The Wiscasset Educational Research Panel (WERP) has begun circulating a petition that could ultimately set the stage for Wiscasset’s eventual exit from RSU 12.
The petition directs the Board of Selectmen to put an article on a town meeting warrant. The article, if approved, would authorize the selectmen to create a panel to negotiate a withdrawal with RSU 12.
Once negotiations are complete, and the question of withdrawal is put before the town, two-thirds of Wiscasset voters must approve. WERP’s petition is based on state law governing school unit withdrawal.
The petition requires 167 votes to be placed on the ballot. At the latest WERP meeting, held at the Lincoln County Communication Center in Wiscasset, Jan. 23, WERP Chairman Doug Smith expressed confidence that enough signatures would be garnered.
“We’re well on our way to getting there,” Smith said.
WERP intends for the vote to be held at the annual town meeting in June so that it would not cost the town more money to hold a special election.
Though WERP has not yet completed its evaluation of all potential options should Wiscasset withdraw, Smith said the petition was needed for RSU 12 to take the town seriously.
“There’s a large body of discontent down here over not just money but curriculum and other things…we’ve been dissed a number of times,” Smith said, adding that both the town and its students had been disrespected by the RSU.
Smith cited last year’s heated debate over the Wiscasset High School mascot as an example.
WERP’s petition follows its highly critical analysis of Wiscasset’s place in the RSU. Smith explained that the RSU had not come forward with anything meaningful to reduce costs to the town, nor had they effectively used and managed Wiscasset’s facilities.
“Our school assets are deteriorating,” Smith said.
Smith has previously indicated his skepticism over the RSU’s new cost allocation formula, shedding doubt on the RSU’s ability to convince towns such as Windsor and Palermo to support an allocation increase.
“Windsor will not vote themselves a tax increase,” Smith said.
RSU 12 is currently in the process of introducing a new cost allocation formula that would reduce Wiscasset’s share of the RSU’s local additional funding requirement from 35.1 percent to 31.7 percent, a savings of $500,000 within two to three years according to RSU 12 Board of Directors Hilary Holm.
Towns such as Windsor and Palermo would see their share increase.
WERP member Kathleen Onorato said, however, that dissatisfaction with the RSU was not only about money, but also stemmed from a lack of control over how Wiscasset children are educated.
“In an RSU, our town loses the control of our schools and decisions made for our children. These things also have to be weighed when determining what’s best for our children. Having a child in the high school, I think there has been decisions made that haven’t been in her best interest,” Onorato said.
In attendance at the WERP meeting, RSU 12 Board of Directors Chair Hilary Holm questioned Smith whether Wiscasset voters would be fully aware of the financial impact of withdrawing from RSU 12 by the June vote.
Smith said the Dept. of Education had agreed to tabulate the potential cost of Wiscasset joining different school units. The financial impact, he said, depends on which school unit Wiscasset chooses to join.
When pressed by Holm whether this information would be made available to the public before the June election, Smith said he believed it would.
Regardless, Smith said the vote in June was only one step in a multi-step process, leading up to a final vote on whether Wiscasset residents want the town to stay in the RSU.
Echoing Holm’s statements, Wiscasset Selectman Ed Polewarczyk said many voters the Selectmen had spoken with did not want a binding referendum until the cost of withdrawal was spelled out.
“A lot of people have the issue…that until I have some kind idea of where we’re going with cost, I don’t know if I even want to be part of that simple majority,” Polewarczyk said.
“Then vote against it, Ed,” Smith responded, adding that a formal process needed to start somewhere.
Smith said the drawn out investigation process had also become a financial burden on WERP’s members.
“It’s getting expensive for us,” Smith said.
WERP members, he said, have paid for all costs without reimbursement.
“Everything we’ve done over the last year has come out of our own pockets,” Smith said. “If you get it to a formal process you have some financial support and some soft support from the town.”
