HEATH — Heath special town meeting voters Tuesday night unanimously backed a regional school agreement revision that will make it possible for Rowe to rejoin the Mohawk Trail Regional School District as a secondary education member town.
Heath’s was the last town vote needed, since all eight Mohawk member towns must approve any change to the regional agreement with town meeting votes. Last week, Colrain also voted at a special town meeting to accept the district agreement amendment.
Now that all towns have voted, it’s up to Rowe to decide if it wants to come back to the Mohawk district as a Grade 7 through 12 member town.
Rowe had been one of the founding member towns in the Mohawk school district, but was asked to withdraw from the district in 1982, when Rowe’s utility-rich property tax valuation disqualified the school district for receiving certain kinds of state aid. For the past 34 years, Rowe has been sending its middle and high school students to Mohawk on a discounted, tuition-paying basis. But Rowe does not have a vote on any Mohawk issues; nor does it receive any state reimbursement for school transportation costs, since it is not part of a regional district.
Since then, the amount of state aid Mohawk receives is based on the relative wealth of each member town; so Rowe’s relative wealth would not affect the aid that Mohawk receives for towns with lower tax revenues.
The revised regional agreement would give Rowe two committee members on the Mohawk Trail Regional School District Committee — each with a weighted vote worth 1.9 percent on the school board. Like Hawley and Charlemont, Rowe would be allowed to vote on any matter involving the high school and middle school, but not on elementary school issues, since the Rowe Elementary School is not part of the Mohawk District.
Rowe’s joining the district would change the Mohawk School Committee from a 16-member to an 18-member board, with two members elected to three-year terms from each of its nine towns. Every 10 years, the school board is to review member towns’ populations to adjust the weighted vote of its school committee members.
Besides the town’s assessment for educating its school children, Rowe would be assessed for its share of the district’s Grade 7 through 12 operating and capital costs.