Members of the School Committee reluctlantly agreed on Wednesday to withdraw the district's request for town funds for a study to assess a repair of the Wareham High School roof.

The proposal was to go before voters when Town Meeting convenes this month.

Instead, the School Department will front the money for the study and, because the school is part of a state program that will reimburse at least 68% of the cost of the study, the town and the School Department will split the remaining tab after the reimbursement.

Superintendent Kimberly Shaver-Hood said the decision was made after budgetary discussions with town officials. The study is estimated to cost up to $60,000.

"The bottom line is the percentage of the money that would not be covered by [the state] would then be split between the Town of Wareham and the [School Department] budget," Shaver-Hood explained.

The members of the School Committee present on Wednesday agreed, but not without expressing their reluctance. Members Cliff Sylvia and Kenneth Fontes were absent.

"I would reluctantly support this just to get it going but, as a matter of principle, it's a town building," School Committee member Michael Flaherty explained, saying that building repairs should be paid out of the town's budget -- not the education budget.

School Committee member Geoff Swett agreed.

"This is like fingers on a chalkboard to me. If the school district hadn't gone out and found 68% reimbursement from the state, this would be a million dollar problem we'd have to solve," he said. "Somehow we'd get it done ... because we'd then have the integrity of our high school threatened."

And that expense would be paid from the town's side of the budget, Swett said.

"I will vote to approve this," Swett continued, "but I will say up front that it better not set a precedent."

School Committee Chair Rhonda Veugen noted: "The town and the folks involved have been very supportive, very understanding in the needs of the school and the high school roof. I do feel that going forward, there is an understanding that capital projects do not have to be paid out of the school budget."

Wareham High School was one of six schools in the state that the Massachusetts School Building Authority chose over the summer for its "accelerated repair program," which will reimburse districts for 68% of the cost of projects it approves.

The first step to getting a project approved by the state is to complete a "feasibility study." Without the feasibility study -- which Swett says is simply a scope of work for how the project will be completed -- the state will not approve a project for the repair program.

"They've been burned by school districts that have built Taj Mahals," Swett acknowledged.

The high school opened in 1991. The roof has a rubber membrane that is covered by rocks. When the roof leaks, it is difficult to find the tears, and moving the rocks can potentially make more tears.

The high school gymnasium roof was repaired early this year, after chronic leaking caused indoor sporting events to be "rained out" and caused a hazard for gym classes.

"I do think the Board of Selectmen and the town administrator and the FinCom [Finance Committee] are doing an excellent job on behalf of this town," Swett later added. "And I do think that they are trying very hard to set a new tone" that the town and the schools are "one community."

"I look forward to that tone continuing for the far more difficult negotiations for the [fiscal year] 2015 budget," he said.