The select board threw a monkey wrench into the latest effort to jump start a feasibility study for a new high school, declining to sign a joint letter to the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
The Oak Bluffs select board threw a monkey wrench into the latest effort to jump start a feasibility study for a new high school Tuesday, declining to sign a joint letter to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) stating that the town would work “with a good faith effort to support a building effort at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.”
Select board members emphasized that they support the effort to build a new high school. But a longstanding dispute over the regional school district funding formula reared its head again, and the board declined to sign the Islandwide letter presented by the school district, deciding instead to draft an alternate letter to the MSBA.
“Unfortunately I can’t sign a letter that says I’m going to work in good faith when I know that [the] funding [formula] doesn’t work,” select board member Jason Balboni said.
Town leaders have maintained that the funding formula, which is based on enrollment, is unfair and disproportionately burdens town taxpayers.
The MSBA, which can provide significant reimbursement for qualifying school building projects, has denied efforts by the high school to get on the eligibility list for the last six years — citing a lack of unity among the six Island towns.
The latest effort to get back on the eligibility list began this month, with high school leaders drafting the letter of support for the Island select boards to sign. School superintendent Dr. Matthew D’Andrea said he had been approached by the MSBA to encourage a new application — as long as the Island could demonstrate unity.
“They reached out to me and said, please would you set up a meeting with each of the six towns,” Mr. D’Andrea told the board Tuesday.
With a sudden deadline of Jan. 28 for submission, the letter is being circulated this week among Island select boards. West Tisbury has already signed the letter, while Edgartown agreed to sign it on Monday and Chilmark concurred at a meeting Tuesday. The Tisbury select board was due to take up the letter at a special meeting Wednesday.
But in Oak Bluffs on Tuesday, the momentum shifted.
MacGregor Anderson, the town principal assessor, gave a presentation showing a rough estimate of the average taxpayer in each town would be affected by the burden of a new high school. His model showed that Oak Bluffs and Tisbury would be more heavily affected than the other Island towns — with Aquinnah, Chilmark and Edgartown paying a smaller share of construction costs.
The high school building, which has not been updated since 1995, is in extremely poor condition. Early estimates show a new regional school will cost up to $100 million, although no feasibility study has been done yet. A formal study was proposed in 2019 but blocked by Oak Bluffs voters at the annual town meeting, led by school leaders who represent the town on the regional high school district committee. At the time school leaders called it a symbolic gesture of protest over the funding formula.
Efforts followed among the towns to reach some accord over the formula, but fell apart.
Select board chairman Brian Packish said Tuesday that without some kind of action on the formula, the town cannot join the letter to the MSBA. Other board members agreed.
“I’d like to sign the letter,” board member Emma Green-Beach said. “But the situation is unfortunate.”
The board agreed to draft an alternate letter, indicating the town is in favor of building a new high school, but requires a conversation regarding the school funding formula.
Assistant superintendent Richard Smith urged a regional approach on the effort to build a new school.
“I hope the narrative is this is an Island issue,” Mr. Smith said, “and as such is [handled] Islandwide.”
Despite their unwillingness to sign the letter, board members agreed that a new high school is imperative, and hope to continue working towards its construction.
“I personally think that we can get through this conversation,” Mr. Packish said.
Corrected from an earlier version which stated the funding formula is based on real estate valuations. The formula is based on enrollment.
Comments
Oak Bluffs may have a point
Bob EdgartownOak Bluffs may have a point and I would like to see all island wide agreements looked into. When i see what Edgartown has to pay to the MVC I think that is not fair as well.
"Town leaders have maintained
Juliet Mulinare Edgartown"Town leaders have maintained that the funding formula, which is based on real estate valuations, is unfair and disproportionately burdens town taxpayers" yet if you click on the link for the 2019 article, it states, "Currently, all high school costs are apportioned based on enrollment, meaning that towns with more high school students enrolled pay more than towns with fewer students".
I was under the impression that the formula was based on student enrollment numbers per town and that OB wanted it changed to be based on real estate value. From this article, it sounds like the OB preferred funding formula is in place and thus, the Town theoretically would not have an objection to signing the letter. Am I missing something?
Can someone explain why OB
DownislanderCan someone explain why OB believes the funding formula is unfair? Other than “because we pay more than the other towns?” What is it about the formula that is objectionable? I see this falling into the “cutting off your nose to spite your face” category.
The current formula is based
AshleyThe current formula is based on per student per town with a set amount per student. Thus towns with more students pay more. OB argument is that want property value to also be included as other towns have higher property values and can afford more in their option. Because the school is located in OB they feel that the costs are higher for them. This is my understanding, I could be wrong. Last conversation regarding a consultant to advise on the formula issue was 2019 and no one had furthered that conversation including OB which I think is wrong. If you want a new formula you should be willing to take the steps to accomplish that. Instead of using it as an excuse to not be on board for a new school.
Looks like another Island
Schools Out TisburyLooks like another Island circular firing squad. Kiss the new High School goodbye. Similar thing happened to us in Tisbury on our new school. No state aid costs all of us.
Yup, looks like another
MWG EdgartownYup, looks like another perfect opportunity to let millions in state funding go bye bye.
This is a multi-million
Dan OB ResidentThis is a multi-million dollar political stunt. Embarrassed by the behavior of every select person from OB who supported this.
Can we maybe think about why
M West TisburyCan we maybe think about why this building is in "extremely poor condition" after its 1995 update? That's really not such a very long time. I hope that more sturdy, sustainable materials and methods are used, the next time around. If taxpayers felt their money was being used more carefully, maybe this wouldn't be such an agonizing process every time around.
When the school renovation
James EDGARTOWNWhen the school renovation was finished, and the physical plant doubled, the school never hired anymore physical plant support staff and did not allocate enough annual monies to Maintain the new building. Also why the fields are so bad. sadly this can not be corrected and a new school is needed.
Oak Bluffs has a considerably
Another Idea Oak BluffsOak Bluffs has a considerably larger amount of land that is off the tax base than any other town ( High School, Hospital, Community Services, Churches, etc) that serves the island as a whole yet it is also burdened with a higher contribution to the regional High School than most other towns. It's a matter of fairness. If Chilmark or West Tisbury want to step up to the plate and offer up available land to locate a new High School I think OB residents would be agreeable. We could then put the High Schools property into residential/commercial development and reap the additional revenue.
How is the current formula
Mark EdgartownHow is the current formula unfair? Basing tax contributions based on proportionate useable seems like the most reasonable methodology. What is your solution?
Did you forget the courthouse
factual idea edgartownDid you forget the courthouse? The Jail? South beach? Airport business park? Additionally we spend tax dollars on our Police department responding to the courthouse and jail. During the assists at the jail officers have suffered numerous injuries (including one retired on disability), extra $$ for overtime shifts to cover for our officers injured there. South beach salaries for guards etc... And kindly DO give us the FACTS how the HOSPITAL is a CASH COW for OB, in the form of insurance reimbursements for Ambulance transports off-island and the extra 'police details' paid by the hospital.
Its simple. If you have more students you should pay more period/
The land where the High
George Tolin EdgartownThe land where the High School and MVCS lay have been off the tax rolls since the late 50s and they all pay their share of water and sewer assessments. Every town has one, two or more churches and if you look at Edgartown, we have part of the State Forest and South Beach. Soon MVH will construct a new elderly housing in Edgartown too. My point is all towns have many properties off the tax rolls and that's just how it is. There are no better way to fund the high school other than the per pupil formula. We need one regional school system K-12!
Maybe this could be viewed in
Wendy Banks MVMaybe this could be viewed in a simple way. Each kid gets 100% access to the whole building and all courses. Chilmark kids and families get the same access to the building and courses for a fraction of what OB pays. Nobody says you only get your percentage access to building or courses. Imagine if the sports teams said of the 100 spots available chilmark only gets a few slots on the roster because that is all you pay for. What an outcry that would be. What people are beefing about is the cost distribution of the physical building needed. If it is accessible to everyone why not have equal costs to each town on the construction side. Maybe leave it alone on the personnel side but not physical plant.
Struggling to understand your
michael mvStruggling to understand your logic here. If a town fills 50% of the classroom than 50% of the teacher salaries, classroom supplies, heating and cooling ,equipment maintenance etc are consumed by that town's enrollment. How do you not see that 50% of the costs be incurred by that town ?
Picture you have a town that
Matt R EdgartownPicture you have a town that is 80% suburb and 20% urban. The suburbs are filled with large expensive lots that costs substantially more than the urban lots. The 20% urban section holds 80% if not more of the day to day workers for the town who keep things operating. The urban residents have kids who go to school, while the suburb residents do not. A new school is proposed in town, and the people in the suburbs state they shouldn't have to pay for it because they have no kids in the system. That essentially is the funding system for the MVRHS. Pretty sure the MVC budget is based off of property values, so whats the difference?
This means no money from the
George EdgartownThis means no money from the state. Yet, at some point in the near future the HS building will not be safe to occupy. Maybe it’s time to consider each town having its own high school. An up island regional school might work.
The formula needs to be based
mike SomewhereThe formula needs to be based on pupil enrollment per town.
That is the only fair way to establish a towns responsibility.
Assessing by land valuation is preposterous.
Why should towns with lower populations and high land values be assessed for the land value?
Is the land going to school?
The superintendent's letter
Average Chilmark taxpayer ChilmarkThe superintendent's letter said the towns will act "in good faith," that's it, pretty mild. Indeed, probably too mild to reassure the state and get the funding. But OB select board says it will not even agree to "good faith" unless . . . They are holding the state funding hostage to get what they want. It is aggressive, hostile and counterproductive to their desired goal: to get the towns talking again about the formula. To get other towns to pay more so they can pay less.
And look at the numbers they put out in their slide show. Does anyone really believe any Chilmark taxpayer would agree to triple their share from $1300 to $3800 PER MILLION dollar value?? Through no fault of Chilmark residents, many of them working families, real estate values in the town are through the roof -- a million dollars is the bottom of the market!! Putting aside that the town only sends a few dozen students to the high school each year (which cannot be considered irrelevant despite the absurd "ride the ferry" metaphor) that is too much. Many/most VOTERS in Chilmark are land rich, but have modest incomes. It is tilting at windmills to expect Chilmark, Edgartown and Aquinnah to vote for something so clearly agains their interests, and ALL 6 towns have to agree to change the formula. I guess we could take out a mortgage on our valuable properties to pay our taxes? Or sell our homes?
No state money. No new or remodeled high school. Thanks OB! Bye, Felicia.
Time for new leadership in
PG Oak Bluffs, MATime for new leadership in Oak Bluffs. Get these projects done!
You can not change the
James EDGARTOWNYou can not change the formula to be based on property values. Chilmark and Aquinnah's per student costs would rival Phillips Exeter academy!! Open up school choice. Buy a few busses and start sending kids to Falmouth and Upper Cape. Have you ever seen how many kids take the ferry to Falmouth Academy every day?
I don't see how passing on
Jo-Ann West TisburyI don't see how passing on $38 million in grant funds benefits anyone, especially the children who will be saddled with this debt, along with the grown taxpayers, including many of us seniors on fixed incomes. These kids have already gotten enough of a raw deal with climate change, covid, yucky music, etc. Let's see the grownups act like grownups and work this out.
Allocation of this cost among
Steve EdgartownAllocation of this cost among the towns based on the ratio of each town's number of enrolled students relative to total enrolled students seems fair. But just curious: are other MVHS expenses unrelated to construction shared by the towns in a different manner? If so, is that a reasonable proxy for also sharing construction costs? Also, if the towns can't agree on a formula, what's the magnitude of state aid that might be lost?
We really need to see some
Ken Edg.We really need to see some pictures of the deplorable conditions and maybe a walk through. From the photos everything looks pristine.
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