Manchester Essex's $33.7 million school budget: who decides, what it pays for and how students are doing

The short version:

• The Manchester Essex Regional School District's budget is $33.7 million this year, up 3.5%. Manchester pays $18.1 million and Essex pays $11.1 million. State aid and district savings pay the rest.
• Because the district serves two towns, a different state law applies. The School Committee sets the budget, and the towns must approve their shares.
• The district spends almost twice the minimum the state requires.
• This year's budget kept the same programs without cuts. But it used $600,000 in savings, and the district's rainy day money is running low.
• Students score well above the state average on MCAS tests, and 97.4% of the class of 2025 graduated in four years. The state rate was 89.3%.
• Voters in both towns face a big choice this fall: a $95.3 million new Essex Elementary School.

This story is part of our look at Cape Ann's school budgets. See how Cape Ann's three school districts compare (Nov. 1).

This is part of our series on Cape Ann school budgets. We looked at Gloucester's school budget on Nov. 2.

Why we are sharing these numbers

This story puts the district's budget next to other facts about its schools: how many students go there, how old the buildings are, test scores and graduation rates. We share them so readers in both towns can see what the money pays for and how students are doing, all in one place.

These numbers can help you ask good questions. They cannot tell you everything about a school. They do not show how much a student grew, how safe and welcoming a school feels or the work of teachers and staff every day. The choices about this budget are made in public meetings that anyone can attend. The end of this story shows when and how to take part.

Who decides the school budget?

In Gloucester and Rockport, the city or town votes one total for its schools. A regional district works another way. A state law, Chapter 71, Section 16B, says the regional School Committee sets the budget by a two-thirds vote of its members. Then two-thirds of the member towns must approve it. With only two towns, that means both Manchester and Essex must say yes. If one town says no, the committee has 30 days to change the budget and try again.

The School Committee has seven elected members from the two towns. It held public hearings on Dec. 10 and Feb. 3. Three people spoke at the December hearing, all Essex town officials. Five people spoke in February, three of them members of town boards. The committee adopted the budget on Feb. 10 by a vote of 6 to 0.

Then the district got good news. Health insurance would go up 8.4%, not the 14% it had planned for. On March 3, the committee cut the budget to $33.7 million, again 6 to 0. It used part of the savings to lower what the towns pay. It put the rest into a fund for retired workers' health care.

Manchester's town meeting approved its share on April 27, by a vote of 257 to 23. In Essex, voters approved a $185,727 override on May 11 to help pay the town's school bill. An override lets a town raise property taxes above the state's usual limit.

How the bill is split between the towns

The district's agreement between the two towns sets a formula. First, the district subtracts state aid and other money from the budget. This year that left $29.2 million for the towns to pay. Then it splits that amount:

• Teaching costs are split mostly by how many students each town sends (75%) and partly by property values (25%).
• Other costs, like buildings and buses, are split mostly by each town's population (75%) and partly by property values (25%).

This year Manchester pays about 62% and Essex about 38%. Manchester's bill went up 3.3% and Essex's went up 3.6%. The budget book says the share of students from Manchester has been falling faster than in Essex, so Essex's share grew.

The state's minimum

The state helps pay for schools. This year it is sending the district about $3.7 million in school aid, called Chapter 70 aid. In return, the district must spend at least a minimum amount on its schools each year. The state calls it "net school spending."

Some costs count toward the minimum, such as teachers, health insurance and retirement. School buses, school lunches and building loans do not count. If a district spends too little, it must make up the gap. If it falls more than 5% short, the state cuts its aid.

The district spends far more than the minimum. In fiscal 2025, it spent $28.2 million that counts toward the minimum. The minimum was $15.4 million. That is 183% of the minimum. The average Massachusetts district spent 126%.

(A fiscal year is a budget year. It runs from July 1 to June 30. Fiscal 2025 ended in June 2025.)

Where the $33.7 million goes

Most of the money pays for people. Teaching and learning, which covers teachers, aides, special education staff and classroom costs, is $20 million, about 59% of the budget.

Like Gloucester's school budget, and unlike Rockport's, the regional district pays its own workers' health insurance and benefits. That is $6.9 million this year. In Rockport, the town pays those costs in its own budget.

Programs at other districts went down by about $239,000. That line pays for students with disabilities who go to special programs outside the district. The state pays back part of that cost through its special education reimbursement program.

Money that does not come from the towns

The towns pay $29.2 million. About $4.5 million more comes from other places:

• State school aid, about $3.6 million in the budget. (The state's final number came in a little higher, $3.7 million.)
• District savings, $600,000. This is the second year in a row the district used $600,000 from its savings to keep the towns' bills down.
• State bus money, $210,000, plus smaller amounts from Medicaid, bank interest and parking and bus fees.

The district also uses about $500,000 a year in school choice tuition, money other towns pay when their students come to Manchester Essex. It is kept outside the main budget and helps pay for health insurance.

Same programs, but savings are running low

The budget "maintains current services and course offerings," the Feb. 10 minutes say. There was no list of cuts to programs. Teachers got a 2.5% cost of living raise, plus step raises for years of service.

To get there, the district used $600,000 of its savings. The minutes of that meeting record that "the district will have depleted its rainy-day fund." They also say Chris Reed, then the committee's chair, was worried about running out of savings "in as little as two years." The budget book projected about $600,000 left in that savings account at the end of June 2026.

School by school

The district has four schools: Essex Elementary School and Manchester Memorial Elementary School, for the youngest students, and the Manchester Essex Regional Middle School and High School, which share one building in Manchester. The chart below shows each school's budget, how many students go there and how students did on the state's MCAS tests last spring.

MCAS is the test Massachusetts students take each spring. The scores show the share of students who "met" or "exceeded" expectations. That means they showed they know the material for their grade.

What the scores can and cannot tell you

MCAS sorts students into four levels: exceeding expectations, meeting expectations, partially meeting expectations and not meeting expectations. "Meeting expectations" is a high bar. It means a student is fully on track for their grade. A student who is "partially meeting" is still learning the material. That is not a failing grade.

An average is a middle point. Every year, many schools land above the state average and many land below it. Being above the average does not mean every student is doing well, and being below it does not make a school a failing school. The numbers show where students are doing well and where they may need more help.

In spring 2026, every school beat the state in reading and math. At Memorial, 70% of students in grades 3 to 5 met or beat expectations in reading, compared with 39% for the same grades statewide. At Essex Elementary it was 53%. At the high school, 67% of grade 10 students met or beat expectations in reading, compared with 45% statewide.

Test scores depend on many things, not just money. In this district, 18.7% of students have disabilities. The state average is 21.1%. Only 11.9% come from low income families, compared with 41.1% statewide. Students from low income families often face more challenges outside of school.

How many students graduate

The district's class of 2025 had 116 students. Of those, 97.4% graduated in four years. Another 0.9% were still in school and 1.7% dropped out. Statewide, 89.3% graduated in four years.

Spending per student

In 2024, the latest year the state has posted, the district spent $25,121 per student in its own schools. The state average was $22,414. Counting everything, including students placed in programs outside the district, it was $27,395 per student. That is more than Gloucester and the state average, and less than Rockport.

How do test scores compare across Cape Ann? In spring 2026, 60% of Manchester Essex students in grades 3 to 8 met or beat expectations in reading. In Rockport it was 37%, in Gloucester 34% and statewide 40%.

Spending more per student does not always mean higher scores. Rockport spends more per student than Manchester Essex, and its scores are lower. Many things shape test results, including how many students have disabilities, come from low income families or are learning English.

Since the budget passed

In June, the district's finance director projected the district would end last school year with about $500,000 not spent. That money goes back into the district's savings. A few accounts were running over, including special education programs outside the district, by about $143,000, and building and grounds work, by about $78,000. Other accounts covered those costs. A closeout update for last year was on the Finance Subcommittee's Oct. 6 agenda.

In September, the finance director asked the committee to put $734,348 into a fund that pays for retired workers' health care. That would bring the fund to about $8.9 million. The money comes from savings the district won in a deal with its teachers union to move workers to lower cost health plans.

Early counts show 1,101 students in the district's schools as of Sept. 15.

Warning signs for next year

• Savings running out. The district has used $600,000 from savings two years in a row. If it cannot do that again, the towns may have to pay more.
• Fewer students. Enrollment has dropped 26% since the 2012 to 2013 school year, from 1,563 to 1,156. Fewer students can mean fewer teachers, but many costs stay the same.
• Health insurance. This year's 8.4% increase was far better than feared. Last year, costs jumped after some members had serious medical events, the March 3 minutes say.
• Retiree health care. The budget book says the district owed about $21.7 million for future retiree health care as of July 2024, with about $6 million saved toward it at the time.
• Essex's tax limit. Essex needed an override to pay this year's school bill. At the March 3 meeting, member Jake Foster said none of the budget options would take Essex out of "override territory," the minutes say.

The Essex Elementary School vote

Essex Elementary School is about 70 years old. The district says the state's school building agency, the Massachusetts School Building Authority, named it one of the neediest schools in the state in 2023. The district plans to replace it.

The new school would cost $95.3 million. The state agency expects to pay about $20.35 million. The towns would pay the other $74.95 million, split by the regional agreement: about two thirds from Manchester and one third from Essex.

Building money is paid separately from the yearly school budget. It needs two votes in each town:

• Nov. 16: Fall town meetings in Manchester and Essex. Each needs a two thirds vote.
• Dec. 10: A ballot vote in each town to raise taxes to pay off the building loan. Each needs a simple majority.

The School Building Committee holds a community meeting in the Essex Elementary cafeteria and online tonight, Nov. 4, from 6 to 8 p.m. We reported on Sept. 30 that Manchester leaders say voters have not yet heard what the project would mean for their tax bills.

Why your voice matters

The school budget is made in public. At the two budget hearings last winter, eight people spoke in all. Six of them were town officials. Only two spoke as residents. You do not need to be an expert. You can ask a question, share what you see at your child's school or say what matters most to you. The best time to speak is early, at the hearings in December and February, before the vote.

In a regional district, your town's voice counts in two places: at School Committee meetings, and at your town meeting, where voters decide whether to approve the town's share.

What comes next

Latest meeting: The School Committee met Tuesday, Nov. 3, to begin work on next year's budget. Read what was on the agenda. Recent meetings were held in the Learning Commons at Manchester Essex Regional Middle High School, 36 Lincoln St., Manchester, and online through WebEx. Check the district's posted agendas for the next meeting date and place.

Work on next year's budget, for fiscal 2028, started this fall. The road map below is based on last year's calendar.

How to speak up: The School Committee takes public comment near the start of its business meetings. You can also email the committee at [email protected]. Committee members are Chair Kate Koch-Sundquist, Vice Chair Chris Reed, Lindsay Banks, Jake Foster, Sarah Stone, Nadia Wetzler and Theresa Whitman. Superintendent Pam Beaudoin leads the district.

How we checked this

Budget numbers come from the district's fiscal 2027 budget book and School Committee minutes. Town votes come from Manchester's town meeting minutes and Essex election records. The state minimum, spending per student, test scores, student groups and graduation rates come from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. We checked the test scores against the state's live data. Building years come from the Massachusetts School Building Authority. We did not adjust any dollars for inflation. We checked every figure on Oct. 5, 2026.

Earlier coverage: Essex's town budget, line by line (Oct. 8). Manchester's town budget, line by line (Oct. 19). Manchester leaders warn voters have not heard the tax bill for the Essex school project (Sept. 30). Essex, Manchester and school district revive joint talks on sharing services (Sept. 30).