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The Future of the Facilities Department Hangs in the Balance
If the Sudbury Public Schools (SPS) School Committee is going to terminate the agreement with the Town of Sudbury that established the combined facilities department, they’ll have to do it at their Thursday, December 19 meeting. The topic is on their agenda and calls for “discussion” and possible “action.”
The MOA requires a certain amount of notice of termination before the close of a fiscal year. Superintendent Brad Crozier has stated previously that the vote to terminate would need to be done by the end of the month, otherwise they have to wait another year. Thursday is the last scheduled meeting for the SPS School Committee this calendar year.
After months of tense discussions in open sessions, as well as private negotiations between the Town of Sudbury and Sudbury Public Schools representatives, there has been no announcement of a mutually-agreeable solution to the terms of the agreement that established the shared department.
Termination of the agreement that formed the shared department would free up funds in the SPS budget, which they could use to hire their own facilities director. But it would likely trigger a dramatic restructuring of the department on the Town side, as the Town would have to either cover the cost of the department on its own, or make painful cuts, all while budget pressures are increasing and facility needs stemming from deferred maintenance and aging buildings are plentiful.
During a December 3 meeting of the Select Board, Town Manager Andy Sheehan stated “The bigger picture really is around the financial implications of a divorce of combined facilities. At the last meeting I gave the financial condition of the Town, to say that it’s a fairly bleak outlook I think is an understatement. And I don’t see how adding another 150,000 dollar burden to the Town budget in fiscal year 2026 and then adding another four to six positions in SPS for facilities helps us in the long-run when we’re facing the financial challenges that we’re facing.”
SPS leaders have raised a variety of concerns about the resource-sharing arrangement with the Town, often claiming they either aren’t getting what they pay for or that their needs exceed the capacity of the department. But the information provided to support a decision to terminate the agreement has left some SPS School Committee members wanting for more substance. In certain cases, SPS leadership has provided information that contradicted their prior statements.
Conversation about the situation spilled over into the Finance Committee in September, and reached the Select Board about a week later.
More recently, Town Manager Andy Sheehan raised concerns about the message a vote to terminate would send to the community:
“And I think we have to be honest that trust in government at all levels has probably never been lower. I don’t ever remember it being as low as it is now. I didn’t think it was going to seep to the local level in the way that is has, but it has. And I think, especially as we’re looking ahead to an override, or a potential override in a couple of years, we have to do everything in our power to manage our costs. And so going in the direction of separating facilities, I think, is really not telling a good story to the residents.”
The SPS School Committee meets on Thursday, December 19. They will discuss the Superintendent’s Recommended FY26 budget and the Combined Facilities Memorandum of Agreement.
