The Bristol and South Bristol school committees unanimously voted to continue supporting the effort to form an education service center and to submit the second part of their application to the Maine Department of Education at their meetings on Thursday, Oct. 2 and Tuesday, Oct. 7, respectively.
The school committees voted to approve the first part of the application at the end of August, which the state approved in September.
According to South Bristol School Committee Chair Sara Mitchell, the second part of their application, which is due by Oct. 30, requires a formal proposal to the DOE that included a proposed budget for the education service center, details about the organizational structure and staffing, such as job descriptions and roles, information on governance and how decisions would be made, and an outline of the services the education service center would provide, such as special education, transportation, and administration.
At the South Bristol School Committee’s Tuesday Oct. 7 meeting, Mitchell said the proposed draft budget is being sent back to the committees for further review and discussion before it is finalized and submitted as part of the application process.
“We realized through listening to some of the questions from the Bristol voters on Tuesday that we need to just take a look at that,” Mitchell said.
The second part of the application process, even if approved by the state, is not a binding agreement, including the draft of the interlocal agreement, draft budget, and draft withdrawal plan.
Both committees must vote on joining an education service center before Nov. 30 for the agreement to be binding.
For more information about the restructuring committee’s ongoing work, go to aos93.org/o/bcs/page/bcssbs-restructuring.
