Montachusett Tech outlines budget, MVP Academy expansion and grant strategy to Templeton boards

Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School officials presented their FY26 budget and program update to Templeton’s select board and advisory committee in March 2025, emphasizing grant‑funded program growth and an effort to keep assessments to member towns as low and stable as possible.

"We try to make a very strong effort to see if we can fund things without having to affect the towns," the district’s superintendent said during the presentation, noting an active grants program and a multi‑year strategy to hold assessment increases down while meeting program needs.

The school’s business manager, Tammy Brown, reviewed the foundation and assessment calculations used to apportion costs to the 18 member communities. Key figures presented: Montachusett’s foundation budget was listed at $30,990,004.14 and a calculated foundation per‑pupil amount of $20,008.27. The district’s proposed overall FY26 budget was $34,641,344, a 3.51% increase; when transportation and capital assessments are included the school projected a total assessment increase of roughly 6.11% to member towns. For Templeton specifically, Montachusett’s proposed assessment was presented as $633,606 (Templeton’s required minimum contribution to the regional foundation was shown as $583,816, a decrease of $20,760 from the prior year under the state formula as presented).

Officials stressed the district pursues competitive grants to limit town assessments. The presentation listed roughly $1 million in recurring federal grants (Perkins, Title I and IDEA among them) and a larger set of competitive awards the district actively pursues. Brown said the lab‑modernization grant used to create the district’s MVP Academy site amounted to about $1.8 million and funded renovation of a leased warehouse used for hands‑on carpentry and electrical labs.

MVP Academy specifics: the program offers house‑carpentry and electrical training in a leased warehouse lab. Montachusett said it initially served about 12 students in the pilot and allocates vocational foundation dollars to Montachusett for students who remain enrolled in their home districts — the district receives the difference between the vocational foundation rate and the home district’s regular per‑pupil foundation amount for each claimed vocational student (Tammy Brown explained that difference is roughly $6,000 per vocational student). Montachusett said it expects to expand MVP capacity (the district discussed adding plumbing and other trades) and that the program provides access to students who did not gain admission to Montachusett’s main campus.

Officials described other grant‑backed efforts: a Commonwealth Corporation workforce program that provides after‑school vocational training and placement for young adults with disabilities (the program doubled from 12 to 25 students this year), a cybersecurity investment tied to recent incidents, a spray‑booth purchase for auto‑body programs supported by combined funds, and industry‑grade heavy‑equipment simulators purchased with donor and grant support.

Board members asked about transportation costs, the structure of bus contracts and long‑term facility funding. Brown said the district runs roughly 30 yellow buses; the budget includes estimated transportation aid and a plan to place any excess state transportation reimbursements into a regional transportation revolving fund to reduce future assessments. She also said the current transportation contract is a three‑plus‑two option arrangement and that the district typically bids routes by package (several vendors may serve different route packages).

Montachusett officials closed by inviting towns to propose practical projects that students could perform and by noting a planned grand‑opening for the MVP Academy now that renovations were complete.