Consultants tell Acton-Boxborough committee enrollment has fallen, district outperforms peers but faces budget and facility choices

Acton — Consultants from DMG Group presented a diagnostic analysis to the Acton-Boxborough Regional School Committee on Sept. 9, laying out enrollment trends, student needs, academic outcomes, staffing and facilities costs, and next steps for a strategic plan and possible school reorganization.

DMG consultant Joe Costello said enrollment has “declined significantly,” and that district demographics have shifted: multilingual learners have risen sharply, the percentage of students eligible for economic supports has increased, and students’ instructional and behavioral needs have grown more complex. Costello said those shifts have played out unevenly across the district’s six elementary schools, largely because of the district’s open-enrollment policy and the kindergarten lottery.

The study’s nut graf: the district produces high academic results relative to peers while spending below the state average, but persistent achievement gaps for English learners and students with disabilities and mounting capital and operating pressures mean the committee must weigh trade-offs involving school design, program placement and long-term finance.

Key findings presented to the committee included:

- Enrollment trends and student needs: DMG reported about a 10% decline in enrollment over the last decade and projected a further 4% decline over the next 10 years. The consultant noted that, while the proportion of students formally designated as students with disabilities has remained near 16%, the complexity of behavioral and instructional needs has increased. Multilingual learners (first language not English and English learners) grew by roughly twofold during the study period, according to the presentation.

- Distribution of need across elementary schools: The consultants showed marked variation in the composition of student need across Blanchard, Conant, Douglas, Gates, McTernan (McTee), and Merriam elementary schools. Costello said that variation is “largely driven by the district’s policy for enrollment,” meaning open enrollment and the kindergarten lottery place students unevenly across buildings. DMG cautioned that perceived differences among schools can be larger than actual curricular differences but that the current configuration creates coordination and efficiency challenges for distributing specialized services.

- Academic outcomes and educator stress: DMG told the committee that Acton-Boxborough “outperforms the state and peer districts on key metrics” such as MCAS and graduation rates while spending below the state average. At the same time, DMG highlighted persistent performance gaps—especially for English learners—and cited survey results showing that 66% of educators reported feeling frequently or almost always stressed at work (survey date and instrument described in the presentation). The consultants said targeted changes to program design and staff deployment could help address those gaps and staff workload.

- Finances and facilities: The presentation summarized district spending trends, reporting roughly $16 million in increased district spending over the last five years and describing changes in how state aid is allocated (Chapter 70). DMG showed planned near-term capital needs across the district’s buildings and identified Conant as having the largest projected expenses. The consultants used Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) cohorts for peer comparisons and noted that most district expenditures are personnel-related.

- Process and next steps: Costello described the work plan: DMG and the AB Forward steering committee have completed a diagnostic and will confirm strategic-plan language with the steering committee, then develop reorganization options that will be taken to the community through surveys, focus groups and public meetings. He said those options would return to the steering committee in October and be presented to the school committee in early December. “How should Acton Boxborough design its schools and programs to really meet the changing needs of students?” Costello asked the committee during the presentation.

Committee members asked about definitions (for example, the distinction between general education and special education paraprofessionals), peer comparisons that include transportation, the representativeness and methods of the community survey, and whether student SEL survey results covered particular grade ranges. DMG said the SEL data referenced in the slide deck covered grades 3 through 6 and that survey methods used a mix of human review and AI features baked into the ThoughtExchange tool for thematic analysis, with financial comparisons done in Excel.

No formal decisions were made during the presentation; the committee directed staff and consultants to continue the steering‑committee and community engagement schedule laid out by DMG, with additional outreach to underrepresented groups in forthcoming engagement rounds.

The presentation and slides prompted detailed public-committee discussion of trade-offs among school‑design options, program placement, staffing allocations and capital priorities; DMG and district staff said they would return with concrete reorganization scenarios after confirming strategic-plan language with the steering committee.