The apportionment of taxes between Sandisfield and Otis for paying the ongoing costs for the Farmington River School District continues to plague the committees working on an equitable solution.

    The result of a failure to find agreement could be Sandisfield's withdrawal from the Farmington River Regional School District and allow its students to opt for schools of their choice.

    Since 2022 Sandisfield has sought to change the terms of the district's regional agreement between the two towns. According to a report in The Berkshire Eagle, "As the less wealthy town in the two-town district, Sandisfield taxpayers have been shouldering more than what the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said they can afford. Otis taxpayers, on the other hand, have been shouldering less than they can afford."\

    Since then, the towns' school committees, which meet jointly the first Monday of each month, have been struggling to find a reapportionment to the funding burden. The solution could lessen the burden on Sandisfield and shift at least a bit more of the cost to Otis. The current apportionment was set up when the two towns formed one school district in 1992.

    To say it's been a hard row to hoe is an understatement. With mistrust between the committee members and concern about what voters might do should Otis be called on to slightly raise its own taxes and Sandisfield to slightly lower its own, the committee has kept moving a resolution to the "next meeting," and then again to the "next meeting."

    The next meeting of the joint school committee is scheduled for August 5 at 7:00 p.m. It is open to all residents and available to be participated in via a Zoom connection.

    We Four Resign

    A sign that the conflict is escalating was the July 17 resignation of the four Sandisfield members of the Regional Agreement Advisory Committee (RAAC), an ad hoc committee formed to draft amendments to the regional agreement. One such amendment, not yet drafted, was to include the framework to allow Sandisfield to withdraw from the district if agreement could not be reached regarding cost apportionment.

    The Berkshire Eagle reported on July 26 that the Sandisfield RAAC members criticized Otis members of the committee for misrepresenting interactions and decisions, with one Otis member in particular creating an "untenable situation." The resignation letter is excerpted on the facing page. The full article can be accessed at Berkshireeagle.com.

    The ad-hoc committee was scheduled to disband in August, with their last meeting to have been July 18, the day following the resignation. The committee's unfinished work will evolve to the joint school committee. Meanwhile, the cost apportionment issue is being and has been thrashed out at the joint school committee. After two "deadline" meetings, the committee is still struggling with the issue, with a deadline of September 1.

    An extension of the deadline may be possible. The chair of the committee, Denise Hardie of Otis, was quoted by The Eagle as pointing out that when the RAAC was created the target date was December. "While I want to do what we can to complete this by Sept. 1, it's a process," she said. "And it's more important to do it right than to hurry it. And so we will continue to do everything we can to get this done as soon as possible and then back to the towns."

    Hardie continued, "I do understand that it is a charged issue. My goal has been and continues to be continuation of the district as it is. It's an amazing school, it provides an education to the students in our two towns that's unrivaled and it provides a community and a sense of being known for those students that you don't find in many places."

    Superintendent Timothy Lee pointed out to The Eagle that any amendments to the regional agreement would have to undergo review by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, as well as review by the districts' attorney, and eventual agreement by the voters.

    He added, regarding the mistrust among members of the working committees, "It seems to be slowing things down a little bit now, but I'm also optimistic that if we stick with the process and continue to work on the regional agreement, that we can find some consensus."

    Excerpts from The Berkshire Eagle articles written by Community Voices Editor Jane Kaufman, are used with permission.

    See the Berkshire Eagle for additional information. From Otis, there's a 'lack of trust' around apportionment for the Farmington River Regional School District.