Wiscasset voters will decide Tuesday, Dec. 9 if they want to close the Wiscasset Primary School, a move recommended by the Wiscasset School Board. Voters are being urged to vote on this important referendum. Should the voters reject the referendum, the town could face another year of supporting three schools, according to school board Chairman Steve Smith.
The school board voted to close the primary school at its meeting Sept. 15. This action was followed by a citizens petition being circulated to require the question be put before the voters in a town-wide vote.
If the voters elect to close the primary school, the school board will be able to move forward in developing a 2014-2015 budget with two schools. If the voters reject the primary school closure, the school board will meet Dec. 11 to vote to close the middle school.
However, due to the expectation of another citizens petition, and other requirements in the process, the school board would not have enough time to prepare to close the middle school or develop a budget for voter approval in June. “We would certainly try, but it would be very difficult,” Smith said at a public hearing Nov. 20.
During the public hearing on the referendum, there didn’t seem to be any opposition to closing a school, the question is which school will the voters want to close, the primary school or the middle school. The only choice they have on this referendum vote is whether to close the primary school.
According to the school board and many residents, the town doesn’t need to operate three schools, nor can it afford to keep three schools open with a declining student population. The enrollment of Wiscasset students currently is about 550 students, and each of the three schools is operating at about 50 percent capacity.
With Wiscasset’s withdrawal from RSU 12 and the town supporting three schools, taxpayers would have seen an increase of about 27 percent in the their taxes this year if the town had not voted to withdraw $1.25 million from the town’s reserve account and the selectmen had not decided to take $300,000 from the town’s fund balance to lower the mil rate.
The 2013-2014 Wiscasset school budget of $9.4 million is nearly double the previous year’s obligation to RSU 12 of $5.1 million. Smith said he is hopeful the board will develop a 2014-2015 budget to reduce the burden to the taxpayers by closing a school.
According to information provided by the school board, the savings from closing the primary school are estimated to be nearly $800,000. With the seventh- and eighth-graders moving to the high school, there will be room at the middle school for it to become a K-6 school. There would also be room at the primary school for a K-6 school, according to the school board.
The decision to move the seventh- and eighth-graders to the high school for the 2015-2016 school year has already been made, regardless of how the referendum vote turns out.
Moving the younger students to the middle school would require several one-time expenses: $41,000 in renovations to the school, $16,000 for playground needs, $5,000 for fire alarm upgrades, $1,500 to improve the parking lot, $5,000 for technology upgrades, and $1,000 to for new stairway railings.
The question on the referendum ballot will ask: “Shall the school committee of the town of Wiscasset be authorized to close Wiscasset Primary School? The additional cost of keeping the school open has been estimated by the school committee to be $785,254.”
The polls will open at 8 a.m at the Wiscasset Community Center for voting and remain open until 8 p.m.
