Waltham Elementary to try (again) to ease space crunch

Waltham Elementary is overcrowded so the district proposes two options for Utica-area voters. Option A: keep renting 10 portable classrooms. Option B: build a permanent annex. Decision day could be Nov. 3.

Waltham Elementary is overcrowded – nothing new about that – so the district proposes two options for Utica -area voters. Option A: continue renting 10 portable classrooms. Option B: build a permanent annex.

The price, however, would be the same for either option: a 45-cent tax increase. The board is eyeing a Nov. 3 question, but has not voted on whether to put a referendum on the ballot. That was revealed Thursday at a meeting of the Utica Village Board.

Representatives from the school district appeared at the village hall to build a case for voters to decide on Nov. 3 whether to fund a way to alleviate the space crunch. Superintendent Kristi Eager said there’s been an influx of young families with children, swelling enrollment and straining the existing space crunch. “We’re continuing to see a steady climb,” Eager said.

“I feel like about once a week we get a call from a family buying a home.” So what would a 45-cent increase mean for taxpayers? Utica Mayor David Stewart recently paid about $2,100 in taxes to Waltham.

Based on a Shaw Local projection, he’d pay 13% more (a projected $2,366) if the board boosts the rate next year. Though the school remains relatively new (students began attending in 2019) and was constructed without raising taxes, an influx of pre-K and special-needs students required more full-time staff and created a space crunch. In April 2025, Waltham asked Utica-area voters for nearly $10 million to fund an annex.

Voters would have accepted a 38-cent increase had they voted for it. Instead, the referendum sank by a 2-to-1 margin. “The last plan was too big,” said Kim Morello, a Waltham board member who appeared Thursday.

Morello and teacher Katye Alvarado said the district needs to make a financial commitment because the space crunch isn’t going away. Enrollment has climbed more than a third since 2017 and another 69 children will have been added by 2028. Continuing to rent the 10 temporary trailers – or buying them at $800,000 each – is an option, they said.

Alternatively, a permanent annex would meet the district’s needs for a projected 20 years.