Agreement for a regional school district for the Towns of
Brewster, Eastham, Orleans and Wellfleet, Massachusetts (hereinafter
sometimes referred to as the member towns), such district to be called
"Nauset Regional School District."
[Amended 5-9-1994 ATM, Art. 33; 10-28-2002 STM, Art. 4]
A.
Number of Members. The Regional School District Committee, hereinafter
referred to as the Committee, beginning with the annual town elections
of 2003, shall consist of ten members, four from the Town of Brewster,
three from Orleans, two from Eastham and one from Wellfleet. To achieve
proportional representation on the Committee, effective following
the annual elections of 2003, the members from Brewster, Eastham and
Wellfleet shall have one vote per member, and the members from Orleans
.8 (8/10) votes per member. All ten members shall be elected by their
individual towns, as prescribed in Paragraph B. below.
B.
Election of Members. The Nauset Regional School District shall consist
of four member towns, each of which shall elect representatives to
serve for three-year terms as described above; provided, however,
that any member elected prior to 2001 shall serve for a three-year
term.
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At the annual town elections in 2002, Brewster and Orleans shall
elect one member each for terms of three years. At the 2003 elections,
Brewster, Eastham, and Orleans shall elect one member each, for terms
of three years. At the 2004 elections, Brewster shall elect two members,
and Eastham, Orleans and Wellfleet one member each, for terms of three
years. The terms of all such elected members shall commence on the
day following their election and continue for the terms for which
they are elected and thereafter until their successors are elected
and qualified. Thereafter, at every succeeding annual and special
town election when a member town is required to elect a member, each
town shall elect such member to serve on the Committee for a term
of three years commencing on the day following such elections.
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C.
Holding office/vacancies. Each member shall hold office during this
term and thereafter until the appointment, or election and qualifications
of his successor. If a vacancy exists, the Selectmen of the member
town or towns of the district involved shall appoint a member to serve
until the next annual or special election and at such election, a
successor to serve for the unexpired term, if any, shall be elected.
D.
Officers of the Committee. Annually upon the election or appointment
and qualification of its members, the Committee shall organize and
choose by ballot a Chairman and a Vice Chairman from its own membership.
At the same meeting or at any other meeting, the Committee shall appoint
a Treasurer and Secretary who may be the same person but who need
not be members of the Committee, choose such other officers as it
deems advisable, determine the terms of office of its officers (except
the Chairman and Vice Chairman, who shall be elected annually as provided
above) and prescribe the powers and duties of any of its officers,
fix the time and place for its regular meetings and provide for the
calling of special meetings.
The regional district schools shall consist of facilities to
serve the needs of grades six (6) through twelve (12).
The Committee is hereby authorized to establish and maintain
state-aided vocational education, acting as trustees therefor, in
accordance with the provisions of Chapter 74 of the General Laws and
Acts amendatory thereto or dependent thereon, if the Committee deems
it desirable.
The regional district schools shall be located within the district
and within a five-mile radius from the intersection of Mid Cape Highway
(Route 6) and Samoset Road (in Eastham).
A.
For the purpose of apportioning assessments levied by the district
against the member towns, costs shall be divided into two (2) categories:
capital costs and operating costs.
B.
Capital costs shall include all expenses in the nature of capital
outlay, such as the cost of acquiring land, the cost of constructing,
reconstructing and adding to buildings and the cost of remodeling
or making extraordinary repairs to a school building or buildings,
including without limitation the cost of the original equipment and
furnishings for such buildings or additions, plans, architects'
or consultants' fees, costs of sewage treatment or disposal,
grading and other items incidental to placing school buildings and
additions and related premises in operating condition and any other
costs (whether or not so financed) which the district is or may be
authorized by statute to finance by the issuance of bonds. Capital
costs shall also include payment of principal and interest on bonds
or other obligations issued by the district to finance the foregoing
costs. Capital costs represented by debt service shall be apportioned
as capital costs of the year in which the debt service falls due.
C.
Operating costs shall include all costs not included in capital costs as defined in Section IV(B) but including interest on temporary notes issued by the districts in anticipation of revenue.
D.
Payment of all capital costs in any fiscal year shall be apportioned
among the member towns on the basis of their respective enrollments
in the regional district schools on October 1 of the preceding fiscal
year.
E.
Operating expenses of each fiscal year shall be apportioned to the
member towns on the basis of their respective enrollments in the regional
district schools on October 1 of the preceding fiscal year.
F.
Each member town shall pay its proportionate share of the capital
and operating expenses to the regional school district in each fiscal
year in four (4) equal installments, not later than the first days
of September, December, March and June.
Transportation of all pupils to and from the regional district
schools shall be furnished by the regional school district and the
cost thereof shall be apportioned among the member towns as an operating
expense.
By an amendment of this agreement adopted under and in accordance
with Section VIII below, any other town or towns may be admitted to
the regional school district upon adoption as herein provided of such
amendment and upon acceptance by the town or towns seeking admission
of the agreement as so amended and also upon compliance with such
provisions of law as may be applicable and such terms as may be set
forth in such amendment.
A.
Any member town may petition to withdraw from the regional school
district under terms stipulated in a proposed amendment to the agreement,
provided (1) that the town seeking to withdraw shall remain liable
for any unpaid operating costs which have been certified by the District
Treasurer to the treasurer of the withdrawing town, including the
full amount so certified for the year in which such withdrawal takes
effect, and (2) that said town shall remain liable to the district
for its share of the indebtedness, other than temporary indebtedness
incurred in anticipation of revenue, of the district outstanding at
the time of such withdrawal, and for interest thereon, to the same
extent and in the same manner as though the town had not withdrawn
from the district, except that (i) where any portion of such liability
is computed on the basis of pupil enrollment, such portion shall be
assessed as if the withdrawing town had the same pupil enrollment
in each grade each year as it had on the October 1 preceding its withdrawal,
and (ii) such liability shall be reduced by any amount which such
town has paid over at the time of withdrawal and which has been applied
to the payment of such indebtedness or interest.
B.
Said petitioning town shall cease to be a member town if the proposed
amendment is approved by the Committee and accepted by the petitioning
town and each of the other member towns, acceptance by the petitioning
town and by the other member towns to be by majority vote at an Annual
or Special Town Meeting.
C.
Money received by the district from the withdrawing town for payment
of funded indebtedness or interest thereon shall be used for this
purpose only, and until so used shall be deposited in trust in the
name of the district with a bank or trust company having its principal
office in Massachusetts having a combined capital and surplus of not
less than five million dollars ($5,000,000.).
This agreement may be amended from time to time in the manner
hereinafter provided, but no such amendment shall be made which shall
substantially impair the rights of the holders of any bonds or notes
or other indebtedness of the district then outstanding, or the rights
of the district to procure the means for payment thereof, provided
that nothing in this section shall prevent the admission of a new
town or towns to the district and the reapportionment accordingly
of capital costs of the district then outstanding and of interest
thereon. A proposal for amendment may be initiated by a signed petition
bearing the signatures of ten percent (10%) of the registered voters
of any one (1) of the member towns or by a majority of all the members
of the regional district school committee. Any such proposal for amendment
shall be presented to the Secretary of the Committee, who shall mail
or deliver a notice, in writing, to the Board of Selectmen of each
of the member towns that a proposal to amend this agreement has been
received and shall enclose a copy of such proposal (without the signatures
in the case of a proposal by petition). The Selectmen in each member
town shall include in the warrant for the next Annual or a Special
Town Meeting called for the purpose, an article stating the proposal
or the substance thereof. Such amendment shall take effect upon its
acceptance by each member town, in the manner hereinabove provided.
The Committee shall determine the amounts necessary to be raised to maintain and operate the regional schools during the ensuing fiscal year and the amount required for payment of debt and interest incurred by the District, which will be due in said year, and shall adopt an annual maintenance and operating budget for said year. The Committee shall then submit copies to the Finance or Advisory Committee of each member town or, if there is no Finance or Advisory Committee in a member town, to the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen of such town, for their consideration at least forty-five (45) days prior to the earliest business session of any member's Annual Town Meeting. The Committee shall apportion the annual budget in accordance with the provisions of Section IV. The amount so apportioned for each town shall be certified in accordance with M.G.L. c. 71, § 16B by the District Treasurer to the Treasurers of the member towns, and each town shall appropriate the amounts so certified.
The Committee may accept for enrollment in the regional district
school pupils from towns other than the member towns on a tuition
basis and on such terms as it may determine.
