MA Town Votes To Defund School District After False Information Circulates

UXBRIDGE, MA — When students in Uxbridge leave school for summer vacation next month, they might never return.

Uxbridge Town Meeting on Tuesday voted down the proposed fiscal 2025 school budget request, which means the district will have $0 to operate schools when the new fiscal year begins on July 1.

The reason: Town Meeting members were told the district could be funded on a month-to-month basis until the district could present Town Meeting with a more favorable budget proposal.

Following a news release on the vote issued by the school district, several town meetings contacted Patch to say they were only informed about the erroneous month-to-month option after the budget was voted down — not before.

The district's proposed 2025 budget was $27.6 million, about 11 percent or $2.6 million higher than fiscal 2024. About 70 percent of the increase is due to compensation, while the district is also facing increased costs for transportation, coupled with the inability to use revolving funds to supplement the budget.

It's unclear what happens next. Uxbridge Superintendent Michael Baldassarre will bring the issue to the Uxbridge School Committee at its next meeting on May 20.

"It is expected that the Uxbridge School Committee will report back to the community with its proposed next steps," the district said in a news release Thursday. "Superintendent Baldassarre will continue to work with DESE to gain further clarification from DESE and acquire written guidance to help inform the process so that this situation can be rectified as soon as possible."

School districts across Massachusetts are facing budget problems this spring for a variety of reasons, including a lower inflation rate used in calculating how much state money goes to districts, and increased pay and benefits costs.