When the Central Berkshire Regional School District opens its spiffy new high school in Dalton a few years from now, there’s a good chance few families from Cummington will send their kids there.
What isn’t as clear is whether those same families, and every other property owner in this small hilltown of nearly 900, will have to fork over more in property taxes to help finance the $72.7 million Wahconah Regional High School, even though the town has petitioned to leave the district and would likely see little benefit from a new school.
That strange scenario is causing a conundrum for Cummington, which first signaled its intent to withdraw from Central Berkshire in 2015 after district officials closed the Berkshire Trail Elementary School in town. The seven-town district signed off on the withdrawal two years later, but squabbles over how much Cummington will have to pay to leave have delayed its departure.
The new school, approved by a popular vote among the seven towns on April 6, further complicates an already tense situation. It shouldn’t have to. Cummington should not be forced to pay for services it doesn’t receive, any more so than Dalton residents should foot the bill for a project in Cummington.
Further, school and town officials should hammer out an agreement to allow Cummington to exit the district before the new school project breaks ground.
Central Berkshire officials have argued it’s premature to exempt Cummington from such a project because there are many steps left before the town withdraws, and there’s a chance it might stay. Fine. If that happens, then force the town to pay for its portion of the school project.
But we don’t see that happening. Not only is Cummington the only district town located outside Berkshire County, but residents have been emphatic about leaving over the way they feel they’ve been mistreated. It’s hard to see a change of heart. The writing is on the wall, and Central Berkshire officials should accept it.
The new school — 43 percent of which is to be funded by the state, leaving the seven communities to pay for the remaining $41.5 million — sounds incredible and officials did a fine job selling their case. The proposed 123,000-square-foot building would be erected on the school grounds and be able to enroll 460 students in grades 9 through 12. The existing school would be leveled and space used as playing fields.
From a regional perspective, this is likely a sound investment. From Cummington’s perspective, it makes little sense. Which is why officials there have been “consumed” by the fallout of last month’s vote.
Central Berkshire officials have known for four years that Cummington wants to leave the district. Since then, many parents have already moved on by sending their children to other districts. At last Friday’s Town Meeting, Josh Wachtell, a member of the Cummington Education Committee, said that two-thirds of the town’s students already attend schools outside the district. This year, 11 students from Cummington attend Wahconah.
Yet as the two sides disagree over what Cummington would have to pay to leave the district — the town says $480,000 to $575,000, while the district says $1.5 million — Central Berkshire officials moved ahead with the new school building. And they failed to answer another fundamental question for Cummington residents before the April 6 vote — how much will it cost my town?
“We haven’t gotten an answer about what our obligation will be when we get out of the district,” Wachtell told the Gazette after the vote. “We certainly don’t think that we should be on the hook with a 30-year debt for a school we aren’t part of.”
What’s more disturbing is the way the vote took place. Traditionally, capital projects have always had to be unanimously supported by all of the member towns in the district. Instead of winning a majority in each of the towns, the school project passed based on a majority of total votes cast in all seven towns.
This change likely made it easier to get the project approved, and it certainly put Cummington and smaller towns in the district at a disadvantage. But even then it was close. The vote passed 1,785 to 1,697, a difference of 88 votes. Cummington voted against the school project by a vote of 194-45, as did Hinsdale, Peru and Windsor. Three communities, including by far the largest in Dalton, approved the project.
Now Cummington officials are left wondering what will happen next. Should residents be forced to pay for the new school, the average yearly tax would be $117.31, based on a home value of $257,700, according to the Berkshire Eagle.
As it has done for several years, Town Meeting last week rejected the district’s proposed $780,000 budget as a way to express frustration over how long the negotiation to withdraw is taking. That vote is likely symbolic, because Cummington will have to pay its share if the other towns approve the district’s budget.
In the end, the town isn’t getting the service it wants and it wants out. The district should respect that wish and not hold Cummington hostage over a multimillion-dollar school project that will mean little to the people on the far eastern reaches of its district.