ORANGE — The Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District School Committee has approved a tuition agreement with Warwick, providing peace of mind to families who might want to have their children educated in the neighboring town.
Diana Noble, who serves on the Warwick School Committee, said Warwick students were already allowed to attend Ralph C. Mahar Regional School in grades seven through 12 through School Choice, but this tuition agreement presents a longer-term option. The independent Warwick School District serves students in preschool through sixth grade, and Mahar educates students in seventh through 12th grade from Orange, New Salem, Wendell and Petersham, as well as pupils from other communities via School Choice.
“Families can be sure that that option is available to them,” Noble said on Monday.
The tuition schedule, which starts at $19,965 for fiscal year 2026, entails an annual 2.5% increase to the Warwick tuition for three consecutive years. The contract will be renegotiated in fiscal year 2028, with the intent to produce an annual Warwick tuition increase that closely mirrors Mahar’s average annual per-pupil cost increases.
Warwick students who have already been accepted to Mahar under School Choice as of the signing of the agreement will remain School Choice students until they have graduated at a rate of $10,000 per student. Additional costs for services for Warwick students with disabilities will be calculated based on each student’s Individualized Education Plan. The cost for special education will be calculated using the actual costs that Warwick will pay.
Under the tuition agreement, when a Warwick student enters on or after Oct. 1, Mahar will prorate the annual tuition. Warwick will be charged for the full year whenever a student withdraws on or after May 1.
Mahar will provide transportation for Warwick students with a single stop near/at the Orange-Warwick town line. Warwick will be responsible for any additional stops.
Alan Genovese, a former superintendent who sits on the Warwick Selectboard and Warwick School Committee, spoke at the Mahar School Committee meeting on July 31 to advocate for the tuition agreement.
“We’re looking forward to a partnership. I was fortunate enough to have a couple of my grandchildren come to school here. They got a great education,” he said. “We hope to have that experience be shared with other students that come from Warwick.”
Warwick Selectboard member Brian Snell echoed Genovese’s sentiment.
Elizabeth Zielinski, superintendent of the Ralph C. Mahar Regional and Union 73 school districts, explained that discussion on this tuition agreement started four years ago, when Warwick was leaving the Pioneer Valley Regional School District.
After the Pioneer School Committee voted in January 2020 to recommend the closure of Warwick Community School, residents voted at Town Meeting that July to begin the process of withdrawing from the district. Since then, Warwick has reopened its elementary school as an independent district. Warwick students in grades seven through 12 may still attend Pioneer Valley Regional School through a tuition agreement.