Voters in Chariho to decide fate of 3 new schools. Is misinformation fueling opposition?

RICHMOND – Michael Peltier left the town hall meeting feeling a little dissatisfied.

“I didn’t get to ask my question I wanted [to ask],” he said, standing outside Chariho High School’s library, where a few minutes earlier a panel of 14 administrators – and a very well-behaved dog – fielded questions over a proposal to borrow $150 million to build three new elementary schools in the Chariho Regional School District.

Peltier did ask a question about the state of disrepair of the current schools, which got a lengthy response from several panelists. But the real issue bothering him was what would happen to his son, who is in second grade, while the schools are being built. Peltier, who also has a daughter in middle school, worried that moving schools would disrupt his son’s education, much like the COVID-19 pandemic did a few years ago.

“These kids that have already been through this rough time, you know, now we're going to put them through a rigamarole again of moving them around,” Peltier said.

Worry seems to define the feelings of many residents of Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton ahead of a school bond referendum. Worry about their children’s well-being, about taxes increasing, and about rumors of old school buildings being turned into affordable housing. An arcane budgetary process, plagued by misinformation, has not assuaged residents’ concerns.

A once-in-a-generation opportunity

On May 7, Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton will hold a referendum to decide whether the school district will borrow $150 million through state bonds to replace three of its elementary schools. The money will also cover updates to Chariho’s main campus, which includes the high school, a middle school, a technical school and an alternative school.

The school district has made its case for why the new facilities are needed. The current ones, which are 75 to 90 years old, are in varying degrees of disrepair. At the town hall, the administrators highlighted a laundry list of fixes, including taking care of flooding issues, upgrading accessibility and security measures, and installing new plumbing, electrical and HVAC systems, to name a few.

“I feel like there’s not a day that we are not having to get something repaired,” said Jennifer Poore, principal of Charlestown Elementary.

The state requires school districts to submit a five-year capital improvement plan, which includes considering whether new facilities need to be built, according to Chariho Superintendent Gina Picard. After reviewing the cost of replacing the elementary schools versus maintaining them, the district found the expense would be the same.

“I want to be clear: Regardless of the path forward, the ask is the same amount of money,” Picard said at the town hall meeting.

The math behind this conclusion is fairly straightforward, if somewhat involved. The cost of basic maintenance for the schools is $30 million, but because the state offers a 61% reimbursement rate for regional schools, it comes down to about $2.3 million a year with a six- to 10-year bond. The district can apply for an additional 4%, but it is not guaranteed, Picard noted.

Replacing the schools is much more expensive: $150 million. But here state reimbursements, bolstered by special bonuses available for a limited time, would lower the bill by 76% – perhaps even 81%, if approved. At a 20- to 25-year bond, the district’s obligation also would be $2.3 million a year.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” Picard told The Journal. “We have never seen bonuses like this over hundreds of years.”

It is a longer bond, but the district is required by law to spend a minimum of $1.8 million annually on maintaining school buildings, and in the last five years, it has spent more than $12.6 million doing so.

Both options would raise property taxes, according to figures released by the school district. For homes valued around $400,000 in Hopkinton and Richmond, the tax hike would be $257 to $270 a year. Charlestown, which has the fewest students and the lowest tax rate of the three, would see the smallest increase, about $75 annually for a home valued around $550,000.

Debunking misinformation

The process of applying for a school bond is arcane, making it susceptible to misinterpretation and misinformation, officials said.

“The amount of misinformation that’s been out there about this bond is staggering, and it's really become so polarizing that it’s really been sad to see, particularly on social media,” said Catherine Giusti, the Chariho School Committee chair.

A quick search on social media reveals all sorts of opinions on the referendum, from wacky theories about toxic electronic waves targeting students to unfounded claims that administrators want to turn the old schools into public housing.

There are some organized efforts, too, against the bond. Forgotten Taxpayers , a political action committee whose treasurer is Clay Johnson, a former School Committee member whom the state Supreme Court removed for being improperly appointed, has launched a campaign to dissuade residents from voting for the bond. Among their efforts are yard signs with pictures of a drowning person and what seems to be a music video warning voters “show up [to vote] or pay for 30 years.”

Picard put together a document answering dozens of frequently asked questions, including queries about why the schools don’t just renovate as other institutions have done with their historic buildings and whether the state will still reimburse the district if construction takes longer than five years, the term set by Rhode Island Department of Education.

The bond referendum has polarized the School Committee. According to Jessica Purcell, a committee member from Richmond, a slight majority of the committee is in favor of the bond. Giusti said she is the only member from Hopkinton who supports it.

Kathryn Colasante, a committee member also from Richmond, opposes the bond.

“The rhetoric we have crumbling, very old buildings is ringing like a marketing scheme,” Colasante told The Journal via email.

Colasante has argued that the schools’ facility condition index, which indicates the health of school structures, is well below the recommended level for building new schools. Picard counters that the report those indexes are based on is nearly seven years old and that the schools have deteriorated since then.

Purcell said those who oppose the bond have valid concerns: people legitimately worry about budget overruns and tax increases. Other bond-funded projects in the state have gone over budget , and building three schools within five years at a time when major construction projects are happening is no mean feat.

But she said these concerns – and arguments against the bond – are often presented without context.

The residents of the Chariho Regional School District now face a choice similar to the one their ancestors faced when the schools were first built.

“The school where my kids go to school was built during the Great Depression. That was the time when community members had to come together. They capitalized on a federal investment, and that’s how they transitioned out of one-room schoolhouses. And we’re facing a similar situation now, where we have an increase of state aid available,” Purcell said.

In the end, she said, it is up to the voters to decide.

“We’re always reminded that you can't have a successful school system without community support,” Purcell said.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Voters in Chariho to decide fate of 3 new schools. Is misinformation fueling opposition?