Bridgewater-Raynham school committee presents FY26 "level services" budget, warns of $6.4M shortfall

The Bridgewater-Raynham School Committee presented a FY2026 "level services" budget at a public hearing at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School, describing a projected $6,400,000 deficit and asking the two member towns to consider increased funding or an override to avoid program and staff cuts.

The committee said the proposed budget preserves current staffing levels for one year but will not reduce class sizes and would rely on $2.0–$2.4 million from the district’s E&D (savings) fund and school-choice receipts to balance part of the gap. "This budget will not address class size," Budget Subcommittee Chair Miss King said. "However, it will hopefully keep us status quo while the towns and school committee work together to figure out a better plan for funding future budgets."

Why it matters: committee and district leaders warned that without additional town or state funding the district would face program reductions (including extracurriculars and some electives), elimination of positions, and higher class sizes that would damage instruction and special-education compliance. Superintendent Mister Powers said staffing shortfalls have already led to DESE complaints this year and that "we found ourselves out of compliance, on 3 occasions, because of staffing." He added that sending students out of district to meet needs typically increases costs rather than reducing them.

Key numbers and…