CHESHIRE, Mass. — A tentative date of Sept. 30 has been set for a districtwide vote on the Hoosac Valley Regional School District's fiscal 2025 budget. 

 

The School Committee on Monday will schedule the vote on Monday and decide whether to resubmit the budget that failed in Cheshire. 

 

Cheshire voters last week rejected a Proposition 2 1/2 override of $150,534 to fund their portion of the budget and passed a motion that would level fund the town's fiscal 2025 school assessment at $2,948,462.

 

Superintendent Aaron Dean told the Adams Board of Selectmen on Wednesday that he presumed the vote would be on Monday, Sept. 30, at 6:30 in the Hoosac Valley High auditorium — and that the budget wouldn't change. 

 

He confirmed that vote would be by all registered voters in the two-town school district, a change from Adams' town meeting member format.

 

"Logistically, if we don't have a budget out of that, then we have until Dec. 1 to work something out, which might require another districtwide meeting between now and then to make that happen," he said. "So I'm hoping at that point in time we come to consensus on the budget, and both the towns can move forward with their spending plans."

 

Cheshire Selectmen are concerned about where the funds will come from if the vote doesn't go their way. The town's population is nearly a third of Adams' and its student enrollment is about 25 percent. 

 

If the vote supports the budget as presented, Cheshire will likely have to hold another special town meeting to take the funds out of the stabilization account. 

 

Selectmen Chair Shawn McGrath said at the Cheshire board's Tuesday meeting he expected the same budget to be presented.

 

"Which is disappointing, because the MGL allows for them to revisit their budget," said Selectman Jason Levesque. "So instead of respecting what voters have told them, they want to just resubmit the same budget. ...

 

"It's disappointing. It doesn't seem to be a willingness to work towards a kind of goal."

 

Levesque on Tuesday and Adams Selectman Joseph Nowak on Wednesday both referred to past "quarrels."

 

"It's always been brought up that Cheshire always count as the second fiddle, and this just further reinforces that," said Levesque.

 

Nowak thought it would be like the closing of the Cheshire School again. The majority Adams members on the School Committee voted seven years ago to close the school over the strong protestations of the Cheshire community. 

 

"I think that a lot has to do with deep-seated mindset, with the people of Cheshire," he said. "It's important that this gets out so that people know that it's going to be going on, because it's going to be contentious again. I think it's going to open up a wound that started when the Cheshire School was closed."

 

Both intimated it could be a close vote, Nowak because Cheshire voters my turn out in force and Levesque because Adams voters may be "disgruntled" over the numbers approved by town meeting members. 

 

"All I'm trying to do is do the best for the district and the best for the students that we have in the district," said Dean on Wednesday. "You know, we've had to make some shifts in order to deliver what we need to deliver to students, and that, unfortunately, costs money. We have a lot of belief in the work that we're doing right now. ...

 

"When I came to this job, I said I wanted to create some stability and find a way to move this district forward. And I'm still committed, and I'm still here, and that's what I intend to do. I hope people back the work that we're doing."

 

Once the School Committee sets a date on Monday, the selectmen of both towns will have to hold a joint meeting to select a moderator to run the meeting. The choice does not have to be one of the town moderators but rather a person both boards can agree on.

 

"But beyond that, the district handles the logistics of the postings, taking the minutes and all of those pieces," said Dean. "And both towns obviously have to have something there to verify everybody [is a registered voter] and go through that process."

 

The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has provided him some contacts who had gone through this process. Dean said there had only been a couple of instances of districtwide votes in the past five years. 

 

The school district is currently operating on a 1/12th budget based on last year; so far it hasn't been a hindrance, Dean said, because most of the employees aren't being paid yet.

 

"Once we get into the school year, we'll probably have to get pretty deep into reserves to stay afloat until the Dec. 1 date," he said. "We don't have an agreement on Dec. 1, the commissioner of education assumes financial control district and assesses the communities based on what he sees."