Selectmen and school boards of Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Southport and Edgecomb voted last week to recommend a no vote Tues., Jan. 27 on school consolidation.
Towns like Edgecomb would face a $19,000 penalty, which local officials consider less than it would cost them in the long run to belong to the proposed Central Lincoln County School System, which would be an alternative organizational structure (AOS), instead of a regional school unit (RSU).
For 2009-2010, Edgecomb will have to raise an additional $28,000 in local funds to fund its education, School Supt. Eileen King said. The additional amount represents a two percent increase in funds the town would have to raise for the new budget, thus meaning more in local tax dollars and the loss of its subsidy for the local superintendent’s office.
The new Edgecomb Eddy School located on Rt. 27, however, would not be affected as rumored, according to King.
King said she consulted with school attorneys who contacted the state Dept. of Education about the concern.
“They said all completed programs would not be impacted,” she said.
Contacted this week about the reasons for the opposition to the AOS, Edgecomb Selectmen Chairman Stuart Smith said, “The main reason is financial. There’s no incentive for us to consolidate.”
Smith said, in his estimation, the plan for the AOS is poorly conceived even though the Regional Planning Committee (RPC), of which Smith was a member, approved it.
A major contention for the region’s boards concerns the control issue, which for smaller towns seems to lose its appeal because larger community would have a lot of control, according to Smith.
“If the AOS wants to increase funds for transportation or the central office, Edgecomb would have no say,” he said. “That doesn’t set well with me. I’ve got to look out for the residents of Edgecomb. It kind of boils down to dollars and cents.”
Smith said Jefferson would gain the bulk of the savings by joining the AOS, and Edgecomb is one of two towns that would have to pay more than it does now for the central office.
Edgecomb school board member Dirk Poole said the committee believes the AOS would end up costing the town more money than the $19,000 penalty.
“We just think it’s not in our best interests,” he said.
Poole said the town’s representatives on the RPC, which spent months conceiving a plan for the AOS, voted to go forward with the proposal comprised of the school systems of Damariscotta, Newcastle, Jefferson, Nobleboro, Bristol, South Bristol, and Bremen besides Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Southport, and Edgecomb.
Local officials also have been aware of the prospect the consolidation law could be revoked by a referendum vote in September and the prospect of penalties may be postponed at least for a year.
Although King was reluctant to comment on the boards’ sentiments about the AOS, she said, “The final say will be the majority vote (Jan. 27).”
Southport school and selectmen have been opposed to the state’s school consolidation plans from the outset because of the additional cost to the town.
However, the RPC eliminated a major concern the town and other communities had of losing ownership by going with an AOS arrangement instead of an RSU. In an AOS, the towns retain ownership and control of the school facilities while in an RSU, they go to the RSU until no longer needed in which case they go back to the towns.
Another difference is in an AOS the towns are responsible for any debt service on the buildings, but in an RSU, the RSU takes on the burden.
