Runey Concerned About School Budget

As a new school year begins September 4 for the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District, Superintendent Bill Runey is apprehensive about the FY’ 26 school budget.

“I’m seeing a concerning trend about this new Governor (Maura Healey),” Runey said on August 28. “The fact she decreased state aid last year and that definitely had an impact on us. I’m hoping we can do some work in the meantime with our state representatives to convince (Healey) that we need that funding to come back to normal because we’ve been through two very difficult budget years. We’ve made cuts to the teaching staff and we’re getting to the point where our class sizes are (at the point) that I’m not comfortable with them in terms of delivering the best education to our students.”

In March 2023, Runey cited a dramatic decline in enrollment in the district, with a third of all eighth grade middle school students opting not to attend Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School.

“It’s flattened out which is not where we want to be but at least it’s better than decreasing,” Runey noted. “We basically have the same number of freshmen (compared) to what we had last year so that’s a good thing. Obviously we want to see growth and our team is committed to doing the things that celebrate how wonderful our high school is and convince our (elementary and middle school students) that our high school is a great option for them.”

Two retention coordinators were employed by the district. Their responsibilities included promoting the high school’s Honors and AP classes, Career and Technical Education (CTE) offerings, a nationally recognized Performing Arts program, and a full complement of athletics and activities.

Last fall, there were presentations at Dighton Middle School and Beckwith Middle School featuring students from the high school. A survey of all the 8th grade students was conducted following the visits.