BOSTON – After months of deliberation and languishing in committee, the Massachusetts State Senate adopted an amendment to bill H.3815 last week regarding the Town of Worthington’s withdrawing from the Gateway Regional School District, and then engrossed the bill.
The amendments, brought forth by Senators Benjamin B. Downing (D-Pittsfield) and Don Humason, Jr. (R-Westfield), would allow the town of Worthington to unilaterally withdraw as a member of the Gateway Regional School District, provided that Mitchell D. Chester, commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, approves the future education plans for the children of both Worthington and the remaining Gateway communities.
According to the amendment, Worthington and the rest of the district shall submit the plans to the commissioner within 60 days of the effective date of the act, giving Chester 60 days to issue a decision regarding said plans.
Under the amendments, the Town of Worthington must also pay the Gateway district operating and capital costs under section IX of the district’s agreement with Blandford, Chester, Huntington, Middlefield, Montgomery, and Russell.
Worthington would also be obligated to pay any repayment amounts due to the Massachusetts School Building Authority under section IX of the agreement.
The town will be allowed to withdraw from the district after July 1 of the next fiscal year according to state law, and, upon written notification from the district that the town of Worthington is withdrawing from the district, the DESE will hold a reorganization needs conference to initiate a long range education plan to determine the overall impacts of the withdrawal, along with the impacts of the withdrawal on the district’s current and future enrollment, as well as an inventory of all educational facilities under the jurisdiction of the remaining communities in the district.
Plans for the reimbursement of the commonwealth’s capital expenditures for facilities located in the town, the requirements for continued assessments to the town for district facilities previously paid by Worthington, the administrative structure of the new district, the long-term fiscal impacts of the withdrawal of the town of Worthington, including detailed analyses of transportation, special education, vocational education and personnel costs, and fiscal recommendations to hold harmless the remaining communities, will also be addressed.
Amendments to H3815 also state that the long-range education plan shall include consideration of compliance with state and federal law and the potential for enhancing learning opportunities and student performance for all students in the remaining communities in the district.
The six remaining communities in the district will assist in the reorganization needs conference and long-range education planning process, including their select and finance boards, school committees, school administrators and residents. Upon completion of the reorganization needs conference and the long-range education plan, the department shall file a report of its findings with the senators and representatives of the general court that represent the members of the district and the remaining communities of the district, including recommendations for enhanced funding options for the remaining communities to maintain access to quality education for grades K-12.
On Beacon Hill, Downing and Humason both spoke of the amendment, and their quotes were provided for this story by Montgomery Selectman Dan Jacques via email.
“If the withdrawal is approved by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, it would address the concerns of the remaining communities,” said Downing. “In 2010, the Gateway Regional School District sought to achieve savings by closing three of the five elementary schools in the district, in Russell, Blandford, and Worthington, and the residents of Worthington established an ad hoc education committee.”
Downing, whose 1st Berkshire District includes four GRSD towns and Worthington, added that, among the options explored by Worthington was the formation of a Horace Mann charter school, which was not ultimately approved, forcing them to find a new way to establish another elementary school.
“The town of Worthington reached out to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and were told to follow the steps and procedures within their regional school district,” he said. “Their last recourse was to petition the General Court. The desire was rejected by the other communities and despite that they continued to move forward.”
Ultimately, Worthington voted at Town Meeting to send Representative Stephen Kulik (D-Worthington) legislation that would allow for the withdrawal of the town from the district, which was referred to the Education Committee, who reported out a new draft which passed the House on December 16.
The bill has sat since then in the Senate in Bills in Third Reading, during which time senators met with the communities serviced by Gateway.
“It should be noted this is not a proposal that Worthington has made lightly or that they make to achieve some type of windfall for the community. It is one of several years of deliberation,” Downing said. “It will ultimately cost the taxpayers of the town of Worthington more. The end product is to establish an elementary school at the old school kindergarten through grade 6, and then enter into a fee agreement for the other grades.”
Downing stated that the top two concerns heard in committee were financial and educational.
“On the financial front I think we are in strong position to secure funding, so the remaining students continue to access high quality education. On the education front, the senator from Hampden deserves a great deal of credit on the amendment, that would require the DESE commission to give equal and due consideration to the educational needs of the students of those remaining towns. But also, over the course of 60 days, it would have to review the educational plan as submitted by the six communities to reflect the changing nature.”
“I don’t think that any of us, whether we believe this is the right decision or not, (agree) that this is the perfect process. Many of these school districts were entered into 20, 30, 40, even 50 years ago. Their demographics have changed. It requires we look at how we handle situations like this,” Downing said. “I do believe Worthington ought to be afforded this opportunity. I think we ought to find a way to address the other communities.”
Humason referred to the bill as possibly “precedent-setting.”
“I represent only two of the seven communities. I could have simply said this bill is bad for them,” he said. “I didn’t want to take that tactic as we all believe the concerns of educating our children is paramount. I wanted to find an amendment that would address the educational concerns of the people of Worthington and the remaining six towns.”
“I hope the select boards will agree we worked very hard,” Humason said. “Wherever you are from, we should be concerned about the potential precedent-setting on regional school districts. We are not sure what the governor will do. If he signs the bill, we are not sure what DESE will do.”
Humason urged fellow legislators to consider the needs of the Commonwealth’s most rural residents.
“With respect to regional school district agreements, the most rural among us have not been necessarily well-served on issues like regional school district transportation,” he said. “They thought they would be getting more from their friends here in Boston. We need to think more about that, as well. Some of these small rural towns don’t have an industrial base, and that makes this scary territory for these towns.”
“As far as home rule petitions go, it’s not often that amendments are made,” said Jacques Tuesday. “But it’s important for the towns to continue to be engaged in the process. Due dilligence needs to continue being done, that will ensure the outcome is best for all involved.”
Jacques praised the efforts of Humason specifically on the amendment.
“What Don said on the floor highlighted the root causes and some very salient points. It was very big of Don and we commend him,” he said.
Humason said that home rule petitions often go through unanimously, and while he knew he couldn’t stop it, he approached his colleagues about altering the bill’s language.
“I said ‘I can’t support this, we’ve got to put a hold on it’, which we did with Sen. Downing’s blessing,” he said. “Everyone who wasn’t in Worthington (in the district) felt this was a bad idea. But we’ve made it work as best we could, and will continue to mitigate the best of our abiity.”
Humason stated that Representatives Kulik, Peter Kocot (D-Northampton) and William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D-Lenox), who all represent communities in the Gateway district, have filed amendments to the House bill for mitigation funds to soften the blow, and that a conference committee will begin soon.
“It’s a long process and it’s not over yet,” he said, adding that he expects that he and Downing will both be on the committee. “Breaking up regional districts isn’t in the bet interests of the commonwealth, and I don’t know if the governor will even sign it.”
