Dracut’s special town election on a $177-million debt exclusion to build a new Campbell School went down to defeat less than a month after comfortably passing at Town Meeting on June 1.
Shortly after polls closed at 8pm tonight, InsideLowell learned that the measure came up on the short end of a tight 1,499-1,400 margin, though results won’t be made official until later in the week. Results released later on the town’s website has the margin at 1,501-1,401 in favor of “No.”
The proposed project would have replaced the existing Campbell and Greenmont Avenue Schools.
19 responses to “Dracut School Project Fails to Pass”
😥
https://www.dracutma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5878/Special-Town-Election-Unoffical-Results-June-23-2026-PDF
This is utterly ridiculous. Do.people not realize we will pay one way or another. The cost will be the same but the results different. Really disappointed in the citizens of Dracut who voted this down.
Very disappointing and so short sided. Investing in the future shouldn’t be controversial. I’d be real curious to know how many ‘no’ voters have young kids that will come up in the system in the future. Without knowing, I bet the answer is zero. Black eye for Dracut!
Why would anyone living in West Dracut whose children attend the Brookside School support a $177 million debt exclusion. Their children are being treated like trash from the Supt. and the Dracut School Committee. Yesterday’s results will now force the school dept. to take care of all of Dracut’s children and not those on the East side of town. Can’t wait to see the results broken down by Precincts. This is what happens when you rig a Town Meeting. They kept saying put it on a town wide ballot and now you own the loss. We need new leadership at the State level because what we have had for a very long time, doesn’t have influence over the Tyrant Healey.
A quote from the 2026 Dracut Finance Committee report…. “This year, the Town continues to face rising fixed costs, limited revenue, increased uncertainties, and a substantial deficit. In this context, we’ve applied a disciplined approach to our recommendations, aiming to balance immediate needs with long-term
fiscal responsibility.”
My no vote was more about the current dire financial condition of the town and the fact that this would add an astronomical amount of debt to a town budget that is already struggling. Also,the $177,000,000 price tag is exorbitant, and I think we can get an extremely functional town school building for a lot less than that if we prioritize NEEDS verses bells and whistles we don’t need. Let’s hold our officials accountable to fiscal responsibility, get our town finances in order, revisit the design and then bring it back for a vote.
A new building dosen’t improve are failing children. We need to go back to the foundation of our basics.You don’t build a home witout a foundation,it starts with a foundation. Look up are standards we are at 40% in reading,math and sciences.
LOOK It up and get your heads out of the sand.Harvrad has said children can’t even do remedial math. Collages are talking about lowering their standards,that is sad.We need another trade school we should bring some of the trades into the high school.not everyone wants College its over rated. WAKE UP DRACUT WERE IS THE COMMOM SENSE. THANK YOU
“to take care of all of Dracut’s children”. Which means what exactly? Multiple schools being revamped? Two new schools built?
WOW, so now we are inventing imaginary geographical wars between East and West Dracut as well as conspiracy theories about state politics. How does this help a single student! Celebrating a devastating loss that rejects $83 million in state funding is so incredibly backwards, and NOT very forward thinking!
What a close vote. I think the support is there for a new school, but the people who didn’t want it got occupied in a battle against MBTA zoning which made the financial situation even worse, then used the crisis to blame the schools. This is like watching a nasty divorce.
Look up the word inequality Jeanne. The more Phil tries to push this failed project forward, more taxpayers/voters will turn out because they see how the Brookside Elementary School staff and students are being treated by the School Dept. and Committee. I heard the Brookside is in poor condition due to a black mold issue. Maybe they should make any new elementary school plan a choice school throughout the town. I can hear East Dracut now. Hell NO. Poor planning from the start and they thought ignoring the condition of the Brookside School would somehow magically go away. All of Dracut’s children matters.
I completely agree with you Carole, that ALL Dracut students DESERVE safe schools, but voting ‘no’ drains the budget. Yes, this funding project replaces Campbell and Greenmont, not Brookside, but by turning down $82 million in state aid, Dracut taxpayers must now pay $83 million out of pocket just for emergency repairs on those old buildings. Spending 100% local tax dollars on band-aid fixes leaves much less money in the town budget for Brookside.
I know that when you and I were on the school committee together, you always fought hard for equality and parity in ALL the schools. But PLEASE understand, this is a much needed and substantial amount of money that the town just cannot afford to turn down!
BTW, please say hi to Emma and Carney!
Wait so, so you plan to make a “choice school”? How does that address the Black mold issue?
I think we need to be VERY careful here with our words because I was so concerned I called the health department in Dracut and they informed me that “there are NO reports of any issues or concerns of “black mold” at the Brookside School”!
Down But Not Out! Please, let’s All Score a TKO for ALL Dracut’s kid’s futures! How, Dracut needs to do a revote on the Campbell School building project? YES, they LEGALLY can!
Because the project already passed by a more than substantial 2/3 vote at Town Meeting, the Dracut Board of Selectmen can legally schedule a second special election ballot vote without starting from scratch. However, they have to first secure an official timeline extension from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). Dracut can’t afford to lose out on millions in state funding. If the state gives the green light, it will ultimately be up to Dracut voters to head back to the polls and make the final decision.
I am someone who has ALWAYS believed in the power of second chances! Dracut may have lost the first round at the ballot box, but WE are NOT out! WHY? Because the ultimate effort to save the SIGNIFICANT state funding for the school building project is far from over! While the clock IS ticking on the state funding, this community has a rare opportunity to step back into the ring with a revote. We All need to rally together, show up, power through, and go the distance to the final round and prevail with a TKO for ALL kids’ futures!
Also, to help residents either on fixed incomes or who cannot afford an increase on their property taxes, there are specific state laws in place you all need to be made aware of before a new vote is proposed.
First, rather than hitting ALL residents with the full tax impact all at once, you can leverage M.G.L. Chapter 44 “to phase in the project’s debt over several years using short-term notes and staggered long-term bonds”. Second, a town can vote at town meeting to accept local options under M.G.L. Chapter 59, Section 5, Clause 41C, which “legally allows the municipality to double its senior asset and income thresholds”. By doing this, you expand the safety net that allows more senior residents on fixed incomes to qualify for property tax reductions.
And FINALLY, Dracut desperately needs economic development! So, I “took the bull by the horns” and sent this email to the executive team at the Markley Group Data Center as well as Dracut Town Manager Kate Hodges:
Subject: A possibly more viable alternative to Lowell?
Dear Mr. Markley and the Markley Executive Team,
I am reaching out ahead of the upcoming June 29 public forum at the Butler School regarding your Lowell data center expansion.
Because Lowell recently enacted a 360-day data center moratorium and faces active environmental lawsuits over its existing residential site, I believe Dracut could represent a highly logical, localized alternative. By utilizing a tailored zoning overlay, Markley can bypass the current Lowell gridlock and build a next-generation hyper scale facility on Route 113 or Route 110 in Dracut. This positioning places your facility directly adjacent to the Merrimack River for high-efficiency infrastructure cooling, while anchoring it directly into Dracut’s massive energy crossroads, the convergence of the Maritimes & Northeast, PNGTS,(Portland Natural Gas Transmission System) and Tennessee Gas pipelines.
Moving to Dracut eliminates your spatial and legal expansion constraints, ensuring direct access to the thermal and electrical generation capacity required for your massive AI and cloud workloads. Unlike the tight constraints of the Sacred Heart neighborhood, Dracut’s Route 110 and 113 corridors offer the physical scale necessary for massive industrial setbacks, drastically reducing your noise mitigation risks and community friction from day one.
I would welcome the opportunity to discuss how we can introduce this proactive zoning overlay approach to the Dracut Town Manager & Selectmen to fast-track a path forward for Markley’s regional footprint. Would you like to discuss this strategic pivot? Please let me know.
Best regards,
Jeanne Balkas
978-770-3361
LinkedIn/Website Link
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanne-balkas-26a0172
Well, I just got through watching the joint mtg of the selectmen and school committee because the first step in the process to request an extension from MSBA is a majority vote by both boards, it failed.
So that means that the town cannot officially submit the request, effectively ending their bid for MSBA funding, because without the local two boards majority approval, no official letter can be sent to the state. VERY sad!
Truthfully, I have ALWAYS been the kind of person who fights to the bitter end, the type that completely exhausts all avenues. Thinking about whether or not it should be given one more “old school try” and fight for a “vote flip” to get a selectman from the prevailing side to move for a reconsideration, or just let the project go and move on is the toughest $83 million dilemma!
That’s why I say go for it. Fight for the flip! The financial reality is that turning our backs on $82 to $83 million in state aid means Dracut taxpayers will eventually have to foot 100% of the bill for the Campbell and Greenmont schools. Letting that money slip away will only make the problems worse and far more expensive to just patch up. While I fully respect the will of some of the voters and the democratic process, I feel that money is way too much to leave on the table!
When some of our selectmen frame a re-vote as “disrespecting the voters,” I feel they are hiding behind that argument to avoid making a tough LEADERSHIP decision! Letting the state’s millions walk away over a single ballot vote is an even greater disservice to the town’s future. Why? Because the town will still have to spend millions just to keep the Campbell and Greenmont buildings structurally safe and operational, plus the other schools. Emergency patches for failing roofs, plumbing breakdowns, and heating systems will have to be paid for out of the town’s regular operating budget. That means less money for classrooms, teachers, road repairs, police, firefighters, etc.
This is a heartbreaking situation, one that cannot just be walked away from without “fighting to the bitter end”, win or lose, STAY in the game!