There is no universal fix to help all of our challenges, but one instrument the state has given towns to sustain and stabilize their full-time population is the residential tax exemption.
The School Committee has insisted the Monterey and Egremont schools were not closed, but that their operations were temporarily suspended or put "on hiatus." But others see the busing policy as a tactic to cripple enrollment at New Marlborough Central in order to close it.
If district taxpayers refuse to authorize spending for the school district, the state has an elaborate system to ensure the district's continued operation.
