Dudley‑Charlton schools present FY26 operating plan, ratify contract and outline $94M 10‑year capital needs

Superintendent Steven Marsh told a joint meeting of the Town of Charlton select board, the Charlton finance committee and the Dudley‑Charlton Regional School District school committee on April 16 that the district’s FY26 operating budget is balanced around several optimistic state funding assumptions and local cost reductions.

Marsh said the House budget released that day proposed $150 per student under Chapter 70, up from a $75 figure in the governor’s draft, and that change — if it survives the legislature — would translate to roughly a $200,000 to $300,000 increase in state aid for the district. "It's between 200 and 3 hundred thousand dollar increase in chapter 78 for us as a district," Marsh said.

Why it matters: State aid levels, transportation reimbursement rates and health insurance costs are the district’s principal budget risks. Marsh said those three variables, plus negotiated personnel costs, drive the assessment the two towns will see this year and that earlier in the spring the district built a budget that uses one‑time funds to smooth the operating plan.

Key budget details - The district is aiming to use excess and deficiency funds to help balance the FY26 operating budget; Marsh said the district targeted…