BVT superintendent outlines FY26 budget, proposes $700,000 in E&D uses and announces June retirement

Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick, superintendent of Blackstone Valley Vocational Technical School, presented the Blackstone Valley Regional School District’s proposed FY26 budget to the Town of Uxbridge finance committee on April 9 and announced his planned retirement effective June 30 after 53 years in education. "I announced my retirement, in June 30 after 53 years in education," Fitzpatrick said, adding that the school committee did not push him to step down.

Fitzpatrick said the district’s FY26 budget shows a 5.7% increase driven by federal and state funding limits and rising fixed costs, but that the district has secured grants and low health‑insurance increases that ease the burden on member towns. "We have over $3,000,000 that's been secured in grants that add resources without asking the towns for that," he said, and noted that locally produced materials — including the printed budget book and a 30‑second annual report — were student projects used for hands‑on learning.

A central constraint for the FY26 assessment is the state’s House 1 numbers. Fitzpatrick said the governor’s Chapter 70 base aid figure and the state’s calculation of each community’s ability to pay left Uxbridge with a higher minimum obligation than district leaders expected. He explained that the state’s approach now weights property and income values and municipal growth factors in ways that often disadvantage smaller or suburban communities in the redistribution of aid.

To limit assessments, the district proposes drawing on its excess and deficiency (E&D) balances and creating a stabilization account for categorical capital use. Fitzpatrick told the committee the district plans to draw $250,000 from E&D to fund an initial phase of roof repairs and to allocate $400,000 of certified E&D as a match for a $1.2 million state grant to renovate the Culinary Arts program. "To match $1.2 million with $400 seemed like a good idea," he said. He added the school committee is asking member towns to consider allowing up to $700,000 of remaining E&D to be used either as grant matches or for repairs.

Fitzpatrick reviewed past accounting issues the district contested with the state, saying auditors once flagged a delayed pension billing for support personnel from 2013–2014; the district resisted paying retroactive charges at the time. He said the auditors subsequently deemed portions of that balance outside the statute of limitations and that the district has left certified E&D on its books while proposing phased draws to reduce town assessments in FY26 and later years.

Committee members asked about per‑pupil cost differences across the region. Fitzpatrick attributed the variance to the state formula and to differing municipal abilities to pay, noting pupils are a rear‑view metric for regional assessment calculations. He also described program yields: roughly half of each graduating class moves directly into industry while the other half pursue further education before entering the trades, and the district plans to expand adult training programs for up to 100 adults if state approvals come through.

Fitzpatrick stressed the district’s efforts to limit borrowing in FY26 and to secure reimbursement through the Mass. School Building Authority for capital projects. He said the school will continue to seek grant funding and to use student labor when possible to reduce costs. The school committee will consider a stabilization‑account vote at its meeting; Fitzpatrick said the account would be restricted to capital uses and that initial funding would likely come from donations or fundraising rather than new assessments.

The committee did not take a binding vote on the district’s budget at the April 9 meeting; Fitzpatrick said the school committee would vote on related school‑committee motions at its meeting the following evening. The public hearing was continued to April 10.