The interim superintendent now also holds the district’s business and finance title after Michael Perrone’s move to Old Rochester Regional

By John Barrella

MIDDLEBOROUGH — The School Committee’s Budget Subcommittee meets online at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. It is the subcommittee’s first session since Michael Perrone, the district’s director of business and finance, left for a new job in Old Rochester Regional. Its one agenda item is listed as “Discussion/Budget.”

The agenda does not say which fiscal year’s budget the subcommittee will discuss. In mid-September, that could be FY27, which took effect July 1, or FY28, which begins July 1, 2027.

Old Rochester Regional School District (ORR) and Massachusetts Superintendency Union #55 have named Perrone interim assistant superintendent of finance and operations, effective Sept. 21. Before Dr. David L. Thomson arrived, Perrone was acting superintendent of Middleborough Public Schools (MPS) as well as its finance director. In announcing the hire, ORR said Perrone managed a budget of more than $50 million in Middleborough and oversaw capital projects, procurement, transportation and facilities.

MPS’s leadership page now lists Thomson as “Interim Superintendent & Director of Business & Finance.”

The School Committee voted unanimously on June 3 to hire Thomson, choosing him from four candidates. He started July 1 on a one-year appointment. He has more than 30 years in Massachusetts public education, including time as superintendent in Norwood and as interim superintendent in Wilmington and Mashpee. The committee has said it will search for a permanent superintendent during the 2026–27 school year.

Thomson sat down with The G.O.A.T. News podcast on Tuesday.

The conversation covered his background, the district’s buildings, the school budget, and his work with the School Committee. The episode is expected to post in the coming days.

The numbers

The town’s revised FY27 budget book, dated May 6, lists a school appropriation of $42.75 million. That is about 2.3 percent more than FY26’s $41,795,605, and $400,000 less than the department’s $43.15 million request. A note in the book reads: “NO ADDITIONAL TEACHER cuts with this $400,000. Defer to school budget.” The revised town budget used no free cash and no overlay release. The Annual Town Meeting convened June 1.

The G.O.A.T. wrote extensively this Spring on the importance of reviewing the overall town budget and of saving teaching jobs.

Who does what on a Massachusetts school budget

• The superintendent runs the district. Under Massachusetts General Laws (MGL) Chapter 71, Section 59, the superintendent manages the school system “in a fashion consistent with state law and the policy determinations of that school committee.”
• The School Committee approves the budget. Section 37 says the committee “shall review and approve budgets for public education in the district.” The same section gives the committee the power to hire and fire the superintendent.
• The public gets a hearing. Section 38N requires the committee to hold a public hearing on its proposed budget. Notice must run in a local newspaper at least seven days before the hearing, the budget must be available to the public for at least 48 hours beforehand, and a quorum of the committee must run the hearing.
• Town Meeting sets only the total. Under Section 34, the town votes one bottom-line number for the schools and “shall not allocate appropriations among accounts or place any restriction on such appropriations.” That vote “may not limit the authority of the school committee to determine expenditures within the total appropriation.” The superintendent may speak to Town Meeting before it votes on the school budget.
• The state sets a spending floor. Chapter 70 sets a minimum net school spending (NSS) level for every district. According to the state education department (DESE), missing it can lead to the state refusing to approve the town’s tax rate, action by the Attorney General, or loss of state aid.
• Proposition 2½ caps the tax levy. Under MGL Chapter 59, Section 21C, a town’s levy can grow 2.5 percent a year plus new growth. Raising more than that takes a voter-approved override.
• The deadline is July 1. The state Division of Local Services (DLS) says Town Meeting “must be convened before July 1 to vote on appropriations,” when the fiscal year begins. Middleborough’s bylaw sets the Annual Town Meeting for the fourth Monday in April, and the town says a Special Town Meeting is typically held in October.

The state calendar

State aid is set on its own schedule. DESE released preliminary FY27 Chapter 70 figures on Jan. 28, 2026, based on Governor Maura Healey’s proposed budget (House 2). Healey signed the final FY27 state budget on July 9. It provides $7.66 billion in Chapter 70 aid statewide, up 4.03 percent from FY26, with a minimum increase of $160 per student. The FY28 cycle starts again with the governor’s budget in January 2027.

About Wednesday’s meeting

The Town Clerk’s office posted the agenda Sept. 10 at 12:57 p.m. That meets the Open Meeting Law’s timing rule in MGL Chapter 30A, Section 20, which requires 48 hours’ notice not counting weekends and holidays.

The law also covers what a notice says. Under the Attorney General’s regulations, 940 CMR 29.03, a notice must list the topics the chair “reasonably anticipates will be discussed,” with “sufficient specificity to reasonably advise the public of the issues to be discussed at the meeting.” Beyond “Discussion/Budget,” Wednesday’s notice gives no fiscal year, documents or indication of whether a vote is expected.

Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025 allows fully remote meetings through June 30, 2027, as long as the public can follow along live. Residents can join at meet.google.com/aap-stbs-mdx.

Disclosure: John Barrella and podcast co-host Matt Phillips serve on the Middleborough Finance Committee, which makes recommendations on the town budget, including the school appropriation. Barrella also serves on the Town Manager Search Committee.

Sources:

• Town agenda posting, Sept. 16 Budget Subcommittee (attached)
• MPS: Thomson named interim superintendent
• MPS District Leadership
• ORR/Union #55 Perrone appointment (The Wanderer)
• Revised Town of Middleborough Budget Book FY2027
• Middleborough Town Meetings page
• Select Board minutes, June 8, 2026
• MGL c.71 §34, §37, §38N, §59
• MGL c.59 §21C (Prop 2½)
• MGL c.30A §20 (OML)
• 940 CMR 29.03 — Notice Posting Requirements
• Attorney General’s Open Meeting Law Guide (2025)
• AG guidance on remote meetings, Ch. 2 of Acts of 2025
• DESE NSS compliance
• DESE FY2027 final Chapter 70
• DESE FY2027 preliminary Chapter 70
• DLS: The Budget Setting Process