Change Eyed in School Pact

Up-Island Regional Agreement Could See a Major Overhaul if Aquinnah
Has Its Way; Cost Remains the Issue

By IAN FEIN

With tensions brewing and the fate of the Up-Island Regional School
District back in the spotlight, the regional school committee will meet
twice next week to consider changes to the agreement that formed the
district. And after the release of two separate financial studies about
the district this spring, school committee members are feeling pressure
from opposing fronts.

The West Tisbury finance committee, longtime critics of the regional
formula that determines how costs are shared between the three towns in
the district, is requesting that Chilmark taxpayers contribute an
additional $500,000 to cover the costs of the Chilmark School.
Meanwhile, officials in Aquinnah want to change the agreement to reflect
a formula recommended by the state, which could increase the costs to
West Tisbury taxpayers by more than $250,000.

School committee members will take up the regional formula at their
own meeting on Monday, two days before a scheduled confab with the West
Tisbury selectmen and finance committee. Should the school committee
recommend adjustments to the regional agreement, those amendments still
would need voter approval at all three up-Island town meetings before
they can take effect.

Vineyard schools superintendent Dr. James H. Weiss acknowledged that
the conflicting interests of different towns pose a difficult dilemma
for the regional committee, but he expressed confidence that committee
members are up to the task.

"I think they understand what needs to be done, and I'm
hopeful they can come up with some way to revise the formula to make it
more equitable," Mr. Weiss said. "I'm not convinced
that we can ever make everyone happy, but I think at this point we have
to take a look at it and do the best we can do."

The up-Island towns joined together in 1993 to form the regional
district, which includes both the Chilmark and West Tisbury schools.
School officials maintain that the regional structure offers both
financial and educational benefits to the three member towns, but the
West Tisbury finance committee has long argued that its taxpayers carry
an unfair share of the burden.

The up-Island discord mirrors debate about regional school districts
across the commonwealth. With a decrease in incentives and overall state
funding, regional districts elsewhere in the state also face conflicts
over cost allocation.

When threats to dissolve the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School
District on the Cape heightened last year, state Rep. Clean H. Turner of
Barnstable formed a regional school caucus to explore the issue. The
caucus held several meetings across the state last fall, and finished
its report three weeks ago. Still in the process of being distributed to
state representatives and regional school superintendents, the report
recommends new state legislation to improve the prospect of regional
schools.

Some of the language in the report echoes the up-Island debate:

"Regional schools provide the best educational opportunities
for many communities that would be unable to afford broad-based
education if not for a partnership with neighboring communities,"
the report says.

"If the state wishes to encourage regionalization in the
future, it may need to deal with its history of failing to keep pace
with promised incentives, in failing to see the differences in regional
schools, and in creating a situation that pits towns within regions
against each other," the report continues. "The loud and
clear message from caucus participants has been that the state needs to
renew its previous commitment to regionalization, or else risk more
regions dissolving."

The up-Island schools district may prove to be a hot topic in the
state election on the Vineyard this fall. All five school committee
positions will appear on the November ballot, and the two West Tisbury
members who are most supportive of the district, Katherine Logue and
Diane Wall, have both stated that they are not seeking reelection. As of
yesterday, no challengers had taken out papers to run. Completed
nomination papers must be submitted to the up-Island town clerks by July
25.

Although the fate of the up-Island district is still uncertain, the
West Tisbury finance committee is no longer actively calling for its
town to pull out of the district. And in fact two studies released this
spring suggested that withdrawing from the district would be
disadvantageous to the town.

The first, a joint effort among the three towns that was more than
two years in the making, found that the up-Island cost allocation
formula is substantially fair. The consultant, Abrahams Group of
Framingham, recommended only minor changes to the formula, such as
incorporating enrollment numbers for the school choice program and the
Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School.

But the West Tisbury finance committee, unhappy that the original
report did not study the potential impacts of closing the Chilmark
School, commissioned its own consultant, Hawkins, Kelley and Associates
of Rhode Island, whose final report was released last month. The finance
committee report warned against withdrawing from the district, but also
found that the closure of the Chilmark School would save the district
roughly $900,000.

Acknowledging that Chilmark town officials have no intention of
closing their school, the finance committee is now asking West Tisbury
selectmen to negotiate funding changes with their neighbors to the west.
As stated in recent meetings, West Tisbury finance committee members
believe the small elementary school on Beetlebung Corner is an
unnecessary amenity for Chilmark families, and that taxpayers of that
town should therefore cover its costs. They note that per-pupil costs at
the Chilmark School are among the highest in the state.

Aquinnah town officials, meanwhile, have latched onto findings in
the original Abrahams report that the regional funding formula
recommended by the Massachusetts Department of Education could result in
substantial cost savings for their town. The formula, currently used by
roughly half the regional school districts in the state, is based on
property values and income instead of enrollment.

West Tisbury town officials first raised questions about the state
formula last spring, thinking it might offer savings for their town. But
based on numbers from the 2003-2004 school year, the Abrahams report
found that the recommended formula would have saved Aquinnah $160,000
and Chilmark $110,000, while forcing West Tisbury to make up the
$270,000 difference.

According to the regional school caucus report, any town in a
regional school district can unilaterally void the original district
agreement and switch the cost allocations to the recommended state
formula. Aquinnah selectmen stated in a letter last month that they will
pursue the state formula.