HANSON — September 23, 2026 — The Whitman-Hanson Regional School Committee voted unanimously September 23 to send the member towns a capital request of about $250,000 to pave the high school’s senior parking lot, and to create a capital stabilization fund that would need approval from both towns’ town meetings. Leftover capital money would go to that fund instead of excess and deficiency (E&D).
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Vice Chair TJ Roffey, who chairs the Operations and Capital Subcommittee, said the senior lot was the one paving project the subcommittee chose to send to the towns this year. Chair Ryan Tressel said the district will bill the towns for it as a capital assessment, which he said the 1992 regional agreement calls for with high school expenses, rather than asking each town to vote a separate article. The towns will get the list by an October 1 deadline, Tressel said, partly so Hanson, which tends to use free cash in October, can plan for the bill coming in May.
The stabilization fund is authorized under state law, Roffey said, and the committee’s vote is the first step; a majority of the district’s town meetings, which here means both, must also approve it. The goal is to put it on the May town meeting warrants. Member Chris Marks explained the reasoning: if a $250,000 project comes in at $240,000, the $10,000 difference now sits in town meeting articles that must be cleaned up later. With the fund, the district would keep that money for smaller capital needs. Superintendent John Marcus said any excess from a capital assessment would go into the fund, and the committee would show where the money goes.
Member Glen DiGravio said passage at town meeting would be a tough sell.
Rosemary Aahanna-Hill questioned whether leftover money from building-specific projects could go into a fund meant to be built from aggregate contributions, given how the district’s debt is structured, and she didn’t believe the fund would expand the district’s total savings capacity. Marks said the district is “less than one calendar year” from last year’s turmoil.
The committee also voted unanimously to send an updated regional agreement to the district’s lawyer for review, after the Whitman and Hanson Select Boards voted to do the same. Tressel said the draft keeps the capital assessment for high school expenses but expands the definition of capital to match DESE’s chart of accounts, so a district-wide Chromebook purchase would count. It also requires the district to share its capital requests by October 1. Stephanie Blackman the draft’s $10,000 threshold for emergency repairs, noting that DESE recommends $5,000; a district official said $10,000 is now the procurement threshold for quotes.
