Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!

Town forum clarifies how education spending is tallied and flags a $5.77M school reserve

January 15, 2026 | North Attleborough Public Schools, School Boards, Massachusetts


This article was created by AI summarizing key points discussed. AI makes mistakes, so for full details and context, please refer to the video of the full meeting. Please report any errors so we can fix them. Report an error »

Town forum clarifies how education spending is tallied and flags a $5.77M school reserve
At an unspecified town forum, participants debated how the town tallies education spending and whether a $5,773,434 school reserve fund is effectively available for school needs.

One participant, identified in the transcript as Speaker 2, said the 52% (or 51.9%) figure cited in public discussion "is actually North Attleborough Public Schools" and that the number is drawn from the town's departmental budget based on a $113,000,000 budget. Speaker 2 added that "Tri County comes to an average tuition of about $3,800,000 every year" and that the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) project for a new Tri County high school will add about $2,700,000 next year, meaning Tri County-related costs total roughly $6.5–$7.0 million borne by the town.

The exchange focused on how those Tri County amounts are included in public-facing education percentages. Speaker 1 had opened the conversation by saying people often assume the 52% figure refers solely to local schools and urged the forum to "dial in on North Attleborough Public Schools." Speaker 2 described how different line items — town-paid tuition for regional schools and town-paid health insurance for school employees — are recorded in the town budget.

A separate concern came from Speaker 3, who questioned the accessibility of the school reserve fund. "I'm still boggled by the reserve number that I saw of the school reserve fund is $5,773,434," Speaker 3 said, adding that the fund appears to sit in a non-interest-bearing account and that they had been told by the superintendent it was "not real money." Speaker 3 asked why the account grows each year and suggested interest could buy equipment such as Chromebooks.

In response, Speaker 4 told the group they did not know which account Speaker 3 referenced and cautioned that many accounts are one-time revenues designated for specific purposes. "That's something we can't just tap into those random accounts because they're most of it's one-time revenue for a very specific purpose," Speaker 4 said, giving "parking fees" as an example and saying the town cannot use one-time funds to cover recurring expenses.

The discussion also noted recent budget changes and staffing trends. Speaker 3 said the education budget rose about 8% for 2025–26 while public safety and public works rose 1.5% and 1.9% respectively, and expressed concern that superintendent and assistant superintendent compensation had increased while teacher staffing (described as "down around 15%") remains low.

No formal motions or votes were recorded in the provided transcript. The discussion centered on clarifying which costs are counted in public education-spending figures and on requests for clearer accounting and access rules for reserve and restricted funds.

Don't Miss a Word: See the Full Meeting!

Go beyond summaries. Unlock every video, transcript, and key insight with a Founder Membership.

Get instant access to full meeting videos
Search and clip any phrase from complete transcripts
Receive AI-powered summaries & custom alerts
Enjoy lifetime, unrestricted access to government data
Access Full Meeting

30-day money-back guarantee

Sponsors

Proudly supported by sponsors who keep Massachusetts articles free in 2026

Scribe from Workplace AI
Scribe from Workplace AI