ROWE — Now that all Mohawk Trail Regional School District member towns have town meeting votes that support Rowe’s rejoining the district, Rowe town and school officials are discussing the pros and cons of becoming a Grade 7 through 12 Mohawk town — like Hawley and Charlemont — instead of paying tuition for their high school students.
Rowe began reviewing financial projections this week and will bring the issue up for a special town meeting vote sometime this fall. If possible, school and town officials would like to have the town’s decision before December — before school budget planning begins for both Rowe and Mohawk.
The Finance Committee, Board of Selectmen and School Committee met Thursday to review financial impact reports created by Mohawk School Business Administrator Michael Kociela in February. The boards agreed that potential savings for Rowe were “a wash,” depending on how many students Rowe continues sending to Mohawk. But more important than cost-savings was the chance to have a say in their students’ secondary education and building a sense of community with neighboring towns.
Kociela’s report showed that Rowe would have saved $15,000 in education costs this year, with a member-town assessment instead of tuition payments. But these figures also showed that Rowe’s membership would have saved the other eight member-towns about $40,000 total. Rowe officials wondered why there was such a discrepancy in the savings for the district. They believed the savings might come from Rowe’s becoming eligible for Chapter 71 regional transportation aid, or because Mohawk would be collecting Rowe’s Chapter 70 state education aid for Grades 7 to 12. Also, town officials weren’t certain how Rowe would be assessed for School Choice and charter school students. Currently, Rowe pays $10,000 for School Choice secondary students and $35,000 for charter school students. But the town pays this separately, and only sends Mohawk tuition for students going there.
Rowe is to send about 28 students to Mohawk this fall. At this point, the numbers suggest that Rowe would benefit financially from joining Mohawk if it has more than 21 students to enroll at Mohawk. But if enrollment drops below that, Rowe might be better off with its tuition agreement — although it doesn’t have any control over rising per-pupil costs on which its tuition is based.
“I just don’t like any of these numbers,” said Selectman Dennis May. “Our (weighted vote on the Mohawk school committee) would only be 3.8 percent. … I don’t know what we’re getting ourselves into. And once we’re in, we can’t get out of this.”
“I think it’s important to have a vote, but as Dennis said, 3.8 percent isn’t much of a vote,” said School Committee member Ellen Miller.
The boards agreed to put their own numbers together to “compare apples to apples.” That includes calculating how much money Rowe has donated to Mohawk since leaving the district in 1982 — beyond what has been required in tuition payments. Kociela’s report says that Rowe has donated $488,947 to Mohawk since 2002. This has paid for a late-afternoon school bus for children in Heath, Charlemont and Rowe, a Spanish language teacher and computer technology. Town officials think the Rowe donation may be closer to $1 million — going back to 1982.
They appointed a small group to meet with Kociela and go over questions about Mohawk’s calculations.
One question is whether Rowe will continue to have enough students to make Mohawk membership worthwhile. While very few births have been reported in Rowe in the last few years, if Rowe gets high-speed broadband internet and cellphone coverage, that trend could be reversed, Finance Committee member Raymond Wilson pointed out. “If we had broadband and cell service, I suspect (living in Rowe) would be significantly more attractive to young families with children. Then this would be a good deal, under the new agreement.”
“As we lose enrollment and population,” said Selectman Walter Quist, there are other regionalizations we may be joining,” he said. “Being a participant shows you are willing to cooperate. You can’t measure it in cost, but it shows a cooperative effort. All these towns have the same problems.”
School Committee Chairwoman Susan Zavotka agreed. “I think being a good citizen and having community are important. I’m still worrying about the finances. But I believe we’re living in a very challenging time.”
Finance Committee Chairman Wayne Zavotka said although Rowe’s non-voting Mohawk school representative can speak at Mohawk meetings, “it’s my experience that, if you’re on the team, your voice would be respected more than if you’re on the outside. Our voice is stronger if we are in, as opposed to outside.”