CHESHIRE, Mass. — School officials say the high school is improving in quality and quantity — but it needs the funding to sustain the movement.

 

Cheshire voters on Monday will vote by ballot on a Proposition 2 1/2 override to cover the balance of the town's portion of the Hoosac Valley Regional School District fiscal 2025 budget as well as two debt exclusions.

 

The Board of Selectmen held a special meeting on Tuesday to provide information on the three articles on the warrant.

 

Much of the discussion centered around the schools, as residents questioned the rising cost of education compared to the decline in enrollment touched on issues such as poor academic performance and disciplinary problems.

 

Selectmen Chair Shawn McGrath reminded the audience that town meeting had voted for an override because otherwise the town would have had to use its reserves to fund the assessment.

 

The town's assessment for the $23 million regional budget is $3,098,996, an additional $150,534 over this year's $2,948,462. The annual town meeting in June approved an amendment 71-42 to increase the levy limit with an override to cover that $150,534, about a third of which is toward the high school renovation.

 

The $23 million school budget is up about $1 million over last year.

 

"The increase in Chapter 70, which is our local aid, has helped us tremendously to offset additions to the budget," said Business Administrator Erika Snyder. "But as we had presented in previous meetings, we have a lot of costs that are outside of our control, which involve health insurance. It involves other assessments for students that attend the charter school. It involves our assessments for students that attend other districts and other schools.

 

"That's money that's shifted right in and right out to service students and others and other schools that aren't actually in our schools. That was a point that was strongly emphasized that a few of our other presentations."

 

The district used its excess and deficiency funds to offset capital and maintenance expenses in this budget.

 

School Committee member Michael Henault pointed out the minimum local contribution is calculated in a formula set by the state, which was a 5.87 percent increase this year, but what the district was proposing was 1.3 percent.

 

"So we really tried to keep that number as close to the minimum local [contribution] as possible," he said.

 

Part of the increase is that Cheshire's enrollment figures went up slightly against Adams, the other partner in the two-town regional district, and a funding calculation that finds Cheshire "wealthier" and able to shoulder a higher burden. That's causing a volatility year to year and the solution, Heneault said, is to institute a rolling average for enrollment, something that's being discussed now, or change in the formula at the state level.

 

Officials said during the budget season that level-funding the Cheshire assessment would mean cutting the budget overall by nearly $600,000. This would also affect Adams, which passed its share in June.

 

The impact of the override, which would permanently raise the levy limit, would raise the estimated tax rate from $11.98 to $12.34 per $1,000 in assessed property value. The average single-family home in Cheshire was assessed at $295,502 in fiscal 2024 would see its tax bill rise about $107.

 

One resident asked about merging or sharing services with other school districts, noting the high school only graduated 40 students this year. Snyder said the district already shares a facilities manager and data specialist with North Adams.

 

"It's definitely something that can be explored and we were aware of that, and we're open to talks about regionalization, but it does require the regional agreement to be amended and voted in by any town board, which is a years-long process," said Henault, who added the superintendent is "actively pursuing relationships."

 

As for enrollment, it's down all over the county but the district is working hard to engage students to stay Hoosac through the implementation of the new Pathways program. A few people pointed to discipline problems at the school, with a substitute teacher saying she felt sorry for the students who had their educations disrupted. 

 

Henault acknowledged that teaching is different and students are learning differently. 

 

"The effects of social media, the effects of constant cell phone communication, varying levels of disciplinary practices and like, how we raise our kids is different, and it's schools feel that. And in a lot of ways, we're a little bit behind, and we're trying to catch up," he said, adding the schools by law must go through a process in disciplinary actions.

 

 

The retired teacher said she didn't think the school should get a penny more until it addressed the academics and discipline problems but another person said they shouldn't be blaming the kids.

 

"We're looking to invest in our students," said one resident. "As a taxpayer, it seems like a very small amount to continue down this Pathway program ... to generalize and to say we have a poor education system is not true."

 

Heneault said the district has a whole has had difficulties in recent years. 

 

"We went through a cycle of having several superintendents over a very short period of time. ...  [Superintendent Aaron Dean] has set a plan and has been building it, and he's feeling that he finally has systems in place around discipline, around curriculum development, around teaching and learning that can be sustained, but they can't be sustained unless they're funded at a level, at least a minimum level, that the state's asking."

 

For the first time in several years, the school had decrease in the number of eighth-graders opting for school choice or McCann Technical School.

 

"It was more than a 50 percent increase in retention for a high school class," Heneault said. "We're working with students in the middle school grades so that they have a pathway and want to and are able to stay at high school. That's actually the most encouraging data point that we have."

 

Voters will also decide on excluding the purchase of a police cruiser for $66,151 and a fire truck for $850,000 from Proposition 2 1/2. These are temporary increases in the tax rate that do not affect the levy limit and will fall off when they are paid. Both passed overwhelmingly at town meeting.

 

The cruiser would be on a one-year note and the fire truck on a 10-year note. The town currently has $370,943 in existing debt exclusions.

 

No one had questions for Police Chief Michael Alibozek; Fire Chief Thomas Francesconi said the new truck, which would not be ready for nearly two years, will replace a 2001 truck in need of numerous repairs. 

 

The town was able to lock in the price at $850,000 but will lose it if the debt exclusion fails. The second bid the town received was $1.1 million. 

 

"As of today, the same fire truck is $1.2 million," Francesconi said. "I talk to the sales today, and they specced out exactly the same truck for the town of Athol. It was $1.2 million."

 

The National Fire Protection Association standard is 20 years for the average fire apparatus replacement, he said, and the department is overdue with this one. 

 

When asked what the town could get for the old truck, Francesconi said between $3,000 and $5,000.

 

Additionally, the Selectmen, acting as the license board, voted to amend Common Table's liquor license to include outdoor dining (owner CJ Garner said he would speak with the property owner for neighbors concerned about lack of screening) and discussed inconsistent regulations surrounding chicken keeping that has frustrated a poultry owner.