By DIANE BRONCACCIO
Recorder Staff
ROWE — Will Rowe rejoin the Mohawk Trail Regional School District after a 35-year hiatus?
Rowe voters will decide at a special town meeting on Thursday, beginning at 6:30 p.m., at the Rowe Elementary School.
The issue is whether Rowe will become a secondary education member town — joining the regional school district as a voting member town on Grade 7 to 12 school issues, instead of paying annual tuition, as it has done since the early 1980s.
For those who would like more information and discussion about rejoining Mohawk, the Rowe School Committee will hold a public hearing on Wednesday at 6 p.m., also in the Rowe Elementary School.
Rowe, a founding Mohawk member town, had been asked to voluntarily withdraw from the district in 1982, at a time when Rowe’s utility-rich tax valuations drove down the district’s financial eligibility for state education money. But subsequent funding formula changes in Chapter 70 mean the entire district would no longer be hurt by Rowe’s tax wealth. According to an information sheet prepared by Rowe officials, the district would receive an additional $57,360 if Rowe becomes a Mohawk school district town.
According to estimates prepared by Mohawk Business Administrator Michael Kociela, if Rowe rejoins the Mohawk district, the district would gain about $60,000 in additional revenue, coming from Rowe’s minimum required contribution, as calculated in the state formula, Chapter 70 education funds, and Chapter 71 state school bus aid for regional transportation.
Rowe, in contrast, would spend about $2,800 more as a secondary education Mohawk member town, but it would have two voting school board members on the Mohawk Trail Regional School District Committee, as do Hawley and Charlemont. Currently, Rowe has one non-voting Mohawk representative.
If Rowe votes not to join the Mohawk District, it will pay $321,000 in 2018 for student tuition, $56,084 for school bus transportation and an estimated $66,771 for charter school students. The total secondary school costs for Rowe in the coming school year would be $371,882 as a tuition town; its costs as a Mohawk member town would be $374,754.
As a member town, Rowe would share in the cost of future capital improvements to the high school. The Mohawk district would absorb the costs of Rowe’s Grade 7 to 12 special education students
If Rowe joins Mohawk as a secondary education member, the Mohawk school board will go from a 16-member voting board to an 18-member one. The school committee members have weighted votes, based on their rolling five-year enrollment averages.
Here are the current weighted votes for each town’s two school committee members combined: Ashfield 17 percent; Buckland 18.8 percent; Charlemont 12.4 percent; Colrain 16.4 percent; Hawley 3.4 percent; Heath 7 percent; Plainfield 6.4 percent; and Shelburne 18.6 percent.
If Rowe joins Mohawk, here’s the total weighted vote for nine member towns with two members each: Ashfield 16.4 percent; Buckland 18 percent; Charlemont 12 percent; Colrain 15.8 percent; Hawley 3.2 percent; Heath 6.6 percent; Plainfield 6.2 percent; Rowe 2.8 percent and Shelburne 18 percent.
All eight member towns voted last year in favor of a regional agreement change that allowed Rowe to join the district, effective July 1, 2017. However, because Rowe’s article proposes joining Mohawk on July 2018, it’s possible the other towns may have to revote the issue with the new date. Mohawk school board Chairwoman Martha Thurber said the issue may be put on annual town meeting warrants this spring — just in case revotes are needed from the other towns.