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Schools & Education

How the Dudley-Charlton Regional School District is funded and governed, and where to find enrollment and budget data.

Dudley does not run its own school system. Since 1970, Dudley and Charlton have shared one regional public school system — the Dudley-Charlton Regional School District (DCRSD) — governed by a regional agreement between the two towns and overseen by an elected School Committee with members from both.

Because it’s a regional district, Dudley residents don’t vote on the district’s total budget directly. Each town’s Town Meeting votes separately on its own town’s assessment — the dollar amount that town owes the district — after the School Committee sets the overall district budget.

Who Decides This

  • Sets district policy and budget: DCRSD School Committee (elected from Dudley and Charlton)
  • Runs day-to-day operations: Superintendent and district administration
  • Recommends the budget: District Budget Subcommittee
  • Approves Dudley’s share: Dudley’s Town Meeting, voting on Dudley’s assessment article

The District at a Glance

Schools in the district 7
Total enrollment (2024) 3,432 students
Full-time classroom teachers 262.37 FTE
Student-teacher ratio 13.08 : 1
Per-pupil spending $17,096 / year
Dudley’s FY2027 assessment $13,000,000

Source: Massachusetts Dept. of Elementary & Secondary Education data reported via NCES/Ballotpedia and U.S. News Education; Dudley FY2027 Town Meeting warrant summary.

Shepherd Hill Regional High School

Dudley and Charlton students attend high school together at Shepherd Hill Regional High School, located at 68 Dudley-Oxford Road in Dudley. The school serves grades 9–12, was established in 1973, and enrolled 937 students in the 2023–2024 school year. Dudley and Charlton each operate their own separate middle and elementary schools; the two towns split off into separate middle schools in 2000.

Vocational Education

Dudley residents also have the option of attending Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School in Charlton. Dudley’s FY2027 assessment to Bay Path is $1.2 million, separate from and in addition to the DCRSD assessment.

How Regional Budgeting Works

  1. The School Committee, with district administration, builds a proposed district-wide budget.
  2. The regional agreement’s cost-sharing formula splits that total between Dudley and Charlton.
  3. Each town’s Finance Committee reviews its own town’s assessment figure.
  4. Each town’s Town Meeting votes on its own assessment as a warrant article — Dudley cannot vote on Charlton’s share, and vice versa.
  5. If a town’s Town Meeting rejects its assessment, the regional agreement and state law set out a further process, which can include a revised article, additional Town Meeting sessions, or state-level review by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Where to Find More District Data

The district’s Budget & Finance page publishes budget subcommittee meeting schedules, audits, and capital planning documents. District test-score and demographic data is published by the state through the DESE School and District Profiles tool, and nationally through the National Center for Education Statistics.

Sources & Public Documents