School districts in communities resistant to the controversial MBTA zoning law are losing out on state funding for a financial literacy program for students, according to a state senator urging the Healey administration to restore that money.
Republican Peter Durant says a regional school district in his central Massachusetts district has been blocked from accessing a $3,200 grant from the state Department of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation for the Credit for Life Fairs program.
The state senator added that Dracut and Hanover join Wachusett Regional — a school district that covers Holden, Paxton, Princeton, Rutland and Sterling — in losing out on the funding because they have yet to comply with the MBTA Communities Act.
Wachusett Regional High School serves more than 1,750 students in Worcester County, and Durant is arguing that towns in the five-community district are being unfairly punished because of Holden’s “policy dispute with the administration.”
“Using a regional high school as leverage in a disagreement with one of the towns in the district is the wrong approach and an overreach of state authority,” Durant said in a statement. “Punishing them … sets a troubling precedent of tying educational funding to unrelated grant funds, rather than basing it on the needs of students.”
Under the act, which then-Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law in 2021, 177 municipalities across Greater Boston must have at least one zoning district where multifamily housing is permitted as of right.
Holden has resisted complying with the law, with residents in the town of nearly 20,000 shooting down a multi-family zoning bylaw at a town meeting last spring. Durant indicated that the community is set to vote on a new proposal in February.
Four schools in total — Wachusett Regional High School and two in Hanover and another in Dracut — have been denied grant funding from the nearly $285,000 available for the Credit for Life financial literacy programs, with the initiative receiving 93 applications, Durant said.
“Wachusett is a separate body, and it shouldn’t be impacted by what we do,” Holden Town Manager Peter Lukes said in a statement.
Wachusett Regional High School received a notice from the state Department of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation about the funding loss last week, continuing the Healey administration’s practice of withholding grants to communities resistant to the MBTA zoning law.
Gov. Healey told state lawmakers last March that she could not “commit” that her administration would “refrain from withholding funding” from cities and towns not in compliance with the law.
As of Nov. 20, 118 cities and towns are in compliance, while 11 communities were deemed “non-compliant” as they missed previous deadlines to submit district compliance applications.
The state Supreme Judicial Court ruled last January that the law is constitutional and enforceable, a determination stemming from the attorney general’s fight with Milton, the first town that voted against compliance.
AG Andrea Campbell scored a victory in June when a Superior Court judge found that the MBTA Communities Act does not impose an “unfunded mandate” on cities and towns, striking down lawsuits filed by nine resistant communities and a determination from state Auditor Diana DiZoglio.
“The Superior Court confirmed what has long been clear: a state law requiring multi-family housing districts in communities served by public transportation,” Campbell said in a statement at the time, “but leaving the details and location of those districts to the municipalities themselves, permissibly addresses our housing shortage while still preserving substantial local discretion.”
The South Shore town of Marshfield lost access to a $261,600 grant covering the dredging of a local river, leading to “better marina access for public boat ramps, boatyards, and local bait shops.”
In Middleboro, Healey and the state housing office rescinded a $73,000 grant for student mental health needs and are refusing to sign a $2.8 million MassWorks contract for commercial development infrastructure, according to town officials.
“The MBTA Communities Act is a complex mandate that requires thoughtful local decision-making, community input, and collaboration,” Durant said. “Communities across the state are working through these requirements in good faith.”
“But withholding any type of funding from a regional school does not advance dialogue or encourage productive solutions,” the state senator added. “It simply harms students who have no say in the matter.”
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