Finance, School Boards Face Off Over Budget; District Fate Uncertain

By IAN FEIN

Emotions ran high and arrows flew this week at a joint meeting between the Up-Island Regional School Committee and the West Tisbury finance committee, ostensibly called to find a meeting of the minds on budgetary matters as the annual town meeting season gets under way.

But hanging in the air was the unspoken issue of the fate of the small regional school district.

The two boards have a checkered past of disagreement. The school committee believes the regional district, which includes the three up-Island towns and encompasses the Chilmark and West Tisbury schools, is the best setup for young up-Island students. The West Tisbury finance committee feels that its town shoulders an unfair share of the schools\' budget, and is leading a push for the town to withdraw from the district.

When the West Tisbury finance committee recommended an up-Island district budget of zero dollars last month, the two boards called a joint meeting to air some of their differences.

\"We\'re looking at a declining school enrollment, which is now at its lowest figure, and an increasing budget that is now at its highest,\" finance committee member Peter Costas told school board members at the meeting, held at the West Tisbury school on Tuesday. \"I think the taxpayers are getting a little perturbed, and I think they\'re going to let you know.\"

Early in the meeting Mr. Costas asked that the two boards try to keep the discussion positive, but he later upset many school board members when he called their proposed budget bloated.

\"Pete, you\'ve made an eloquent suggestion that we try to be cordial. But you might not realize that some words you use are really inflammatory,\" said school board member Susan Parker of Chilmark, her voice trembling with emotion. \"We worked really hard on this budget, and it\'s upsetting to hear it spoken about in that way. This has been a really tough year for us, and our hearts are in the right place. We\'re trying to do something good for education.\"

After more than two hours of debate marked by more than one heated exchange, the school committee agreed to return to the taxpayers more than a quarter million dollars in unspent reserve funds from this year\'s budget.

The move, which was a first for the school board, appeased finance committee members enough to earn a positive recommendation for next year\'s budget. But the lingering question of whether the small up-Island district will hold together or fall apart was left unaddressed.

West Tisbury voters will take up that question in the polls next Thursday, in the form of a nonbinding question posed to them by the finance committee: \"Shall the town of West Tisbury remain in the Up-Island Regional School District?\"

Finance committee members suggest that West Tisbury residents, who currently pay roughly 42 cents of every tax dollar to the district, should say no. They believe a single town school would cost less.

In response, the school committee voted 4-1 this week to endorse the district as financially and educationally sound. Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter, a member of both the school board and the West Tisbury finance committee, was the lone voice of dissent.

For his opposing vote, Mr. Manter received a dose of grief from his fellow school board members.

\"You\'ve seen the positive momentum going forward in our schools this year, but this [ballot question] will send us back,\" Mrs. Parker told Mr. Manter. \"I think in your hat as a school committee member you should be acting in the best interests of the kids. And right now you are failing them.\"

The ballot question comes one year after West Tisbury voters asked for an independent analysis of the district\'s cost allocation formula. The study, which was supposed to be completed months ago and available for this year\'s annual town meeting, has not yet begun.

The contract for the analysis came before selectmen in all three up-Island towns this week, and the new consultant hopes to start work by the end of the month, with the final report due sometime in August.

However, now both the West Tisbury finance committee and the up-Island school board want to tack on additional issues for the consultant to include in the study.

In November, when details of the study were finally being hashed out by up-Island selectmen, the Chilmark board said it would not provide its share of the consultant contract if it included an analysis of closing the Chilmark School. After a back-and-forth between the two town boards, West Tisbury selectmen ceded the so-called one-school scenario, which would have considered operating the district solely out of the West Tisbury School.

To the West Tisbury finance committee, however, the small Chilmark School is at the heart of the district inequities and an essential part of the study. So in December the committee voted to pay out of its own budget for the consultant to add the scenario to its study.

That vote was kept quiet until this week, and may come as a surprise to Chilmark selectmen, who as of yesterday afternoon had not yet signed the inter-municipal agreement for the consultant contract.

News also surfaced last month about a previously unknown state formula for allocating regional district budgets. The new formula - which reportedly uses property values and new growth assessments instead of per-pupil tallies - is a controversial topic on Cape Cod, where it has threatened to break apart the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District.

At the behest of the West Tisbury finance committee, the up-Island school board will ask the consultant to run cost allocation numbers for the new formula as well, even though they said they do not believe it will benefit West Tisbury taxpayers.

Also up in the air is a pending change in charter school funding formula for the up-Island district. After school board members lobbied state representatives, the state legislature last summer lowered the up-Island district\'s contribution cap to the Martha\'s Vineyard Public Charter School. However, because language in the legislation is still open to interpretation, the state has not determined how to enforce the new law.

Though all of these outstanding issues remain points of contention between the West Tisbury finance committee and the up-Island school board, they were largely ignored at the joint meeting on Tuesday. Finance committee members instead focused on reducing the district\'s overall assessment for next year\'s budget.

Up-Island school administrators and representatives from the superintendent\'s office also attended the meeting, where the school board offered to return $250,000 in unspent funds left over from last year\'s budget. The money will be split among the three up-Island towns, about $180,000 of which will go back to West Tisbury. The reduction puts the town\'s district assessment for next year at $4.8 million - an increase of only one-tenth of one per cent from this year\'s assessment.

After pressure by the finance committee, the school board also agreed to return any other certified excess funds left over at the end of the fiscal year in June.

The finance committee pressed the school board to reduce the assessments by another $400,000 - the amount of extra money the district expects to have certified in the fall - but board members held out. They said that money is their safety valve for unexpected emergencies, and promised they would return any funds left at the end of next fiscal year as well.

Finance committee members, however, questioned the school board\'s past practices with its excess funds.

\"Unfortunately we don\'t have the history between the two organizations to trust that another $250,000 will be coming back next year,\" Mr. Costas said.

\"I\'m upset that our word is not enough for you,\" school board member Diane Wall of West Tisbury responded. \"I find it hard to swallow that you won\'t accept our good faith.\"

Interim superintendent G. Paul Dulac said the school board\'s offer this year was overly generous and a good start on a road to future cooperation. He asked the finance committee to honor such a beginning.

Committee members rebuked his request.

\"What I will applaud is the effort. But to tell the town we should be grateful to get money back that was ours in the first place borders on arrogance,\" Mr. Costas said. \"You got more money than you needed, so give it back. Let\'s call it a day and move on.\"