On May 5, Acton Town Meeting voted to approve Warrant articles 8 and 9, which permit the Town of Acton to fund its portion of the budgets for the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District and the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School District for the fiscal year 2025-26.
Article 8: ABRSD assessment
Acton’s 2025-26 assessment for the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District is $79,959,269, a 1.12 percent increase over last year. 239 Town Meeting members voted in favor, and 37 were opposed.
Because Acton-Boxborough is a regional school district, the budget requires an additional affirmative vote from Boxborough’s Town Meeting scheduled for Monday, May 12. Boxborough’s 2025-26 assessment is $16 million.
School Committee Vice Chair Rebeccah Wilson, who presented to Acton Town Meeting, shared measurable successes over the past year related to district goals. These included results from the Emerson Youth Risk Behavior Survey published this past fall in which AB students self-reported improvements in social, emotional, and mental and behavioral health factors linked to academic and personal success. The district has also seen a 50% increase since 2020 in the number of AB’s High School students taking advanced placement exams and receiving qualifying scores, and eighth-grade math assessment performance, which now exceeds pre-pandemic levels.
Wilson also reported on staffing trends in response to enrollment shifts over the past decade. “Overall enrollment has dropped by 10% since 2014-15, a trend the district expects will continue, with a decline of an additional 330 students anticipated over the next eight years,” Wilson said. “Over the past decade, we’ve reduced general education classroom teachers by a similar percentage with 31 fewer general education teachers today compared to 2014-15. At the same time, the district has experienced a 10 percent increase in high-needs students over the past decade and has added 45 specialized staff positions and created programs to keep students in-district.”
As operating costs continue to escalate, Wilson warned that the district has reached the point where staffing cuts over the last four budget cycles totaling 80 full-time equivalent employees “cannot continue along this path without impacting core services.” The district has contracted with the consulting firm District Management Group to support continued efforts to realize efficiencies and identify cost-saving, structural changes.
Finance Committee Member Christi Andersen warned Town Meeting members of the difficult fiscal times that lie ahead. “The school district is anticipating future increases of up to 5.8 percent to Acton’s assessment just to meet current needs. These steep increases are being experienced across the country. It’s important to understand that this is not unique to Acton and not something we have caused.” Anderson lauded the School Committee for recognizing that these increases are not sustainable for Acton’s taxpayers and noted that the district has begun plans to restructure on a significant scale. “Do not expect to see immediate budgetary results but know that hard work is being done to bring school budget growth to a sustainable level. Finances will be challenging for the next few years while restructuring is planned and executed,” Andersen said.
Article 9: Minuteman Regional School District assessment
Town Meeting also approved Acton’s portion of the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School assessment for the fiscal year 2025-26. The $3,498,892 assessment to the Town of Acton is a 2.83 percent reduction compared to last year’s assessment of $3,600,903.
Two hundred fifty-eight (258) Acton Town Meeting members voted in favor and 28 were opposed.
The Minuteman District comprises nine member towns including Acton, Arlington, Bolton, Concord, Dover, Lancaster, Lexington, Needham and Stow and offers 19 career majors within the context of an integrated academic and vocational education that includes hands-on, skills-based training and career preparation. Assessments for member towns are based on a four-year rolling average of enrollment by town.
Minuteman Superintendent Heidi Driscoll reported that there are currently 83 students from Acton attending Minuteman High School. Total school enrollment is 669 students.
Driscoll publicly recognized Acton students for their outstanding contributions including Abby Cluett, a senior enrolled in Minuteman’s Health Assisting Program who was named the 2025 Outstanding Vocational Student of the Year and received a commendation from the state for academic and vocational excellence.
During the pre-vote deliberation, several Town Meeting attendees voiced concerns about Minuteman’s per-pupil cost, which is approximately $37,000. Superintendent Driscoll identified significant cost drivers related to transporting students from nine member districts and delivering stand-alone special education programs without the benefit of shared resources. Driscoll also spoke to the costs of running an educational model that she described as “project-driven 100% of the time.” Driscoll told Town Meeting that “sending districts don’t fully understand how different and expensive a project-driven educational model is” and shared as an example that students enrolled in Minuteman’s Metal Fabrication and Welding Program are literally trained by experienced staff in a welding shop housed at the high school and on CNC machines (specialized, computer-controlled cutting machines) required by employer-partners. “Students come out with certifications so they can work in industry straight out of school.”
Diane Baum is the School Committee beat reporter for the Acton Exchange. She served on the Acton-Boxborough Regional School Committee from 2015 to 2021.
