Rehoboth residents to vote on withdrawing K-8 schools Saturday

REHOBOTH, Mass. (WLNE) — A vote in Rehoboth on whether to withdraw K-8 students from the regional school district is set for this Saturday.

The proposed break-up would leave Rehoboth to elect its own school committee to run the K-8 schools or continue to operate as part of the regional school district. The high school will stay regionalized.

The meeting will start at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Francis Farm in Rehoboth.

The withdrawal vote comes after a study by a withdrawal committee was presented to residents at a meeting last month, moving things to the final step in what has been a long, back and forth process.

Some, including the newly appointed Dighton-Rehoboth district superintendent Bill Runey, disagree with withdrawing the K-8 students.

“They are in my estimation not taking into account the implications for our students,” Runey said. “It’s going to cause a lot of angst and anxiety for students for our staff and for our families.”

But Rehoboth Town Selectman George Solas disagreed, and said this would have no impact on the day-to-day education of students.

According to Solas, the K-8 districts, which have been together since 1987, operate at about $40 million budget. Rehoboth pays 65% of those operating expenses.

The goal of the proposed withdrawal, Solas added is for each municipality to pay 100% of their own K-8 budgets.

“The ability for each town to withdraw K-8 without going through the process of de-regionalizing the district,” George Solas said.

But Runey called the proposed withdrawal premature and said there needs to be more research done.

“If there was a clear-cut display of how much the town of Rehoboth would save then I would certainly understand weighing that cost-benefit analysis vs the benefit for students and staff,” Runey said.

The meeting starts at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Francis Farm in Rehoboth. Both sides will present arguments to residents in attendance before the vote.