Templeton Equalized Valuations as of January 2026

LA19 (PROPOSED)

CLASS	Assessed Value	Assessment Ratio	Estimated Full Value
RESIDENTIAL	1,107,203,185	0.95	1,165,477,000
OPEN SPACE	0		0
COMMERCIAL	52,525,350	0.95	55,240,700
INDUSTRIAL	24,719,600	0.95	26,020,600
PERSONAL PROPERTY	15,131,166	1.00	15,131,200
TOTAL REAL/PERSONAL PROPERTY	1,199,579,301	0.95	1,261,869,500
ESTIMATED GROWTH		1.17%	14,763,900
PROPOSED EQUALIZED VALUATION			1,276,633,400

 Alysa Hayden, library advisory specialist at the MBLC, began the session by stating that public libraries have an average 300% return on investment to their communities.

https://www.phillipston-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/984 

 The Boston teachers’ contract in April 2025 delivered pay raises for staff, a $181 million increase in school spending, and the end of more than a year of contentious negotiations.

The deal, agreed to shortly before a planned union protest of Mayor Michelle Wu’s State of the City address, averted what could have been a high-profile battle during an election year.

What the deal didn’t do: Guarantee Boston had the money to pay for it.

By the January after Wu’s reelection, city officials proposed cutting up to 400 jobs in the coming year’s school budget.

It’s a scenario that has played out across the state. Teachers unions have flexed their muscles in recent years, picketing and even striking to secure contracts with better pay and working conditions. Local politicians, seeking to avoid school disruptions and union pressure in elections, agree to substantial raises and other benefits.

But a tradeoff has emerged: Many of the same districts, including Boston, Newton, and Marblehead, announced budget cuts and layoffs within a few years of the new deals.

Similar episodes have played out across the country, according to Marguerite Roza, director of Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab.

“That’s the playbook these days,” Roza said. “Unions are asking for things they know the district can’t afford, and saying, ‘I don’t care, go get the money.’”

Often, school districts have managed to find the money. Brookline, for example, won overwhelming approval from town voters for a record tax override, to help pay for a 2022 teacher contract agreed to after a one-day strike. Of the $23 million brought in by the voter-approved tax hikes, about $18 million will go to the schools.

But that amount is still not enough to stave off all cuts, with some school positions set to be eliminated.

 

Senate to Start FY27 State Budget Debate Next Week   Senators Will Soon Review All Municipal and School Amendments   Please Call Your Senators and Ask for Their Support for Key Amendments   May 13, 2026   Dear Jeffrey,   Next week, the Senate is scheduled to launch a week-long debate on the fiscal 2027 Senate Budget (S. 4). More than 1100 amendments have been filed for consideration including several proposals affecting cities, towns, and school districts.   It is critically important that as soon as possible, you contact your Senators and ask them to co-sponsor and support the amendments below, while opposing amendments that would subvert municipal authority.   The Senate Ways and Means budget is a strong proposal that builds on the education investments included in the House budget with a proposal to boost Unrestricted General Government Aid. When you speak with your Senators, be sure to thank them for the many strong investments included in the Senate Ways and Means budget including: $53 million for UGGA, Chapter 70 minimum aid to $160 per student, full funding the state’s obligation for Special Education Circuit Breaker and Charter School Mitigation Payments, increases in regional school transportation, funding for universal school meals, and more. Additionally, be sure to thank them for not including provisions which would have jeopardized critical local revenue collections.   Please review the below information that includes points to raise with your Senators. Please call them as soon as possible to ask for their action on these amendments and highlight how these proposals would impact your community.   Ask your Senators to support and co-sponsor:   Rural School Aid (Amendments #648 & 731, & 618) – Please ask your Senators to support Amendments, which would target $9 million, $24 million, and $44 million, respectively, for the Rural School Aid program that offers critical support to rural school districts (7061-9813).   Regional School Transportation (Amendments #596, 605, & 619) – These amendments would increase funding for regional school transportation reimbursements by approximately $6.3 million, $12.7 million, and $14.9 million, respectively (7035-0006).

 What is a Levy?

The property tax levy is the revenue a community can raise through real and personal property taxes.

What is a Levy Ceiling? What is a Levy Limit?

What is a Levy Ceiling?

What is a Levy Limit?

Proposition 2 1/2 places constraints on the amount of the levy raised by a city or town and on how much the levy can

be increased from year to year.

A levy limit is a restriction on the amount of property taxes a community can levy. Proposition 2 1/2 established two

types of levy limits:

First, a community cannot levy more than 2.5 percent of the total full and fair cash value of all taxable real and personal property in the community. In this primer we will refer to the full and fair cash value limit as the levy ceiling.

Second, a community’s levy is also constrained in that it can only increase by a certain amount from year to year.

We will refer to the maximum amount a community can levy in a given year as the levy limit. The levy limit will

always be below, or at most, equal to the levy ceiling. The levy limit may not exceed the levy ceiling.

How is a Levy Limit Calculated?

A levy limit for each community is calculated annually by the Department of Revenue. It is important to note that a

community’s levy limit is based on the previous year’s levy limit and not on the previous year’s actual levy.

 State Senator Peter J. Durant

11h ·

This morning I met on the common in West Brookfield with constituents who are passionate about saving the West Brookfield Elementary School. The school is in danger of closing, sending pupils to Warren, the other town in the Quaboag Regional School District.

The town is facing two override votes to try to preserve town services and save the school. They are just one of many communities in this dire situation.

What many folks didn't know was that this week, in Boston, House Republicans stood up and forced a roll call vote in an effort to fully fund Rural School Aid which could have helped communities like West Brookfield.

That amendment would have raised the funding to $60 million which is what the state’s own commission said it should be. But Democrats killed it.

Democrats didn’t debate it. They didn’t even offer an alternative.

They killed it.

Every single Democrat in the House stood up and voted against the thing these rural communities need most and then they went home.

I and my Republican colleagues in the Senate have plans to try to right this wrong when we begin work on our budget next week.

We plan to file and support amendments to fund Rural School Aid and increase Local Aid by cutting programs like free calls for inmates. We will propose increasing funding for Regional School Transportation and tapping the interest in the state’s so-called rainy day fund - because across the state it’s pouring on our small communities and they are drowning.

This morning, these hearty folks looked at the details of the House vote in surprise and asked over and over, what can we do to get these Democrats on our side?