With some talk of an increase in school assessment for Templeton and perhaps an override (tax increase) to support that possible increase, it should be noted that there are two members who make up the Narragansett Regional School District.

One member has always paid it's required minimum local contribution, one member has always paid it's target local contribution, in fact, this member has always paid more than required, not including any other tax overrides. This can be confirmed by looking at Town records (annual Town reports), district paper work and information from the department of elementary and secondary education, which is available online. This member also has shown it's continued support of the schools and especially the children by way of agreeing to fund the building of a new elementary school. This member of the Narragansett School district would be Templeton!

Despite the fact that some Templeton residents always question the moves of the district school committee and it's spending of taxpayer dollars, Templeton has always paid it's share. This fact should not be lost in any discussion of a future increase in Templeton's Town assessment to support the school.

If one takes the time to check, either online or through direct contact with the DESE, you should be able to confirm that a minimum local contribution is required and the target local contribution need to be met as well (by requirement of law?), so the point of this information is to inform anyone interested, that despite claims by some, Templeton has not only met it's required contributions, it has paid more and that is not required by law. Again, this post concerns Templeton because that is the Town that concerns me. It also apparently concerned another Town resident who took the time to research this subject and prove it true. The Town resident also managed to get the then superintendent of the district to acknowledge that the information was true. For some reason, the resident was unable to get it published in The Gardner News, even after several attempts to do so.

Templeton provided more dollars than required to support the schools and additionally providing more dollars to build a new elementary school. Too often said that Templeton residents do not support the schools because they fail to provide even the minimum required dollars and that is simply not correct.