On Oct. 26, the Aquinnah, Chilmark and West Tisbury selectmen met to discuss funding of the Up-Island regional school district. Funding of the district has been an issue for many years, and has recently resurfaced due to a report commissioned by the West Tisbury selectmen dated Jan. 12, which concluded that the taxpayers of West Tisbury were subsidizing the Chilmark School by approximately $700,000 per year. That is not the first study which pointed out that the cost of the Chilmark School was a substantial burden on the taxpayers of West Tisbury. An April 2006 report by Harkins, Kelley and Associates concluded that the district would save more than $900,000 per year (and that was more than 10 years ago) by closing the Chilmark School.

I attended a West Tisbury selectmen’s meeting on Oct. 11, and asked the selectmen to provide an example of any benefit West Tisbury was receiving from being a member of the district. None of them could cite any benefit from remaining.

The West Tisbury selectmen have an obligation to protect the interests of the West Tisbury taxpayer. If Chilmark wants its own school, they must be willing to pay for it, and not ask West Tisbury to subsidize them.

West Tisbury withdrawing from the district will not impact the funding of the West Tisbury School. In fact, some or all of the saving could be used to increase support of the West Tisbury School, rather than subsidizing the Chilmark School.

I urge the West Tisbury selectmen to add an article to the town meeting authorizing withdrawal from the Up-Island regional school district in order to save West Tisbury taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars each year while at the same time providing more resources for funding the West Tisbury School.

John C. Rau
West Tisbury