ROWE — While Rowe is scheduled to decide in November if it will join the Mohawk Trail Regional School District, town officials are asking if the town has been “double charged” for school bus transportation costs since 2007.
At a joint meeting with the selectmen, School Committee member Ellen Miller and Finance Committee Chairman Raymond Wilson said Mohawk’s “cost-per-student” calculation, used to figure out Rowe’s tuition, includes about $1,300 per student for transportation; yet Rowe has been separately paying at least $46,000 a year for school bus transportation of its middle- and high school students since 2007.
“On the face of it, it seems we’re double-dipping,” said Finance Committee Chairman Ray Wilson. “A significant amount of the (Mohawk) transportation bill is in our student tuition.”
Before 2007, Mohawk treated Rowe’s school bus costs the same as for Mohawk member towns. But state school officials told Mohawk’s former business administrator that Rowe isn’t eligible for state regional transportation reimbursement aid, and its busing costs should not be included in Mohawk’s regional transportation.
This year, Rowe has 28 students at Mohawk and is paying $56,000 for high school transportation — not including an extra late-bus that Rowe provides for students in after-school activities. That’s about $2,000 per student. Coupled with this year’s $13,727 per-student tuition, Rowe is paying almost $16,000 per student to Mohawk.
Northern Berkshire School Union Superintendent Jonathan Lev said that if Rowe is being overcharged this year, perhaps the tuition bill can be corrected before the town pays it. Lev is superintendent for the school union that Rowe Elementary School now belongs to.
Rowe officials have other questions: For instance, they want to know if their tuition and “free cash” contributions — of about $488,000 since 2002 — were also factored in as revenue to reduce the cost-per-student estimate.
Miller said Mohawk’s regional agreement calls for Mohawk to provide special education and transportation services to Rowe, and that no town meeting votes have ever been held to change the regional agreement after the transportation billing change.
Rowe was a founding member town in 1967, but was asked to leave the Mohawk district in 1982, because its utility-rich tax valuations prevented the school district from qualifying for many grants and state aid. In return for leaving what was then a Grade 7-through-12 regional school district, Rowe was promised a tuition rate with a 10 percent discount for sending its students to Mohawk.
“Rowe was to be treated the same as any other town,” said Miller. “The only difference was, by withdrawing from the district, (Rowe) was supposed to pay tuition.”
Mohawk officials say Rowe’s relative tax wealth will no longer affect state aid to Mohawk, since it is based on each town’s wealth. One incentive for Rowe to rejoin Mohawk has been that the town will save on transportation costs, which would then be eligible for state regional transportation reimbursement.
Wilson said the tuition costs won’t make much difference if the town votes to join the Mohawk district. “But if it doesn’t rejoin, we have to be careful that the original agreement is followed,” he said.
“What we’ve done is opened a can of worms, when we come before the town,” said School Committee Chairwoman Susan Zavotka. “If we’re going to vote, I feel we have to come in (to town meeting) with clear information.”
Wilson and Miller said they weren’t satisfied with an explanation given recently by Superintendent Michael Buoniconti and school Business Administrator Michael Kociela on how and why the transportation costs have changed. The Rowe School Committee will be sending a letter to the Mohawk School Committee, seeking a clarification on its Mohawk costs.
Buoniconti and Kociela were out of the office Friday and could not be reached for comment.