With just two weeks until the start of classes, a small group of students from Wareham remain still don't know if Wareham Public Schools will continue to pay for them to attend Bristol County Agricultural High School.

While Wareham and Bristol Aggie administrators have debated the obligation of tuition payment this summer, Wareham Public Schools apparently have the support of the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Wareham Superintendent Kimberly Shaver-Hood said she made an offer to Bristol Aggie, the public agricultural school in Dighton, "quite awhile ago" that Wareham should have to pay the same tuition for the four Wareham students in question as they would pay at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High School.

According to Shaver-Hood, the town is not required to pay tuition to the out-of-district Bristol Aggie if a student’s course of study is also available at Upper Cape Cod Tech, which is a vocational school within Wareham's district. Because one school is in district while the other is not, the difference in tuition for Wareham is about $7,000 per student.

The issue for the affected students is that while some programs offered at Bristol Aggie are clearly not offered at Upper Cape, others are offered in a similar way, which Shaver-Hood calls comparable.

"How do we identify what is comparable is what it comes down to," said Bristol Aggie Superintendent Stephen Dempsey.

Dempsey said Shaver-Hood is contending that four Wareham students in the horticulture programs could receive a comparable education at Upper Cape, but Dempsey describes his programs as being much more specific. He used the examples of arboriculture and floriculture programs. The former has students working with chainsaws in trees and the latter with students designing flower arrangements. They are two focused and distinct programs that fall under the horticulture umbrella.

At a meeting with Wareham parents in late June, Dempsey said he sent a letter to the state Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Mitchell Chester on June 26. He also said he would keep in contact with Chester's office until the issue is resolved.  At the meeting, parents discussed taking legal action against Wareham Public Schools.

"He is the last word on this whole issue," said Dempsey.

Shaver-Hood said that last week, Bob Bickerton, the senior associate commissioner at the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, urged Bristol Aggie to accept what he claimed was "a generous offer."

Dempsey could not immediately be reached for comment on his response to Shaver-Hood's offer or on the communication he has had with the state department.

Freshmen at Bristol Aggie spend their entire year in general study exploratory courses. Based on academic performance and attendance, students are then put into a program of their choice, with the better-performing students getting their first or second choice of programs.

"If they end up in another program, it's our contention they have to return to the Wareham Public Schools or go to Upper Cape," Shaver-Hood said

Dempsey said there are currently five Wareham students at Bristol Aggie with four entering as freshmen in the fall, bringing next year's total to nine students. Those incoming freshmen now have to deal with the possibility that their tuition may not be paid by Wareham depending on what program they end up in their sophomore year.

But the situation is all the more real for the four upperclassmen who are currently in educational limbo.

" I don't want to put students in the middle," said Shaver-Hood, who added that she didn't know what would happen if the situation remained unresolved by the time Bristol Aggie classes start on Sept. 3.

"Truly, right now the ball is in Bristol Aggie's court," she said.