As we enter the new year and read in our local papers about our school district possibly regionalizing, I keep asking myself this question:

Will 2026 finally be the year Massachusetts fixes its education funding formula so it truly supports children’s academic and life success, and by extension, thriving communities across the board?

Because here is our truth. In Massachusetts, public education funding tied to local property taxes is deeply connected to the legacy of redlining. Redlining locked racial and economic inequality into land and housing. Property-tax-based school funding then turned that inequality into educational inequality.

And btw … have you heard the housing news lately?

Poor communities continue to have fewer resources. Wealthier communities keep thriving. That is not accidental. That is the predictable outcome of historic policy choices that favored some communities while disinvesting in others. This is why school funding and educational outcomes still vary by race, income, and ZIP code.

So as legislative races and gubernatorial elections ramp up, please pay attention. Listen closely to candidates’ priorities on education. Look at their track records. We do not need more promises.

The funding formula has been a perpetual conversation. Every so often, a pot of money gets thrown our way. It helps briefly, then it runs out. The core issue never gets fixed. And rural communities have higher needs with fewer options.

Now let’s talk about regionalization.

Regionalization ignores unequal starting points. Treating unequal communities “the same” actually entrenches inequality.

Regionalization assumes:

• All towns start on equal footing

• Shared governance equals shared benefit

• Cost savings equal improved outcomes

But when wealth, need, and power are unequal, shared systems reproduce hierarchy.

So what actually helps rural towns? If the goal is strong education without reinforcing structural harm, better options exist:

• Stronger state funding not tied to local property wealth

• Targeted rural aid for transportation and staffing

• Shared services like special education, procurement, and admin without full governance consolidation

• Investment in place-based schools as community anchors

The bottom line is that regionalization in rural Massachusetts is often a bad idea because it layers a shared-governance solution on top of a deeply unequal funding system shaped by historic disinvestment.

Just like redlining:

• It looks neutral on paper

• It feels pragmatic in the short term

• It shifts the burden onto communities with the least capacity to carry it, a.k.a kicking the can down the road for others to fix bigger problems.

We can and must do better. Our kids, our schools, and our rural communities deserve nothing less. Here is for a hopeful 2026 on the education front in our commonwealth.

Francia Wisnewski lives in Montague.