HUDSON – With the anticipation of a potential Proposition 2 1/2 budget override for the 2026 fiscal year, the School Committee heard from Alicia Mallon, field director for the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC), about how to approach a successful override.
Speaking during their Oct. 22 meeting, Mallon said that the financial pinch that Hudson schools are feeling is not unique.
“There’s a growing number of school committees and towns who are trying for overrides. We are all in the same budget boat together,” she said.
Proposition 2 1/2 is the name of the state law used to describe the amount of money communities are limited to when raising taxes, she said. Passed in 1980, the idea behind the law was to not have taxes rise and fall at disparate rates and to have a way to level out the tax process.
The levy ceiling, levy limit and levy are calculated by the town’s individual finances. The levy ceiling is determined by calculating 2.5% of the total full and fair cash value of taxable real estate and personal property in a town.
The limit, she said, is the maximum that can be raised in a year and is based on the previous year’s tax increase, and the levy itself is the amount that can be raised through the property tax increases each year. The levy can be any amount up to the levy limit.
Simply put, an override is the action by the town to allow the property taxes to be raised over the 2.5% limit. She said it can be only for the school district budget or be an omnibus budget override for the town as a whole, including the schools.
“The reason for the override should be clear when you start the process, so you know where it is going,” said Mallon.
The process to pass a budget override involves two steps of passing it at Town Meeting and as a ballot question. It does not have to be in a specific order, but it helps if it passes at Town Meeting before it goes on as an election ballot question, she said.
“Then you can advocate and then vote. And you can better inform the voters as to what it is you’re asking for,” said Mallon.
According to Mallon, Westford successfully passed a budget override for the schools in 2017, but this year, the town was not successful in an override pursuit. The advice she presented was from her experience on its steering committee for the 2017 override.
She advised the School Committee members that they should always check with the counsel if they have questions about their participation in supporting an override. She noted that the more specific they can be in their explanation for asking for an override, the better off the school district will be in its efforts to pass it.
Mallon explained the ethical actions for supporting an override. District resources, such as email accounts, physical supplies or school spaces, cannot be used.
“It is a political event,” she said.
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According to the Massachusetts Ethics Commission Advisory, the committee can take an official position, and members can write and send letters to the editor to a publication. A roadshow where people can learn about the override at public meetings in spaces like the Senior Center or library does work, she said.
Mallon also emphasized the importance of forming a steering committee of three or four people to direct everyone and help the effort be organized. The key is to let people know why an override is needed and who will benefit from it passing.
“You need to tell your story,” she said.
She said the cost of an override not passing is not just about numbers. When it comes to staff impacted by this scenario, she said, people who work for the school and with the kids will be affected.
“We need to be very careful how we express those things,” said Mallon.
Mallon recommended having a learning aid like a frequently asked questions sheet. She said mailers, postcards and lawn signs with solid, bite-sized facts about the reasons for an override are also important.
She said, “You need to educate and advocate.”
