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Plan for schools to share cost of superintendent

SHARON — Board of Education Chairman Electra Tortorella came to the meeting of the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Jan. 13, to offer some background on the discussion of changes to the way the regional school district shares the cost of the superintendent’s salary.

At present, the superintendent’s salary is split among the budgets of the six towns and the regional school district based on the number of students served by each budget. There is a proposal now to divide the salary equally among the seven budgets. 

Currently, the agreement falls under the regional school district regulations known as the 7000 series. Within the last 20 years, three separate attorneys have indicated that this series needs to be brought into compliance with state statutes and recommended doing a Joint Superintendent Agreement.

At present, state statute requires all towns in a shared school district share costs based on student population — except when it comes to the superintendent’s salary.

The feeling within the All Board Chairs committee and the Region One Board of Education currently is that  the superintendent provides the same services to each of the seven school boards, regardless of the school’s size, so each board should pay an equal amount. 

This would also allow each board to have an equal vote during hiring and contract negotiations. At present, there is a weighted vote with the schools that have the largest population getting the most votes.

Tortorella indicated that a move to the cost-sharing plan would result in an increase of roughly $2,500 to Sharon over what the board currently pays.

Two public information meetings have been held on the plan so far. The third and final meeting will be Thursday, Jan. 22, 6:30 p.m., at Cornwall Consolidated School. There will also be a survey on the Region One website, www.region1schools.org.

Lakeville Journal

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