As the Blackstone Valley Vocational Regional School District 2024-2025 Budget Subcommittee prepares the FY26 annual budget, it remains committed to producing a sustainable operational budget, mindful of its obligation to complement assessments requested of its thirteen member communities.

Preparing an operational budget involves many steps. The Budget Subcommittee embraces a multifaceted, mindful approach that requires collaboration among its school community members and informed stakeholders. From October to March of each year, the Subcommittee holds working sessions to examine, discuss, investigate, research, expand, delete, or otherwise modify its proposed budget, which is submitted to the District School Committee for approval before it seeks districtwide support. 

The finance committee members, who review the proposed budget request each year, often commend the capital planning approach, which seizes selective cost-effective strategies with needed campus improvements. Rather than burden its member communities with additional capital-related assessments, the District vigilantly looks for external federal, state, and supplemental funding sources to initiate enhancements through reimbursement or outright award.

 Reviewers of the FY26 proposed budget will observe many mitigation strategies to reduce assessments despite continuing inflationary pressure. Such measures include negotiating and securing employee health insurance benefits at last year’s level, creative revenue generated via the sale of surplus property, pension billing relief from the Commonwealth, building rentals, and District Excess and Deficiency reserves to reduce the assessment of its thirteen town municipalities. The District continues to pursue competitive grant opportunities, but grant funds, by design, do not serve as a renewable source for daily operational expenses. Therefore, blending local assessments with secured grant resources is highly beneficial and avoids any audit exceptions.

The Budget Subcommittee has seized every resource and examined every opportunity for cost savings to enhance and protect district taxpayers’ investment and develop a plan worth supporting. A public hearing will be held at BVT on March 13, 2025, beginning at 5 p.m. in the Cafeteria, 65 Pleasant Street, Upton. It is an opportunity for residents to consider the proposed FY26 Budget, which puts needed resources behind supporting student success.

 About Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School (BVT):

Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School serves the towns of Bellingham, Blackstone, Douglas, Grafton, Hopedale, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Millville, Northbridge, Sutton, Upton, and Uxbridge. Located in the heart of the Blackstone Valley, BVT creates a positive learning community that prepares students for personal and professional success in an internationally competitive society through a fusion of rigorous vocational, technical, and academic skills.