James DuPont Bridgewater-Raynham School Committe Candidate 2026

(Episode Description is AI generated and may be errors in accuracy)

Property taxes go up on “potential value,” but paychecks do not, and that gap is squeezing local schools. We talk with James DuPont, candidate for the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School Committee and a former committee member, about what voters should watch for when budgets get tight and trust gets tested. He shares his long view of how the district changed, why institutional memory matters on a board, and what it takes to collaborate when the choices are hard.

We also get specific about Bridgewater-Raynham’s strengths right now: leadership, professional administration, and teachers who keep delivering even as class sizes rise and staffing shrinks. DuPont highlights why he respects the district’s financial oversight and why an audit mattered for public confidence. From student outcomes to the basics of classroom instruction, we explore what communities risk losing first when “do more with less” becomes the default.

Then we zoom out to the bigger system shaping everything: Massachusetts school funding. DuPont argues the district cannot cost cut or override its way to stability, and he points straight at Chapter 70, local aid, and the way Proposition 2 1/2 strains communities when the state underfunds its commitments. If you care about fair school funding, vocational school options like Bristol-Plymouth, and keeping public education strong without pricing residents out, this conversation will give you language, context, and next steps.

If this helped you think clearer about local education policy, subscribe, share with a neighbor, and leave us a review. What change would most improve school funding where you live?

Transcript

Welcome And Candidate Introduction

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Inside Scoop. I'm Pat Riley, and we're here with our focus on the candidates. And our first candidate right now is James DuPont, candidate for the Bridgewater Rainham Regional School Committee. Welcome, Jim.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Nice to be here, Pat. Thanks for having me.

DuPont’s Roots And Public Service

SPEAKER_02 0:19

Now I don't know if there's anyone out there that doesn't know you, but in case there is, um, maybe we can just start by tell us what you'd like everyone to know about Jim DuPont.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Well, I I think the thing that I want to make sure people were clear about is who with whom they're dealing. And uh that is to say that we moved here from Colorado when I was 10. And uh as such, I went to the rain I went to Merrill for sixth grade, and then I went to seventh and eighth grade, or then Rainham Junior High, uh Liberty Now. And I graduated from Bridgewater Rainham after that. Um I grew up across the street from what was then Town Hall. And after I was married, uh my late wife and I had uh the house across the street from uh the bank on North Main Street. And uh I've run for office a couple of times in this town, I ran for state representative twice. And at one point in time I could claim to have knocked on every door in the town of Rainham twice. There's quite a few more houses than the last time I ran. I was elected to the Bridgewater Rainham School Committee in 1978, and I had served there for 18 years, six terms until 1996, uh, where when I was elected as a Board of Select, I was re-elected for another term after that. Uh I guess I'm if I'm known for anything in the community, it's the road races, the Monday night fun run that we've been having for 25 years now. On Monday nights, we used to have it down on Leonard Street, uh Judson Street behind the Rain Am Athletic Club, and we moved it, I think in 2012, to uh the Lions Club over on King Phillip Street. And everybody on South Main Street sees people running by their house on Monday night. And I did some campaigning on South Main Street the other day, and I said, I'm the guy that's heck up those people running by your house on Mondays. I am retired from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, where I worked in the Litigation Bureau, and I was a supervisor of the Chapter 11 corporate bankruptcy section, and had a staff of eight people, five examiners, three lawyers that worked for me. I'm not a lawyer, but I've worked in uh law firms most of my life prior to that and civil process things and uh uh, you know, a lot of civil process and uh research for the lawyers and the actions they were involved in. I'm a graduate of Bridgewater State College, now Bridgewater State University, where I obtained a bachelor's degree in political science and history. And I subsequently completed a uh postgraduate master's degree program in secondary education, high school teaching, uh part of which I was uh I got to teach at Taunton High for a year. And uh it's a lot different when you're the teacher than when you're the school committee or even a parent. That those are first thing you realize is that the the students in the classroom, those are real life people. And and this isn't a uh chess game and this isn't a board game, those are real life people, and they're counting those children, you know, they're trusting you to try to teach them some things. It was one of the most moving experiences I ever had. And um, I I've been involved in the music business. I play, I still do some public performances now and then. And most people around about the uh second line of my first song want to know what I did with the money my mother gave me for singing lessons. Uh and that that's kind that's kind of who Jimmy DuPont is. And I grew up near the Four Corners, and uh, as you know, Pat, I was the that was my claim to fame. I was the paperboy on Orchard Street, South Main, Pleasant Street, uh, and uh North Main, Orchard.

SPEAKER_02 3:59

King Street.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

King Street, back when uh Nicholas Road did not go all the way through. There was only two roads in and out of Pleasantfield, Ralph Row and Michael back then, and uh uh Lil uh Lily B. Merrill, uh who lived in the house right next to the bus garage owned by Gus Loebs. Uh she was she was still I was Gus I was Lily B. Merrill's paper boy, and Milton Reed, the publisher, the owner of the Tondal Gazette, lived on King Street. So, and your mom and dad did too.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Absolutely. And of course, you're no stranger to town meeting.

Why He’s Running Again

SPEAKER_00 4:35

I I started going to town meeting when I turned 18 on uh June 26, 1971, at the town meeting that night. See that and uh I I I had some articles at town meeting the past. Uh uh I was the guy who rezoned uh it was me, uh we didn't attend taxpayer petition to rezone Broadway from Elm Street to Center Street commercial. Broadway was sputzed back in the 50s when they were putting together the original master plan for zoning for the town. They understood there was a highway coming through there somewhere at some point. This is in the Walter O'Brien, Al Porter, Wallace Hall days of uh the Rainham of 1,500, 2,000 people. And I am just amazed to this day at how well and how far into the future the people who laid this town out, you could see. And 24 had just come through, I guess, in 1956. And Rainham was one of those towns people heard about but never went to. I think all that was out on 44 at the time was Mammoth Mart and and uh uh BPM were were where uh Shaw's is now, and there was no Kmart. And it was the top of the hill was you probably remember was owned by uh uh a company that uh we would go sledding there. Jordan Marshall at some point. So but you know, I'm that that's kind of the short sketch on me. My wife passed away in 2012. I now live up on Elm Street East near Jennings Drive, and uh that's kind of who Jerry DuPont is today.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

Very good. And what do you want people to know about the campaign? What is so important about why you want to be on the Bridgewater Ranging School Committee?

SPEAKER_00 6:24

Well, I I want to first thing say, Pat, and you served on it as well. I was on it for 18 years, and I got off when I became a selectman. And I gotta say, we've been so fortunate in the town, particularly on the school committee level. When it was the K-8, we had people like Alice Powers and uh Shoshana Garshik, uh Mark Sanderson. So these many of these people have passed away or moved on. And at the regional high school, uh we I served with Cliff Betancourt. Uh Reggie Nickerson had been one of the original members, and he asked me if I would consider running in 1978 when he didn't serve seek re-election. And so we've had really good school, and the current school committee, which is eight, I was on it when it was six. And in fact, I was chairman of the committee on further regionalization that expanded it from just the high school to the pre-K through 12 comprehensive school district. And I'm just amazed, number one, at the resumes of the people who are currently on it. Very bright people, very professional, very focused on education and on the students. And uh over the years I got to serve with Ann Troutman and George Gurley, uh, George Mitchell, uh Rainham, we had Shoshana, we had Bobby Cardacy, yourself. And after, you know, I left the committee, uh, Dr. Pruandowski, uh Patty Rowland. Um I could go on and on, but I was always impressed at how the high quality of people, high caliber of people we had in all of our town offices. I mean, Don McKinnon and Don Francis, as they call them, the Dons. And, you know, it was a pleasure and an honor to serve with them. So I I decided to run this year because Jessica Davenport, uh, who I thought was a very good member. I supported her when she ran. And she told me she wasn't going to run again. And I I didn't want to take an opportunity away from somebody else. I, you know, I don't flatter myself that I'm the only person who could ever be a school committee member or a good selectman. And I I would get frequently approached, why don't you run for this, run for that? And I said, No, I've had my time, did the best I could, and I think I did some good things in both of them. And this time around, they somebody said to me, I should think about running again because I could bring to the table some of the experience and the history, the context of things. Why is why why are we voting in both towns for BR? I was the first person elected when we went district wide for elections instead of just each town electing the members. So there's a lot of context and history there that I think will help the other members make better decisions. Uh, even though I served on it before, when you're the new person, uh you you you you went from an eight-member board to a three-member board in one day, and you you have to earn their respect. Even if they've known you all their lives or whatever, or you've served before, you're the new person. You're like the player that got traded from the Raiders to the Patriots, get earned the team's respect, and you get to learn how the synergy is amongst them and try to contribute to it in a positive way. And I felt I could do that in given some of the issues we're looking at. Now, some of the issues, particularly among funding, financing, uh, I I I think I've got a history in that. That that's been a bugaboo for me. Uh that we're not getting the money by law we're entitled to. So I said I said, well, I don't know how many people remember me, but I I've gone out every day and knocking on doors for a couple of hours, making some new friends, seeing some more money. And I hope to be elected and be able to work in a positive way.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

And you know your way to the State House.

District Strengths And Leadership

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Well, I do, and uh I can't say the current governor would take a phone call from me, but Bill Well and Paul Zalucci and Mitt Romney uh were people. And and over the years, uh Mark Pachico was a wonderful senator for us. We were so fortunate to have Mark. Uh if anything came up, I remember when I was on the BR committee before, and if something came up, they would all say, Jimmy, you call he's your friend. And I would call Mark on Pacico on various things, and he would already be aware of it. And he if he said, Let me get back to you. Uh if I called him, he'd call me back over the years. I've had a good relationship with our various representatives that we've had. We had Jackie Lewis and Alan Chaka, who uh defeated me. And uh, you know, we've had some pretty good people in the legislature and some of the political work I've done outside of the town. It made me familiar with that whole process. In fact, two weeks ago I went before the joint committee on ways and means at the at the invitation of our current state representative, Dennis Gallagher, who runs Monday nights with us by the way. And uh and I you know he because he's a member, he was able to get me and a couple of other constituents first so that we could, you know, and and instead of waiting for hours and there's two of the members left and nobody in there. But uh, you know, I've testified. I filed bills, it didn't become law. I filed things at town meetings, some of them passed, some of them didn't. Uh but I I I've learned that put something out there, do your best with it, and if it doesn't pass, just move on to the next thing. And I've never lost a friendship over an election, and I've made plenty of new ones. So when it comes to dealing with Boston, I think I know, and I've been trying to make them the message, pretty sure that Dennis Gallagher, who is a Democrat, everybody can't believe when we do point the town Republican is supporting him. But I said, well, he takes the call, and this local aid thing being underfunded, he called me and said, I'd like you to come testify before Ways and Means and put it on them, saying, you know, this is what you guys need to do. They hear it from me, they're gonna say, well, yeah, yeah, everybody wants that, Dennis. So so that that that was a very compelling experience. And I I've worked in the I worked in Boston at the Department of Revenue, and I was a legislative liaison for a period of time. So these I can't say I can make them do things, but I at least know how to make the call and get the conversation started.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

So, what do you think with our school district right now? Strengths? Obviously, the shortcoming is funding.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Well, Bridgewater Rainham over the years, going back to when it originally started, Sergius J. Bernard was the first superintendent. It opened in in uh September of 1960. His sons, as a matter of fact, founded Cape Cod Potato Chips.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 13:09

The first superintendent of BR's uh Bridgewater Rainham sons founded Cape Cod Potato Chips. He was followed uh by Ralph McLean, and who was followed by Ed Denton. While I was on the committee, Ed Denton was superintendent, followed by George Capanaris and Ed O'Donoghue. I went off after that. Uh, Jacqueline Forbes came in, uh, Florence. Now Ryan Powers. Ryan Powers is the vindication of Bridgewater Rain here. This is a kid who grew up in this town, went to these schools, and has worked tirelessly as an educator. And I'm very impressed with the professionalism of the administrative people in the non-curriculum areas, finance in particular. They did this big audit on things because people had so many questions about where's this, where's that. So they did this audit, and what it basically said is everything's right there where it should be, there's no missing money. Uh and the only thing they faulted the district on really was that you were using grants for things that you might want to be doing as an annual appropriation or a salary position. And I think Ryan had to do that because he just didn't have the money in the annual budget because grants are annual things, and you don't get them year after year. You gotta hope, hope that you get them. So I rate the administration very highly. The classroom instruction and curriculum, from what I gather, I don't have any kids in there. In fact, they're I now can say that I went to school with the grandparents of the students that are at the grades uh K through 12. And from what I gather, the curriculum is that the teachers in the classroom are very good.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

And we've always been lucky that way. We have to look back when we went to school right through, we've always, for some reason, thankfully, been able to attract such excellent teachers. And I think that's why our district is doing as well as it is, even in spite of obviously they need funding, but they still the teachers are still doing what they need to do.

School Choice And Vocational Shifts

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Well, the the the and they're doing it with enthusiasm, and they're doing it with with with with with dedication. And even though the staff levels have gone down, and the the class size, which really means pupil-teacher ratio, uh has gone gone down, gone up, that the teachers that we have don't say, oh, oh my god, I can't do this. They do the opposite, they try even harder. And when you look at the colleges that that we're sending graduates to, when you look at how we're still putting people into West Point every year, and we're getting people into the elite colleges. Now, of course, that is the tip of the iceberg. Down down the iceberg a little bit, we're doing very well at getting kids into the Bridgewater State and the SMUs and the UMass uh system and and and some of the more prestigious uh colleges outside of New England, Mark, Cat, NYU, we send graduates to the best schools, which means the ones that we that don't show up in that top tier, they're doing pretty good too. And one thing that I did want to comment on, Pat, is that they've talked about how the number of eighth graders finishing eighth grade in Bridgewater and Rainham who opt to go somewhere else, there's there's a pretty big fall off. I just wanted to say that, well, back in my day there were no charter schools. Uh and the enrollments in Bristol Plymouth, the number that Bridgewater and Rainham had, who have them separately because of the member towns, and Bristol Aggie, the opportunities and the options for secondary education, Christian academies. Coil Coyle Cassidy at the time was kind of that was what you had for option in in Rainham and Taunton. You have so many more options now as an eighth grader to go to a private academy or a Moses Brown or a Buckingham Brown and Nichols in Boston and Thayer and Tabor. Those those options really didn't exist until the last 20 years or so. So I'm not surprised to see it drop off there. But it isn't because they don't want to go to Bridgewater Radium, they're just better options for them.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

And they're given that option too. And the those schools, Bristol Plymouth in particular, visits our middles our middle schools to let the students know about the options. And for some, Bristol Plymouth is just a better option for them.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Well, and that's something that's a generational change. When when I went to high school back in the 60s, late 60s, early 70s, vocational school, you didn't want to go to it. You were sent there. The vocational schools were typically seen as this is where you send troublemakers, this is where you send students that don't want to try, that are bored with, you know, that they're basically just disruptive influence. So you sent them to vote. The Vocational Lead Act passed in 1970 in Bristol Plymouth made it attractive to go there, and not just because you could avoid classroom stuff. In fact, the the guidance report that we got every month about students who left BR, we also got ones that came back. And the number one place that BR would lose students in September and October was going to Bristol Plymouth because an opening occurred. Some student from another town didn't like it after a week or two. But the other thing was the main reason cited by students who had elected to go to BP and went out of BR when they came back, believe it or not, and this was something that I saw in the guidance report George Powers used to issue every month, was that it was too hard. The academics, see at Bristol, at BR, we've got honors. We've got S1, S2, Basil. We've got four and five different levels for English and history and science. At Bristol Plymouth, they only have one level. They've got you have to take English. You know, you could have shop one week, classroom the next, and they alternate, but they don't have that different levels that can help accommodate somebody who's uh got a learning disability, for example. Not that they don't deal with it, but that person, their parents, I think, realize you might be better off at Bridgewater. We still have a shop at Bridgewater. And it, but it's not to the extent that they do at BP. So this is something I want to look at and and talk with the superintendent about.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

And I'm sure with the elimination of the electives, including all of the business courses, I'm sure that had an impact too on students deciding to go to Bristol to Bridgewater Rain in this past year.

Funding Fixes And Chapter 70

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Well, it it's having an an impact on them after their freshman and sophomore year. And I will say this that the ones who do freshman and sophomore year in BR Regional High School, they're well positioned to go to another school, a vocational school that might have somewhat more difficult academics than a lot of OakED students might expect. They're well positioned because they've had good, solid grammar. I mean, 20 spelling words every week and a theme every week, Patty. And uh and and uh they transitioned better to some of these schools because of the basics that they got in their freshman and sophomore year. And then there are students who've gone three years to Bridgewater and Rainham who then chose to go to Bristol Plymouth so that that would be on their diploma because they were thinking about going into the trades. Bristol Plymouth, you don't need to they they you you apply for a job in the trades, they see Bristol Plymouth, they say, get that person in here for an interview.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

So how do we get out of this problem, this funding problem? What's your thoughts about that? For the schools?

SPEAKER_00 20:50

This is quite stark in what I'm gonna say. We're not going to cost cut or override our way out of this. Okay. Uh I was talking with somebody earlier today that says, you know, when you talk about you've got to make every dollar count, you've got to stretch every penny. That's not something new. We've had budget-minded people on the school committee and at in the administration, and they know that if they ask for too much too often, that that's when people are gonna start maybe electing new people of the school committee who will reverse that. And the superintendent, he understands this is who he answers to. And you can't just keep asking people to pay for more. So overrides are not going to pass because they're already paying, I think, probably more than they should.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

Or can afford it as well. Or can't afford it.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

Well, there's something real quick. I I just can't understand why we're still using property taxes to fund local government. Because property is taxed on its potential value. And I said, What if the Department of Revenue of the IRS said, you know, Miss Riley, we've looked at your work history and your education. We think you had the potential to earn$500,000 less. Year pay up. You would say I didn't earn$500,000. But we tax now, how do we tax property? If you sold that property, this is how much you'd get. But because the value went up, that doesn't mean the income of the homeowner, particularly now that I'm a senior citizen on a pension and Social Security, I don't have an automatic increase in pay because of a union contract or a sales commission rate that increased in the private sector. So we need to get away from that. And I think the solution to that is to tell the state legislature, and I've been tracking Chapter 70 since 1973. Since 1973, this is 2026. Chapter 70, there's a formula for how much you're entitled to. As n they'll tell you how much you're entitled to. And then you get a letter that says pro rata share. This is what percent you're getting, because this is all we have. And I said, we need to change local aid from here's what's left to here's what the formula says, here's your money. And I said, we are all paying taxes, state, federal, and it's not it's where it comes from. When people talk about budgets, there seems to be an awful lot of emphasis on where is this money going? But when you talk about business, business looks at their revenue side as much as they do. What can we do to increase revenue? Increase sales, raise prices. I was telling somebody, so you go into a restaurant and they got new menus, I guarantee the prices went up. So it it but you can't keep asking people to be paying on potential value of property when their income didn't necessarily go up. So I think the solution is to make it clear to the legislators. The people who represent us in the state senate and the state house of representatives do not vote for a state budget that underfunds it. Proposition two and a half only works, but it only works if the state holds up its energy.

Closing Message To Voters

SPEAKER_02 24:06

Absolutely. Well, you'll be very busy, I'm sure, um, if elected, and uh um we'll find out about that in just a couple weeks from now. We've got a couple minutes left, Jim. What would you like to say to the voters in uh in wrapping it up in a couple of years?

SPEAKER_00 24:23

Well, I I I'm I'm not a first-time candidate, but that doesn't mean I'm taking anybody or anything for granted. I'm trying to get out there and meet people. There are lots of new people in Rainham who don't know who Jimmy DuPont is. And I can't meet them all, but I I do go out and I knock on some doors and I go to public events and things. So I'm asking people to look at my background as somebody that they would see that I've got experience in school budgeting and school committee politics, somebody who's uh knowledgeable but and also capable. I've proven over the years as a selectman, as a school committee member, that I can work with other members through difficult situations. Uh was I was at my second meeting and they came over to me and said they're trying to do dancing on Route 44. And that wasn't something I expected, and I was so fortunate that Don McKinnon and Bobby Dacey, who had a working relationship with the police, brought me into that process. I want people to, when they go to vote, say, is this somebody that will make decisions in the best interest of the students, but that we can afford? And so I'm a senior citizen on a fixed income. I can't keep shelling out more money. But I believe you get what you pay for, and I don't think we can add it, but we're not going to cost cut or override our way out of this. The solution is for the legislature to meet its obligation. No, this is a constitutional requirement that you have a school. There's no requirement you have to have police or fire, but you have to have a school, and that money gets paid by people in state taxes, income, sales, meals. Let's let's let's take and give that money back to those students and those teachers and those police officers, firefighters, highway, put on the list that so that they don't have to ask the people of limited means with company taxes one month for more money out of that pocket.

unknown 26:18

But ain't no now.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

Let's get it back into the topic of this.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

Thank you very much for being with us. Our guest today, James DuPont, candidate for the Bridgewater Rainheim Regional School Committee. Thank you for joining us here on the Inside Scoop.