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Groveland board presses Pawtucket to use October 1 enrollment counts for regional assessments
Summary
Select Board member Kathy Castro urged the board to seek a single, verifiable enrollment source after finding discrepancies between Pawtucket's assessment numbers and the October 1 counts provided to the state; the board authorized a joint letter asking Pawtucket to align its assessments to the state October 1 enrollment.
Kathy Castro, a Groveland Select Board member, told the board on June 8 that Groveland found inconsistencies between the enrollment figures Pawtucket used for regional assessments and the October 1 enrollment numbers the district reported to the state. "We're requesting for Pawtucket to use the D.C. October 1st enrollment," Castro said, noting that the town obtained raw district data and identified errors that in at least one year cost Groveland money.
Why it matters: More than 60% of Groveland's operating budget is driven by the regional assessment. A small change in a town's enrollment share can materially shift operating assessments and the allocation of override costs among member towns.
Castro summarized the issue: Groveland discovered a missing set of totals in a budget enrollment worksheet and later a discrepancy involving students for whom Groveland had already paid tuition. Those mistakes led Groveland to seek the source data the district provides to the state so member towns can independently verify counts. Castro said the regional agreement explicitly references October 1 enrollment as the assessment metric and argued that using a single, public, verifiable source would increase transparency and reduce future disputes.
Board reaction: Select Board members voiced support for consistency and predictability. One member said the change may not always save Groveland money but would allow the town to plan reliably. The board discussed how past errors required time-consuming manual comparisons to detect and fix, and that Groveland lacks the staff capacity to do such audits annually.
Action taken: The board voted to allow the Groveland chair to join the chairs of the two other member towns in signing a joint letter to Pawtucket requesting that the district use the October 1 enrollment numbers it files with the state for regional assessments. The motion passed unanimously. The board also reviewed background tables presented by staff about prior years' differences and agreed that standardized reporting would reduce the potential for future errors.
What happens next: Town staff will send the signed letter to Pawtucket. Any change to future assessments depends on Pawtucket's response and whether the district agrees to tie its assessment worksheet to the state-submitted October 1 counts; the regional agreement language that refers to October 1 enrollment was cited repeatedly during the discussion.
