# Schools: what the town votes for it

One of twelve departments in the omnibus budget Town Meeting votes each spring. [All twelve together](/analysis/town-budgets).

## What it is

Lunenburg Public Schools and the town’s assessment for Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School, plus curriculum updates and school vehicle maintenance. The largest group in the budget by a long way.

## The department

| | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---:|---:|---:|
| voted | $23,397,371 | $24,082,518 | $25,127,554 |
| a year | 3.6% |  |  |
| share of the budget | 57.1% |  |  |
| pull on total growth | +0.65 |  |  |

## Its lines, as printed

### FY2023

| line | label | voted |
|---|---|---:|
|  | Schools | — |
| 79 | School Department | $22,325,309 |
| 79A | Unemploy.School-Stab/Free Cash | — |
| 79B | Curriculum Update | $17,686 |
| 80 | Monty Tech Assessment | $1,054,376 |
| 81 | Vehicle Mtc - School | — |
| | **total** | **$23,397,371** |

The page prints **$23,397,371** for this department. The lines above come to the same.

### FY2024

| line | label | voted |
|---|---|---:|
|  | Schools | — |
| 79 | School Department | $22,883,442 |
| 79B | Curriculum Update | $17,686 |
| 80 | Monty Tech | $1,181,390 |
|  | Assessment | — |
| 81 | | Vehicle Mtc - School | — |
| | **total** | **$24,082,518** |

The page prints **$24,082,518** for this department. The lines above come to the same.

### FY2025

| line | label | voted |
|---|---|---:|
|  | Schools | — |
|  | School Department | $23,901,908 |
| 79A | Unemplex. School-Stab Fund - | — |
| 79B | Curriculum Update | — |
| 80 | Monty Tech Assessment | $1,225,646 |
| 81 | Vehicle Mtc - School on to to | — |
| | **total** | **$25,127,554** |

The page prints **$25,127,554** for this department. The lines above come to the same.

## What moved

Lines that appear in FY2023 and FY2025 under the same printed label, biggest move first.

| line | FY2023 | FY2025 | change |
|---|---:|---:|---:|
| School Department | $22,325,309 | $23,901,908 | +$1,576,599 |
| Monty Tech Assessment | $1,054,376 | $1,225,646 | +$171,270 |

## What this cannot show

- What any department ASKED for. The omnibus is what Town Meeting voted, which is already balanced — the difference between a request and a vote is where a cut lives, and the annual report prints only the second.
- What was actually spent. Voted and spent are different quantities and rule 1 forbids mixing them in one calculation.
- Whether any department reduced SERVICE. A department can hold its dollars and cut its hours, and a dollar figure will not say so.
- Why any line moved. The omnibus states an amount and gives no reason for it, so every explanation of a movement here would be a hypothesis.
- Anything about FY2026 below the total. The FY2025 annual report prints no department figures at all.
- That growing faster than the levy cap is a problem. Proposition 2½ limits the LEVY, not the budget: the budget is the levy plus state aid, local receipts and transfers, and new growth raises the levy limit on top of the 2.5%. The cap is used here as a common reference point every board in town already uses — it is not a ceiling anybody breached.