Harwich Wants to Revisit School Financial Agreement

HARWICH – Officials say the cost of public education is reducing the amount of money available for the municipal budget and may not be sustainable. They want to take another look at the funding provisions of the Monomoy Regional School District agreement, with an eye toward Chatham shouldering more of the financial burden.

School committee chair Meredith Henderson of Harwich said the group could begin conversations with officials from both Chatham and Harwich within the next month. Although it’s too late to change the agreement in the current budget cycle, select board members said they want to get to work on the issue as soon as possible.

“I’m not interested in talking about this for another three years. I want to start talking about it now,” Select board member Michael MacAskill said. “There is a time when voters are going to say we can’t afford it. Residents want us to start talking about it.”

At the board’s Oct. 30 meeting, resident Charles T. Gruszka presented a lengthy assessment of school funding, questioning whether Harwich can continue its current contribution level.

“From my perspective, as an individual resident taxpayer, Harwich has shouldered the cost of provisioning a school budget which allows for a well-resourced educational experience for the students of both towns. My projection is that this is an unsustainable situation,” Gruszka said.

“My hobby is school budgets,” said Gruszka, who has served as an educator for 34 years, including as principal in several schools.

Gruszka has lived in Harwich since 2015 and said he is impressed with the regional school system and the education being provided to students in both towns. He said he is astonished by the generosity of contributions made by Chatham and Harwich to the annual Monomoy Regional School District budget. He also praised the school committee’s decision to hold a budget workshop so administrators can explain and defend their budgets.

“It’s the most transparent process I’ve ever seen,” said Gruszka.

But he questioned whether Harwich can continue to provide school funding at the pace it has in the initial 13 years of regionalization. Using 2011, the year before regionalization, as a baseline, Gruszka said Harwich has paid a cumulative $49,119,703 more than that level while Chatham has saved $17,163,327 since FY11.

“My concern is how it is going to play out. The time will come when Harwich is up against the wall financially,” he said.

“From my perspective Chatham must be asked to consider a fair formula which builds wealth/affordability and total population data into the formula in order for the district to maintain the current level of educational experience for the students,” Gruszka told the select board.

“The mantra I’ve always had at the end of the year is our job as superintendent, business manager

and school committee is to provide the best education program while being best stewards of taxpayers’ dollars,” said Monomoy Superintendent of School Scott Carpenter. “I think that’s what Monomoy has done since I got here. We meet routinely with town administrations and finance directors to make sure we can land that plane within the whereabouts of both towns.”

Carpenter said he would agree that Chatham has had more fiscal wherewithal than Harwich. Despite some of the challenges Harwich has had in the past decade, Monomoy has been able to maintain excellent programs, he said.

Virtually every regional agreement in the state, including Monomoy’s, is based on a foundation enrollment, apportioning costs to each town according to student population, Carpenter said. The Monomoy agreement was changed in 2022 in response to concerns about Chatham’s shrinking elementary school population creating a situation in which Harwich was subsidizing the cost of Chatham Elementary School. Chatham agreed to pick up $750,000 more a year to pay its elementary school operating costs, and that amount is anticipated to grow over time. While that helped Harwich defray its regional costs, the Chatham vote was not without opposition, he noted.

More conversations need to happen with the select boards in both communities, Carpenter said.

Henderson said it can’t hurt to start the conversation, but she added that no changes can happen in the coming year because the budget process has already begun.

There were discussions about the need to project the student population out for five or six years to have a better assessment of foundation enrollment.

MacAskill said projecting enrollment makes sense given the potential for major increases in student enrollment based on major affordable housing projects proposed by Pine Oaks Village and on the former Marceline property.

“Is it unreasonable to ask the question, is the current agreement sustainable?” said board member Jeffrey Handler. “I don’t believe it is an unreasonable question, and it’s the one we really need to focus on. Is it unsustainable long term for our town, and is our partner and neighbor in this willing to put the value in the school system, most importantly to come to the table and have a conversation with us.

“It will probably be challenging and difficult. But I think we all want the same thing. If we can agree the kids are the most important aspect of this agreement, I’m hopeful,” said Handler.

“We’re not pushing our own agenda here. We’re trying to avoid a train wreck,” added Select Board member Donald Howell.

“This is a remarkable work in progress and it’s doing great things for all our kids. I don’t think there is anybody in either town who wants to dismantle it,” Select Board Chair Julie Kavanagh said of the regional school system.

She called for more information and better communication. Carpenter said the school committee could start conversations, suggesting a meeting with finance teams and members of the select boards in the two communities. Henderson said they would begin that process within the next month.