The Wiscasset Education Review Panel held a “withdrawal workshop” at the Lincoln County Communications conference room May 5.
The meeting was in advance of Wiscasset’s Annual Town Meeting June 12 when voters will consider a warrant article authorizing the town to form a committee and formally petition for withdrawal from RSU 12.
WERP members Doug Smith, Sharon Nichols and Gene Stover attended the more than two-hour meeting, along with RSU 12 Board Chair Hilary Holm, and Wiscasset High School science teacher Shari Templeton.
Smith, WERP’s chairman, gave a presentation on the falling student population in the Wiscasset schools, and the subsequent rising square footage per student in the high school. He discussed the need to close a school to reduce costs. Smith said Wiscasset would get to keep 100 percent of the savings “if we get rid of a building.” However, if Wiscasset stays in the RSU, Smith said, it would only get a percentage.
Using several graphs, Holm presented her own data on the RSU 12 school costs. One bar graph indicated the total revenue input by town matched almost exactly the percentage of students each town contributed.
According to Holm’s information, Wiscasset’s revenue input was 24.27 percent, and 23.3 percent of the students in the RSU are from Wiscasset.
Templeton questioned Smith regarding WERP’s plans for the existing school facilities. “When you talk about plenty of room for students in the other buildings, are you actually looking in the buildings and seeing how they are being utilized?” she asked.
Templeton said she thought that a “phenomenal” amount of money would be needed to convert one school to take the other students. “It’s not nearly as easy as it’s presented,” she said.
The discussion broke down on several occasions. When Templeton questioned Smith on whether he had taken into account the state subsidy Wiscasset receives and how that would change if Wiscasset left the RSU 12, Smith replied: “the northern towns do not subsidize Wiscasset.”
When Holm countered, “Yes they do,” Smith’s replied, “I have a finance degree and I was a bank CEO.”
Smith said deputy education commissioner Jim Rier told Smith Wiscasset won’t know a future state subsidy amount until they know whether they would be in an RSU or an Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS).
Holm said she found that difficult to believe, asserting that since state subsidies are based on student numbers, it is possible to get an estimate of how much things would cost.
“You are questioning my integrity,” Smith said. “I’m tired of you calling me a liar.”
During the discussion WERP members repeated several times the way to really understand what Wiscasset schools cost would be to have professionals look at the numbers.
“This decision can’t be made,” Sharon Nichols said. “We need a professional to decide.”
