Stand Up for Education
The Funding Crisis Facing Bridgewater-Raynham Regional Schools
Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District (BRRSD) is in the worst financial shape in its history. This isn’t spin — it’s the conclusion of the district’s own independent audit. Here’s what’s actually happening, with the numbers behind it.
Schools in Crisis: The Issues We Face
Our schools in Bridgewater are struggling. With budget cuts and rising student numbers, classrooms are becoming overcrowded and under-resourced, risking the education our children deserve. Let’s take a closer look at these pressing issues and the impact on our students, families, and community.
The 2025 Override Failures Triggered a Budget Collapse
In June 2025, Bridgewater and Raynham voters rejected Proposition 2½ override questions ($8 million and $3.9 million respectively) that would have funded a $106 million school budget. With no way to close the gap, the School Committee was forced to adopt a reduced $98.6 million operating budget for FY26 — about $7.4 million short of what the district said it needed.
Class Sizes Have Exploded Past State Norms
The result of the cuts: elementary classrooms with 28–30+ students, and high school sections running 29–43 students. The district’s overall student-teacher ratio, 17.1 to 1, is now the highest among comparable South Shore districts. Teachers report students having to explain material to each other because one teacher can’t field questions from 35 kids in a period.
Programs and Electives Have Been Gutted
Between 55 and 70 staff positions were eliminated over two years, including roughly 20 teachers at the high school and its entire business department. Nearly 40 high school electives were cut, leaving many students sitting through 80-minute study halls instead of taking classes.
Families Are Paying More to Fill the Gap
To offset the shortfall, the district nearly doubled athletic fees, from $360 to $600 per sport, and eliminated the family fee cap that previously limited what households with multiple student-athletes had to pay.
BRRSD Spends Far Less Per Student Than the Rest of Massachusetts
BRRSD spends roughly $16,125–$16,783 per student, more than $5,000 below the state average of $21,256. That puts the district in the bottom 2% of Massachusetts school districts for per-pupil spending. School Committee Chair Rachel King has publicly called the district “bottom of the barrel” on this measure.
The Structural Problem
This isn’t a one-time budget miss. Under Proposition 2½, member towns can raise property tax revenue by only 2.5% a year plus new growth — but mandated costs like special education, health insurance, and transportation regularly rise 5–15% annually. Layered on top of that, the state’s Chapter 70 formula has historically given BRRSD only “minimum aid” increases as low as 1.2–1.35% in past years. The math simply doesn’t work without either a permanent override or state formula reform.
Enrollment Is Growing While Funding Isn’t
While most Massachusetts districts are shrinking, BRRSD’s enrollment grew by about 400 students over the past five years — meaning the district is being asked to serve more kids with a budget that hasn’t kept pace.
Students Are Leaving — and Taking Funding With Them
28.2% of BRRSD eighth-graders are now choosing not to attend Bridgewater-Raynham High School, opting instead for vocational, charter, or private schools. Every student who leaves takes state aid with them; the district is projected to pay roughly $2 million next year in charter and school-choice tuition costs as a result.
FY27: Same Crisis, Bigger Ask
The Audit Cleared Mismanagement — But Confirmed the Crisis Is Real
Facing a trust gap with town officials, the district commissioned a $70,000 independent review from CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA), presented in March 2026. The audit found no major operational mismanagement — the district actually beat regional inflation on health insurance costs and raised its special-education reimbursement rate from 57.6% to 66.7%. But it also flagged a looming problem: $4.4 million in staff salaries were being covered by expiring federal pandemic (ESSER) grants, a cost the local budget will now have to absorb on its own.
In March 2026, the School Committee voted 7-1 to approve a $103.8 million FY27 operating budget — a 4.92% increase, meant only to restore 10 of the roughly 70 positions lost. State Chapter 70 aid is only rising 0.58% this year, so the budget requires a 9.87% assessment increase from Bridgewater and 7.8% from Raynham. Committee member Andi Hoy Thomas summed up the mood, calling class sizes still under 30 “pathetic and appalling” even as she voted for the budget. Early town forecasts suggest Bridgewater may only be able to afford a 2.5–3% increase — a gap that would force even deeper cuts.
The Bottom Line
An independent audit has already ruled out mismanagement as the cause. The problem is structural — a state funding formula and a local tax cap that haven’t kept pace with mandated costs and real enrollment growth.
Residents deserve town leadership that is transparent about this gap and proactive about solving it, rather than leaving families to absorb the fallout year after year.
Sources: South Shore News (“Fiscal Freefall: How Bridgewater-Raynham Reached the Brink”); Bridgewater-Raynham News (Substack); Bridgewater Finance Committee records. Residents are encouraged to review the CLA audit and BRRSD budget documents directly at bridge-rayn.org for primary-source verification.