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As is typical in the “My Two Cents” column, this editorial is filled with lots of opinion and little fact. The facts are that the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District which was established by the two towns in 1958 and amended in 1987 never spelled out any talk of an “alternative” assessment method. The Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District has received state aid since its formation and neither in 1958 nor in 1987 did anyone seek to change the apportionment of state funding to the district. Regardless it is NOT true that “Every regional school follows an “alternative” method” in funding”. In fact, most do not. As is done in Somerset-Berkley, the “alternative” assessment is used as a transitional financing method for newly regionalized districts. It is rarely used as a permanent funding method.

The facts are that the state uses it’s own wealth formula to provide state aid to towns and school districts. This is based upon a towns property value and personnel income. In the case of Rehoboth, the Equalized Property Value is $1.76 billion dollars. The Equalized Property Value of Dighton is $893 million dollars, or about half of Rehoboth. Accordingly, Rehoboth would receive about half as much state aid as compared to Dighton if apportioned to this one measure.

Secondly the “My Two Cents” column implores you to contact your local school committee members and the district superintendent to “TELL them you want your tax dollars to pay to educate Rehoboth students, not Dighton”. How silly and misguided of a statement this is by an elected official of the town of Rehoboth. Your local school committee members CANNOT break the law and reapportion staid aid to Rehoboth, and why should they do so? Why would they take state aid which is allocated to Dighton and allocate it to Rehoboth instead?

If you feel strongly that the state aid apportionment method is unfair, you should be reaching out to your local legislature to ask them to change it. The Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District follows the “statutory” assessment method. The is the law. While I am a member of the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School Committee, I am providing you these factual comments as a citizen to help my neighbors and friends to better understand this complex topic. These comments are not a statement from the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District.

Sincerely,

Christopher Andrade