I have been attending meetings of the all-Island finance committee regarding the funding of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. There is a long and convoluted history surrounding this subject. My response to the Gazette’s editorial “High School Imbroglio” will be short, and responsive only to the incorrect or incomplete information provided.

Although I am a member of the Oak Bluffs finance committee, my comments are individual and do not reflect any opinions or votes of my colleagues.

Since the regional agreement was agreed to in December 1956, there have been two funding mechanisms: assessments for capital costs and assessments for operating costs. Assessment percentages for capital costs (e.g., construction, improvement of buildings) were identified in the agreement and amendment one, with no explanation of how they were determined. Assessment percentages for operating costs (e.g., salaries, wages, supplies) were “apportioned to the member towns on a basis of their respective enrollments . . . on October 1 of the preceding year . . .”

A couple of points:

• The Oak Bluffs feasibility study assessment was $292,723, not $350,000.

• The town of Oak Bluffs is not “proposing a radical change in the funding formula for the high school, now based on the number of students from each town who go there.” No one is advocating change to the operating cost formula — the assessment continues to be the cost per pupil multiplied by the number of pupils. I personally resent allegations by public officials that I want Chilmark to pay $144,000 or $94,000 per student to attend the high school.

• The subject of discussion should be how to finance the replacement or improvement of an Islandwide facility which serves more than school-based activities, since the funding sources, the Island towns, are not on an equal financial footing.

Maura McGroarty

Oak Bluffs