Mass. Sen. Durant: Healey ‘weaponized’ housing law against Wachusett Regional High School

A central Massachusetts lawmaker has called on the Healey administration to stop “weaponizing” a statewide housing law after a local school district got caught in the crossfire.

The criticism from Sen. Peter Durant, R-Worcester/Hampshire, came after he learned Wachusett Regional High School had been denied money from a state grant program that teaches students budget and money-management skills.

The high school’s application for $3,200 from the state’s Credit for Life program was denied because officials in Holden have not yet complied with the MBTA Communities Law, which requires multi-family housing construction along mass transit lines.

Earlier this year, residents in Holden, one of five feeder towns for the high school, shot down an effort to bring the community into compliance with the law, according to Spectrum News.

The community is set for another vote on the law, signed by GOP Gov. Charlie Baker, in February.

“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 Facebook post.

“Punishing them because one district community is in a policy dispute with the administration is not only unfair, it sets a troubling precedent of tying educational funding to unrelated grant funds, rather than basing it on the needs of students,” the Spencer lawmaker said.

Holden Town Manager Peter Lukes argued that schools shouldn’t be punished for the actions of their feeder communities.

“Wachusett is a separate body and it shouldn’t be impacted by what we do,” Lukes said, adding that students from four other towns are being hurt by this decision.

In all, four schools across the state have been denied funding from the nearly $285,000 available for the Credit for Life programs, Durant said.

Two schools in Hanover and one in Dracut were denied because their communities aren’t in compliance with the housing law, Durant said.

“I urge the administration to reconsider this decision and work directly with local officials to address compliance concerns without penalizing an entire school district. Our focus should remain on ensuring students have the resources they need to succeed, not using them as a bargaining chip in broader policy debates,” Durant said.

The Healey administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.