Chariho Supt. Barry Ricci stands in the boys locker room, which is now inadequate for the number of students attending the school. Voters will act Thursday on a $26-million plan to fix the regional schools.

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The Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl

RICHMOND — Voters will head to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 6 to decide the fate of the district’s latest building proposal: a $26-million plan to bring the main campus into compliance with new fire code and federal accessibility requirements and eliminate trailers that cost the district nearly $300,000 a year. If the bond issue is approved, the district — which serves Charlestown, Richmond, and Hopkinton — would reallocate its available capital-expenditures money to the elementary schools, Supt. Barry J. Ricci said.

But as the vote approaches, some of the issues that sent four previous proposals down the drain have resurfaced, threatening its passage in at least one town, Hopkinton, which has rejected all previous proposals.

Under the Chariho Act, a majority of voters in all three towns must approve the proposal.

The building plan calls for a three-classroom addition to the middle school, an addition to the high school, a new building to house the RYSE school — Reaching Youths through Support and Education, an alternative learning program — a maintenance facility and several upgrades in the district.

Of the $26 million, about $14 million would qualify for 60 percent in state construction aid and the remainder would receive 56 percent, Ricci said.

If approved, the district has estimated it would cost the towns $304,701 a year — $8,149 more than it costs to lease the trailers that house the high school band, three sixth-grade classrooms and the RYSE School.

But critics challenge those figures and say many issues remain unresolved.

Elementary schools

One of the most common criticisms of the proposed bond issue is that it doesn’t include any money to fix the elementary schools, and in Hopkinton, the 1904 Ashaway Building, which the district vacated last year.

“You have to fix what you have before you start adding new buildings,” said Georgia Ure, one of the most vocal opponents in Hopkinton who calls the proposal “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

“The elementary schools are the ones that are in dire need,” said Hopkinton Councilwoman Sylvia Thompson, speculating that if the current bond proposal is approved the district is likely to pursue a similar proposal to fix the elementary schools.

Superintendent Ricci and Greg Kenney, the building committee’s chairman, denied that assertion.

As for why the bond issue doesn’t address the elementary schools, Kenney said they were not within the mandate outlined by the three town councils and approved by voters last November. At that meeting, voters rejected an amendment that would have included the elementary schools in the committee’s scope.

Grade reconfiguration

Some opponents have also challenged whether the middle-school addition would be necessary if fifth and sixth graders returned to their elementary schools.

Hopkinton is currently studying bringing the students back to town.

“So why would I spend money on the middle school addition if we bring the students back? It would be foolish,” said Hopkinton Councilman Thomas E. Buck.

Any grade reconfiguration would have to be approved by the School Committee.

Ure, who has long advocated returning the younger students to the elementary schools, said if the proposal is approved it would tie the towns to the district for the life of the bond and eliminate any possibility of returning the younger students to the local schools.

Not so, said Kenney.

“They still have the option to do that. They just have to find a way to finance it.”

Katharine H. Waterman, Charlestown’s council president, said all those buts come too late in the game and questioned the motivation.

“It does nothing but muddy the waters right now and confuse people,” Waterman said.

“Politically, there are other agendas,” added Kenney.

RYSE School

The proposal’s opponents initially challenged the construction of a permanent structure to house the RYSE School, saying its creation violated the Chariho Act. Two school solicitors and the Hopkinton town solicitor have refuted that claim.

Most recently, critics have questioned whether the district can provide the security needed for “troubled” students attending the clinical program at the RYSE School as well as the actual costs savings.

Kenney defended RYSE as an “excellent” program that has saved the district more than $1 million since its inception in 2003.

Previously, students had to be sent out of district.

The school currently serves about 50 students and offers an alternative education and clinical program. All but two students live in the district, Ricci said.

(Those two students, Ricci said, were receiving services through RYSE’s alternative education program when they moved out of district and are currently enrolled in the Chariho Career and Technical Center).

Tax equalization

Opponents also challenge the tax impact on the member towns.

Although the three towns agreed to split the costs of the bond equally, the actual tax impact varies according to each town’s tax base.

And so, while taxpayers in Charlestown will see a projected increase of 12 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, those in Hopkinton will see a 32-cent increase and in Richmond a 39-cent increase.

Those differences reignited discussion of Chariho becoming its own taxing district, which would have to be approved by all three towns.

Charlestown, which has the largest tax base and therefore the lowest tax rate, strongly opposes the move.

Environmental concerns

More recently, Ure and Dorothy Gardiner have echoed concerns over the potential impact of an old oil spill on the final cost of the project and the cost of relocating a well.

The building committee decided not to relocate the existing well within the high school’s court yard because it would be too costly. As for the soil contamination, Kenney said numerous studies have been conducted as part of the previous building proposals and more soil testing will be done before any construction begins.

Moreover, he said, a contingency fund has been put in place for any eventuality.

“There are some pieces … that I would like to see done otherwise, but the business of us having to pay for these portable classrooms is fiscally irresponsible,” Waterman said. “It’s reached a point where it’s costing us a great deal of money every time we say no.”

marmenta@projo.com