ROWE — The Rowe School Committee is reviewing a draft $1.9 million budget for fiscal year 2027, although the total budget is expected to be adjusted once the committee determines the final tuition amount due to the Mohawk Trail Regional School District.
The budget, which so far represents a 4.32% increase over the fiscal year 2026 budget, will be finalized in the coming weeks before being presented to the Selectboard and Finance Committee on Thursday, March 12.
“With everything added up, as is, you’re looking at your total projected as a 4.32% increase,” Assistant Superintendent of Students Services Tara Barnes said.
At Annual Town Meeting last spring, Rowe voters approved a nearly $1.24 million operating budget for Rowe Elementary School, plus a 574,685 budget to cover tuition for its students enrolled at Mohawk Trail Regional School, making for a total $1.8 million budget.
Principal Jon Friedman said increases to the salary line cover contractually obligated raises for union staff, as well as promoting a teaching assistant to a teacher, so the first and second grades have their own teacher rather than having to share one.
“We had a TA in the 1-2 classroom who really has been operating as a teacher for the past two years. She’s also gotten her teacher license,” Friedman said. “I’m asking [for the raise and promotion] just because I feel it’s unfair for us to continue to ask her to do that job. … We’re not adding staff.”
“In the first round of a budget, I think it’s wise to put in for what you feel like is going to best serve students, and then look at what we have to make hard decisions on moving forward,” Northern Berkshire School Union Business Administrator Jordan Rennell said.
The draft budget may change in the coming weeks as the district continues negotiations with the Northern Berkshire School Union and other member towns. Rowe School Committee members plan to meet with Monroe, Clarksburg, Florida and Savoy officials to discuss the breakdown of administrative costs, which could potentially lead to changes in the percentage that each town pays toward staffing, including the Superintendent’s Office as well as roles such as the speech, occupational and physical therapists that travel to each of the four schools in the union.
The Rowe School Committee is also waiting for the Mohawk Trail Regional School Committee to vote on its FY27 budget, which would determine how much Rowe will owe for student tuition at the middle and high school level.
Following budget discussions, committee members shifted to discussing the future of Rowe Elementary, and if the committee should take action following questions from town officials on how to ensure the school is financially and practically viable.
In a December straw poll, Rowe residents voted against joining the Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont regional school committees in the next phase of a sustainability study that is working toward consolidating all students in the two districts to a single campus at Mohawk Trail Regional School in Buckland.
However, with small class sizes and budgets that are also continuing to rise, Finance Committee and Selectboard members have pondered alternatives to joining Mohawk Trail, and have suggested the town consider joining forces with Heath and Charlemont instead.
“Why can’t we talk to Charlemont and Heath to try and grab those kids and get them up here?” Finance Committee Chair Dan Pallotta said during a joint Finance Committee and Selectboard meeting on Jan. 29. “I personally think that the three Selectboards, not even the School Committee, should talk about it because it’s a town thing.”
Pallotta added that he would be in favor of working with Heath to develop a tuition agreement for Heath students that attend Rowe Elementary. Saying that “Heath is taking advantage of us,” he explained that the School Choice revenue from those students does not fully cover the cost of educating them, but if they had a tuition agreement or formed their own district, Rowe could get more funding from Heath.
Chair Susan Zavotka asked School Committee members whether they would want to play a role in any potential conversations with Heath and Charlemont.
“I’m throwing it out there as to, do we want to take some leadership and help form a committee, or let others take this on?” Zavotka asked.
Superintendent John Franzoni commented that he feels it would be a bad look for the committee to start conversations with Heath and Charlemont after opting not to join the sustainability project those two towns are working on with Mohawk Trail.
“I just think if Rowe starts soliciting Charlemont and Heath and other towns to engage in these talks right now while they’re doing their own study there, that’s not going to be viewed favorably,” Franzoni said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a good thing for Rowe to do at this point. I think you’ve got to let them do their study, which Rowe decided not to join, and then see what happens at the end of it.”
Zavotka said if the town were to create a committee, it would not necessarily have to be to negotiate with Heath and Charlemont, but to look at other options for the school’s future.
“We need to be proactive,” she said. “It may not be talking to Heath and Charlemont and pulling away from something else; it might just be what other options do we have.”
The School Committee did not make any decisions, but members said they would like to further discuss their vision for Rowe Elementary’s future.