We are not surprised Wiscasset and Westport Island voted to formally begin the withdrawal process from RSU 12.
Given the heat the question drew in the “Prettiest Village in Maine” leading up to the vote, and the 80-20 margin favoring withdrawal in a Wiscasset straw poll last November, we are only surprised the 104-vote margin wasn’t larger.
Wiscasset and Westport Island both favored forming a committee, filing a petition to withdraw and getting serious on the withdrawal question. From here on out, the withdrawal option isn’t just a favorite talking point of some hard-pressed taxpayers.
Now all the talk will have a price tag attached and that’s a good thing.
Whatever these towns opt to do, right now they have an opportunity to reconsider their educational futures. We hope they use this chance to take a complete, clear-eyed look at the financial and political realities of their situations.
There will be more hearings and meetings and discussions all along the way as both towns figure out what might work best for their specific circumstances; whether they want to create a new school system, go it alone, or join an existing school system.
The stakes are undeniably high. In our opinion, no matter which way the future decisions go, it is going to be expensive.
We hope the parties intimately involved in the issues tone down their rhetoric as this process goes along. These next few months should be more a fact-finding mission and less a political campaign.
There will be time enough to argue the merits after the facts have been determined. Part of the problem with the debate to this point, particularly in Wiscasset, is the two sides looked at the same issues, but never agreed on the facts.
However, if what all parties in the debate really want is what they say they really want, which, they say, is simply the best thing for their towns, the taxpayers and their children, then they will put their energies into making sure the questions are fully formed and the answers fully determined the next time voters go to the polls.
