Groton-Dunstable officials say $50.8M FY26 budget needs overrides in both towns to avoid staff cuts

The Groton-Dunstable Regional School District presented a $50.8 million fiscal 2026 operating budget at an online budget forum and said voter-approved overrides in Groton and Dunstable — about $673,000 and $380,000, respectively — are needed to keep staffing at the proposed level and to restore two positions cut last year, district officials said.

District leaders emphasized the proposal maintains current staffing overall while restoring a middle-school guidance counselor and a middle-school nurse; it also includes one central-office administrative assistant reduction for a net increase of 1.0 full-time equivalent (FTE). “This is basically maintaining our current level of staffing with no reductions,” Dr. Bruno said while presenting the superintendent’s proposed budget.

The nut graf: the proposal would raise the district’s operating spending roughly 6.53 percent over fiscal 2025 (from about $47.7 million to $50.8 million). Officials said long-term shifts in state school aid have increased the towns’ share of the district’s operating costs and that, without overrides in both towns, the district would have to make substantial personnel and program reductions.

Most important details - Budget total and increase: The superintendent’s proposed operating budget is approximately $50,800,000, a roughly 6.5 percent increase over FY25. Officials said the increase is driven largely by contractual wage increases and benefit costs. - FTE and staffing: Two-year comparison the district had about 377 FTEs two years ago, fell to roughly 352 after recent cuts, and the FY26 proposal nets +1 FTE (restores two student-facing positions but removes one central-office administrative assistant). Dr. Bruno said the district cut positions last year and earlier years, and the FY26 budget restores the middle-school guidance counselor and a middle-school nurse that would serve both Middle School North and Florence Roche. - Override amounts and scenarios: To fund the superintendent’s proposed budget without further reductions the district said it needs overrides of about $673,000 in Groton and about $380,000 in Dunstable. Officials presented three scenarios: (1) overrides pass in both towns (current proposal); (2) no override in Groton, a smaller override in Dunstable (would still require about $185,000 in Dunstable under the regional agreement) and about $875,000 in reductions districtwide; (3) no overrides in either town, requiring about $1.7 million in reductions. - Potential reductions spelled out: A roughly $875,000 reduction scenario was described as approximately $775,000 in personnel cuts, including three central-office FTEs, not restoring the two counselor/nurse positions, about four paraprofessional FTEs and one teacher FTE, plus non-personnel savings such as revising kindergarten bus runs. A $1.7 million reduction would remove four central-office FTEs, not restore the two positions from last year, cut eight paraprofessional FTEs and four teacher FTEs, and include roughly $300,000 in non-personnel reductions.

Why the district says local asks grew District staff showed how state Chapter 70 aid has declined as a share of the district operating budget over time, increasing the towns’ share of funding. The presenters said Chapter 70 provided about 35 percent of operating funding in 2008 and about 24 percent by 2025, while combined local assessments rose from about 57 percent to about 72 percent over the same span. “The funding formula from the state side is broken for Groton and Dunstable and for a lot of other districts as well,” Dr. Bruno said.

Cost drivers and budget components Officials summarized components driving the 6.53 percent increase: about 80 percent of the budget is personnel costs; wages were budgeted to rise about 8 percent (largely contractual); benefits were listed at about a 1.49 percent increase, helped by a modest 2 percent health-insurance renewal; contractual services rose (15 percent on the slide) largely because of a renewed cleaning contract and anticipated bid increases; utilities include a roughly $100,000 increase for water because a closed well at the high school related to a PFAS issue will require town water service; transportation costs (especially special-education transportation) are rising; substitutes were up about 6 percent; supplies rose about 9 percent; and out-of-district tuitions were steady to slightly down, partially offset by applying more circuit-breaker reimbursement to the budget.

Select board decision and ballot timing District staff noted that the Groton Select Board recently approved two separate override questions on the Groton ballot — one to fund six additional firefighters and one for the school budget — rather than bundling them in a single question. “They opted to keep the two override questions separate,” a district official said. Officials said the separate structure allows voters to support one question and not the other.

Key dates and next steps District presenters listed upcoming public meetings and deadlines: a region-related budget and finance meeting and a school committee meeting the week of the forum, Groton’s annual town meeting scheduled for April 26, Dunstable’s town meeting on May 12, and the override ballot vote in both towns on May 20. Officials said the override must pass both at town meeting and on the ballot for the budget to take effect; if a ballot passes but a town meeting vote fails, the town would need to reconvene town meeting to appropriate funds.

Public questions and follow-up Presenters invited questions through chat, Q&A, and a district email address and said they will publish anonymized questions and answers on the district website. They also said they will try to schedule staff roundtables in early May and provide childcare at town meetings to facilitate attendance.

Ending District staff encouraged residents to submit questions to budgetquestions@gdrsd.org and said they will post Q&A on the district website. Additional hearings and the town meetings before the May 20 ballot will determine whether the proposed budget can be funded without the personnel reductions described in the scenarios presented at the forum.