Move-ins
lunenburgbudgetproject.org — written by the Lunenburg Budget Project, an independent tool for residents. Not affiliated with the Town of Lunenburg, the School Committee or the school district. The data this page is computed from: /data/topics/arrivals-and-the-budget.json
The claim this page tests
“April 1st is the deadline, if a student enters the district before this date our school incurs the cost, if it is after this date the sending school assumes the expense for the rest of the year and the following year”
A child in a private placement who moves in is the former town’s cost that year; after 1 April, the next too.
The biggest impact: out-of-district tuition
Measured: tuition for children placed outside Lunenburg’s schools was 48.4% of all spending above budget, over in 8 of 17 years. Transportation was 30.7%; Lunenburg’s own schools, 20.9%.
Private and collaborative are not split here. The vote subtracts the state repayment it expects from the collaborative line, $480,204 in FY2026, so that line looks over and private looks under because of where the subtraction is booked.
Not shown: which placements caused the overruns, or how many children. That needs counts the district does not publish: the Surprise costs page names them.
| Lunenburg | The other town | |
|---|---|---|
| Moves into Lunenburg, 1 November | $230,514 | $230,514 |
| Moves into Lunenburg, 1 June | $0 | $461,028 |
| Leaves Lunenburg, 1 November | $230,514 | $230,514 |
| Leaves Lunenburg, 1 June | $461,028 | $0 |
The same $230,514-a-year private placement in every bar, our average, over two school years: the year of the move and the next. G.L. c.71B §5.
| October (DESE) | 1 March (the town) | |
|---|---|---|
| FY2021 | 12 children | 12 children |
| FY2022 | 10 children | 8 children |
| FY2023 | 4 children | 7 children |
| FY2024 | 9 children | 8 children |
| FY2025 | 10 children | 10 children |
Two counts a school year, by two different bodies. The count moved by at most 3 children between them; neither says who arrived or left.
When a family moves: which town pays, month by month
- Surprise: Lunenburg pays, nothing budgeted
- Budgeted: Lunenburg pays, known in time
- Another town pays
- Budgeted, not spent
▼ the move ┆ next year’s budget set, in spring (our assumption)
A family moves into Lunenburg, with a child already placed out of district
In a private school, arrives in October
The old town pays to June. Lunenburg budgets it from next year.
In a private school, arrives in May
The old town pays to June and all of next year.
In a collaborative, arrives in October
Lunenburg pays from the day the family arrives.
In a collaborative, arrives in May
Arrives after next year’s budget is set, so it misses two budgets.
A child who already lives in Lunenburg
Placed out of district for the first time, in January
Lunenburg pays from the day the placement starts.
A family moves out of Lunenburg, with a child placed out of district
In a private school, leaves in October
Lunenburg keeps paying to June. It was budgeted, so nothing is saved.
In a private school, leaves in May
Lunenburg pays all of next year too, for a child who has left.
In a collaborative, leaves in October
The new town pays from arrival, so the rest of the budget goes unspent.
Each strip runs July to June, then the next two years. One placement, not any child’s bill.
1 · The facts
c.71B §5
the former town pays the rest of the year
law
1 April
moves from then: it pays the next year too
law
28.03(1)(c)
the new town serves the child without delay
law
$50,000
Town Meeting added for move-ins, FY2025
$712,244
tuition voted, FY2025, net of the circuit breaker
$762,244
the line after Town Meeting’s vote, FY2025
$732,298
spent on out-of-district tuition, FY2025
3
most the placed count moved, October to March
—
children who moved to town already placed
not published
2 · What it shows
- 1
By law, a child in a private placement who moves in is the former town’s cost that year.
What it means: A child moving in from a private placement costs Lunenburg nothing that year; one from a collaborative does.
- 2
So a child moving in from a private placement is mostly a next-year cost, known in time.
What it means: The in-year placement risk is a child already living here who is newly placed, more than one moving in.
- 3
In FY2025, tuition ran $20,054 past its vote; Town Meeting had added $50,000 for move-ins in May.
What it means: The move-in money was voted into a line the district had already cut, on day one, by far more.
Related
| Lunenburg pays, rest of the school year of the movenot from the books | Lunenburg pays, the whole school year afternot from the books | The other town pays, across bothnot from the books | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moves into Lunenburg, 1 November | $0 | $230,514 | $153,676 |
| Moves into Lunenburg, 1 March | $0 | $230,514 | $76,838 |
| Moves into Lunenburg, 1 June | $0 | $0 | $249,724 |
| Leaves Lunenburg, 1 November | $153,676 | $0 | $230,514 |
| Leaves Lunenburg, 1 June | $19,210 | $230,514 | $0 |
| Already lives in Lunenburg, newly placed, 1 November | $153,676 | $230,514 | $0 |
An example, not any child’s bill: $230,514 a year, the average private placement, FY2022 to FY2025 (private tuition divided by the children placed, our estimate), split by the months left in the school year. The law: the town the child came from pays the rest of that year; from 1 April to 30 June, the next year too. A child placed here who was not already placed is Lunenburg’s from the start. If the new team changes the placement, Lunenburg pays any increase. A year later the state repays about $133,571 of a year’s $230,514, leaving about $96,943 a year to Lunenburg (our arithmetic).
What was said
“School special education move in transfer of $50,000 (may be reduced at town meeting)”
— Jennifer Warren-Dyment, Town Manager, presenting her budget, Finance Committee, 27 March 2025
“we currently have students on our radar that may require out of district placement and we have also had students move into the district that require out of district placements”
— Dr. Jodi Fortuna, Superintendent of Schools, School Committee, 4 February 2026
Sources
- Town of Lunenburg — Town Accountant (MUNIS) — glytdbud-expense-fy2026-p13-gf-school.xlsx (school general fund, FY2026 at the close)
- Lunenburg Finance Committee — general-fund-budget-vs-actuals-history.xlsx (voted against spent, FY2010 to FY2022)
- Massachusetts DESE — dese-circuit-breaker.xlsx (circuit breaker payments)
- Lunenburg Public Schools — 2026-10-22-special-education-funding-superintendent-finance-committee.pptx (special education funding, to the Finance Committee, 22 October 2026)
- Town of Lunenburg — 4130-fy-2025-annual-town-report.pdf (FY2025 annual town report: the May 2025 Town Meeting votes)
- Massachusetts DESE — radar-sped-direct-expenditure-trends-fy2008-fy2025.xlsx (special education direct expenditure trends, FY2008 to FY2025)
- General Court of Massachusetts — G.L. c.40 §13E, the special education reserve fund
- Lunenburg Budget Project — munis-school-journal.csv (every school journal line, FY2023–FY2026)
- Lunenburg Budget Project — dese-entitlement-allocations.csv (DESE entitlement grant allocations)
- Lunenburg Budget Project — placement-counts.csv (the town’s 1 March placement counts)
- General Court of Massachusetts — G.L. c.71B §5 (Section5.html)
- Massachusetts DESE — 603 CMR 28.00, special education regulations