Gill-Montague School Committee Approves Irving Tuition Rates, Votes on MASC Resolutions

GILL -- October 24, 2023, Gill-Montague School Committee approves Irving tuition rates and votes on eight state resolutions ahead of November delegate assembly. The committee set the fiscal year 2025 Irving tuition at $16,592 per regular-education student and $39,500 per special-education student, voting 7-0 to approve both rates at the October 24 meeting. Business and Operations Director Joanne reported the district expects to receive approximately $156,080.99 in state Rural Aid, roughly triple the prior year's $56,000, earmarked for one-time uses such as a long-overdue theater upgrade and district marketing. Seven of eight Massachusetts Association of School Committees resolutions passed unanimously, including measures on METCO funding, MCAS reform, school bus surveillance cameras, and firearm safe-storage communications; a resolution authorizing regional districts to charge families transportation fees failed 3-5 after member Bill argued it would "pass the cost on to our students" and that the state should instead honor its Chapter 71 reimbursement obligations. Member Cliff was unanimously appointed as the Montague representative to the six-town regional study group examining a potential merger with Pioneer Valley Regional School District.