LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Finance Committee member Ronald Tinkham wants to know how many hours are spent mowing the lawns at the elementary school and says New Ashford should pay for a portion of that, too.

 

The School Committee just adopted a policy that sets tuition costs at the state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education calculated per pupil cost. The move is in response to the Board of Selectmen urging for sharp increases in the tuition rates. When the new rates go into effect, it will essentially double the amount New Ashford pays for each of its students. 

 

On Monday, however, Tinkham said that still isn't enough. He is looking to craft a higher number that takes into account every single dollar spent at the school. That includes the amount of time tax collectors and treasurers spend dealing with the bills. That includes the hours the highway department spends plowing the driveway. That includes health insurance, debt services, and retirements and pensions. 

 

"I'm trying to identify the costs so we are sensitive to it and are aware of what the real cost is," Tinkham told the Board of Selectmen. "The problem with the DESE price is that it doesn't include everything."

 

Right now there are only 11 students being tuitioned into Lanesborough school, accounting for somewhere around 5 percent of the total student population. That stems from a tuition agreement with New Ashford, which does not have a school, that expires next year. 

 

Tinkham's push for even further raising the tuition cost was supported by Finance Committee Ray Jones, who maintains that the town should not only be charging what it costs to educate the children but a "premium" on top of that. 

 

"We have to get paid dollar for dollar, at a minimum," Jones said. "We are told by everyone we have a premier product. But we are selling it to someone at a discount,"

 

The Board of Selectmen, however, didn't have much to say about Tinkham's new push. The Selectmen seemed content with the 100 percent increase in tuition to New Ashford. 

 

"I'm thrilled they are taking the effort to increase," Goerlach said of the School Committee's current efforts. 

 

Tinkham, however, still wants the additional figures presented at town meeting. Town Manager Paul Sieloff said he couldn't get exact numbers but could come up with "some good estimates." He said if adding every single cost together, the price would likely exceed $20,000 per student. 

 

"It does cost that much to have kids go there because they have to be in a school," Sieloff said. 

 

School Committee member PJ Pannesco said he's fine with having a report crafted but he doesn't expect anybody to be shocked by it. He says townspeople already know that the highway spends time plowing the parking lot or that the lawns are being mowed. 

 

"It's not being hidden from them. It is just spread out," Pannesco said.

 

The School Committee, Selectmen, and the Finance Committee also held a discussion about school choice, a topic that finds it way into nearly every Board of Selectmen, town meeting, or Finance Committee meeting.

 

Tinkham doesn't like it because the state sets an average of $5,000 for students coming in. He feels the school is losing money by educating a student for $5,000. Others, including Finance Committee member Steven Wentworth, say the $5,000 offsets money going out through school choice and is an additional revenue to help the fixed costs — costs that don't change whether a few additional students are in the room or not.

 

"I don't see an argument that makes us better by getting rid of choice," Wentworth said. "I don't think we should argue ourselves out of revenue."

 

For the third year in a row, the School Committee is asking for a level appropriation from the town. It is able to do so by using school choice revenue to cover increases in costs. Wentworth said if it weren't for school choice, the taxpayers would be paying that cost instead.

 

Jones, however, believes the fixed costs could be lower, specifically by not giving teachers raises. Jones said the town offers a good work environment and if the teachers don't like the current salary, then they can work elsewhere. Similar comments earlier in the year Jones had made about Town Hall workers being "lucky to have a job" frustrated some of those workers. Jone has advocated against giving non-union employees a 2 percent cost of living raise and Sieloff is still advocating for those to go into the budget.