There’s much ado these days in the CHARIHO (CHArlestown RIchmond HOpkinton) school district.

The three towns once realized that they were stronger together than in isolation, and merged their school districts. But in order for a bond to pass - say, to build a new school - all three towns need to approve it individually. And this fall, for the fifth time in seven years, Hopkinton voters vetoed a bond issue meant for district school improvements.

After the ballots were counted last night, talk quickly turned into what this would mean for the district, which must now finance needed repairs out of its capital budget, and whether it would result in its disintegration.

In the end it’s pretty rare that politicians throw around rhetoric quite this harsh:

Disappointed supporters of the plan turned their anger against Hopkinton officials who had openly opposed the building plan.

“What you’ve done, I think borders on evil,” Gregory Avedisian, who led an advocacy group in favor of the project, told Hopkinton Councilwoman Barbara Capalbo and Hopkinton School Committee member George Abbott.

“There is no good reason” for the measure’s defeat. You flat-out lied” when giving reasons to defeat it, Avedisian said.

Further complicating matters, the voters of Hopkinton would need to approve Hopkinton’s being booted-out. Richmond and Charlestown could leave the partnership, but the vast majority of school infrastructure is housed in Richmond, meaning they can’t run off on their own without paying alimony to the others.

So who the hell knows.

In my mind, this is more evidence FOR the need for schools consolidated at the regional level, with regional governance over broad funding matters (and some local control over other matters). It’d mean greater equitability, greater efficiencies, and less of the visceral parochialism that holds this state back in so many ways.

Tags: Politics, projo, schools

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