Voters in Blackstone and Millville will head to the polls on December 1 to decide whether to borrow more than $197 million to replace their regional high school, a 56-year-old building. The special election, scheduled from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., will determine whether the two towns move forward with a full rebuild or face a separate, state-unfunded repair bill estimated at roughly $147 million over the next 14 years.
The Blackstone-Millville Regional School Committee adopted the borrowing authorization on July 6, then voted to approve the authorization and ballot language at its October 1 meeting, as reported by MassLive. The vote is not a town meeting but a district-wide ballot election, a distinction required because the project involves a debt exclusion — a temporary property tax increase above normal Proposition 2½ limits used strictly to repay the project's bonds. That legal mechanism is spelled out under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 71, Section 16(n), according to the Blackstone-Millville Regional School District, which notes the tax increase automatically expires once the project's principal and interest are fully paid.
What the Project Would Actually Cost
The total project carries a price tag of $197,248,502, the exact amount that will appear on the ballot. The Massachusetts School Building Authority's estimated maximum facilities grant is $76,808,364. The agency's board approved a 65.51% cap on reimbursement for eligible, approved project costs on August 26, per the district's own project cost breakdown. MassLive reports a net local cost of $118,924,273 after a $78.324 million grant. That cost is split between the two towns according to student enrollment ratios — Blackstone would cover 75%, or $89.175 million, while Millville would be responsible for 25%, or $29.725 million.
Residents can estimate their own potential tax impact using a calculator posted on the district's project website, per the same MassLive report. The Blackstone-Millville project was one of three school building projects statewide listed for an Invitation to Project Scope and Budget at the August meeting, alongside projects in Chicopee and Needham, according to the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
The Cost of Saying No
Rejecting the replacement project would not spare taxpayers from spending money on the aging building. District officials have said a failed vote would trigger separate repair projects between 2027 and 2040 costing about $147 million, with just over $100 million of that allocated to asbestos removal and system upgrades, per MassLive's reporting. Those repairs would also include replacing the flooring, food services equipment, and the roof — and notably, that $147 million estimate does not include modular classrooms, site work, new furniture and equipment, or new technology.
Daniel Keefe is chair of the regional school committee. The current high school building, located on Lincoln Street in Blackstone, opened in September 1970, three years after voters in both towns approved creating the regional school district in 1967, according to the Blackstone-Millville Regional School District. The district's facilities assessment actually began back in January 2020, when its Capital Planning Committee first advertised requests for architectural proposals — kicking off a six-year pipeline of state milestone approvals that has led to this winter's vote.
A New Grade Configuration and Timeline
If approved, the project would reconfigure the facility into a combined middle and senior high school serving grades 7 through 12, a shift the School Building Committee voted for in June 2025 after considering 6–12 and 9–12 alternatives, according to a report from the Small Town Post. The current high school serves grades 8 through 12.
Per MassLive, an approved project would move into the design and construction documents phase, with construction beginning around February 2028 and wrapping up by December 2029. The existing high school would remain open throughout construction, and the new building would open in early 2030, after which the old school would be demolished. The project also includes construction of new ballfields.
Administrative Backdrop and Where to Vote
The vote comes as the district navigates a leadership transition. Blackstone-Millville is currently operating under interim superintendent Maureen Binienda, appointed July 27 after the departure of seven-year superintendent Jason DeFalco in 2025 — marking the second consecutive school year the district has relied on interim leadership, the Small Town Post reported in its coverage of Binienda's appointment. The school committee had restarted its search for a permanent superintendent in June 2026.
Blackstone-Millville Regional High School enrolled 534 students in 2024–2025, including eighth-graders. Polling locations for December 1 include the senior center, fire station #2, and the municipal center's main conference room in Blackstone, covering precincts 1 through 3, along with the senior center in Millville. The School Building Committee is scheduled to meet again on October 14 at 5 p.m. at Hartnett Middle School, and additional project details are available on the district's project website, per MassLive.
The high school has previously made local headlines for unrelated reasons; Hoodline reported in January 2025 on a social media threat closure that temporarily shuttered the building. This time, the stakes for the 56-year-old facility are financial and structural, with voters set to decide its future in less than two months.
