head Consolidation hearing sparsely attended

Last month's school consolidation town meeting in Southport was standing room only. However, it was a different scene at the school consolidation meeting held last week at the Boothbay Region Elementary School where empty chairs outnumbered full ones, probably 4 to 1. Perhaps, public apathy was due to the continuing debate over the future of consolidation in Augusta or simply because the consolidation picture for Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor is not as bleak as Southport's.

Superintendent Eileen King provided an overview of the school consolidation process to date and outlined the decisions that voters will be asked to make in the coming year. King's presentation assessed the possible financial outcomes of both the current law and the proposed amendments to the legislation that are now known. Although changes to the law are currently being considered, King's bottom line was straightforward. Should the towns of Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor choose to consolidate and join the new Regional School Unit (RSU), the towns will be faced with having to raise additional tax dollars for education. Should the towns of Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor choose not to consolidate, the towns will still have to spend more local tax dollars on education. This confounding conclusion isn't novel to Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor; other towns across the state report that the promised savings in education tax dollars that were expected to attend consolidation are not being realized locally.

Why would the towns be assessed more under either choice? As the legislation stands today, the new RSU (Boothbay/Boothbay Harbor, Bremen, Bristol, Damariscotta, Edgecomb, Jefferson, Nobleboro, Newcastle, South Bristol, and Southport) would lose about $1.7 million in special education subsidy. In addition to basic education costs, additional local costs for education (estimated at about $6 million for the new district) would be split among all the communities based on a specific cost share formula. The Regional Planning Committee (RPC)'s cost share formula in their draft plan allocates 27.4 percent of the RSU's education costs to Boothbay/Boothbay Harbor. Based on the current law and current budgets, Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor would need to raise $335,000 and $135,000 more, respectively, for education if they were part of the RSU.

Because of concerns over these "unintended financial consequences," the legislature is now considering LD1932, which aims to remove certain financial disincentives to consolidation. King's analyses indicated that Booth-bay/Boothbay Harbor may still face higher education costs if LD1932 passes since LD1932 removes the 2-mill education minimum, which would reduce Southport's contribution to the RSU by about $800,000. What helps Southport may hurt Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor. King reported the day after the meeting that she was concerned that the financial analyses that she provided at the meeting regarding LD1932's effect may be in error. She has asked the state Department of Education (DOE) to verify her analysis. Presently, how much LD1932, if passed, will save or cost the "Boothbays" is uncertain.

Why should it cost more to remain as is? Any town that chooses not to consolidate will be penalized by the state. King reported that the towns could expect to lose $400,000 in special education subsidy and $68,000 in system administration costs if they choose not to consolidate. She said that further penalties "down the road" were also a possibility.

The consolidation law specified a new process for towns to adopt school budgets. Boothbay Town Manager John Anderson reviewed the process, which includes budget adoption by the school committee, a public meeting to discuss the budget, and then adoption or rejection of the budget via a secret ballot vote. Some of the peculiarities of the new budget process include the fact that the timing does not allow the actual budget figures to be printed on the ballot.

If voters do not approve the budget, the entire process begins again and continues until a budget is passed. Since school budgets are a major part of the local town budget, Anderson said that the towns would not be able to commit or collect taxes until voters approve a school budget. If the school budget takes months to pass, it could put towns, particularly financially strapped ones like Boothbay Harbor, in a difficult situation. Presumably the school district, and ultimately the taxpayers, will have to pay the costs of any additional balloting.

Under the current law, all local property will revert to the RSU and control over local budgets and staff will reside with the RSU school board. Restoring local control over school properties and budgets is being discussed now in Augusta; the outcome remains uncertain.

Eleven different teacher contracts will have to be merged into one contract for the RSU. The expectation is that salaries and benefits packages are likely to rise to the top when renegotiated. No estimate on how this will affect local school budgets is available, but since salaries and benefits are a large part of the school budget, it seems reasonable to expect a significant increase in costs.

The schools that will make up the new RSU currently have two full-time superintendents, and Jefferson is served by a superintendent who also administers others schools in that region. King projected that the new RSU would have one full-time superintendent, one business manager, one payroll/bookkeeper, and 1.5 administrative assistants. King said that with this level of staffing administrative costs within the new RSU would be reduced by about $175,000. However, the RSU school committee and the new superintendent will determine the actual level of administrative staff.

King reported that Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor would be the only towns in the new RSU whose students would not be able to choose their high school. All other towns currently have choice and will retain it. The RPC proposed granting all students in the RSU choice, but King said that the DOE would reject such a proposal.

Once a DOE-approved consolidation plan has been completed by the RPC, voters in each community will decide whether to consolidate or not. Under the current timetable, voters must vote by November 2008 and schools must consolidate by July 2009 or face penalties. As a combined school district, Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor votes will be considered together. A complicating factor is that unless other towns in the RSU have voted first, there is no assurance that the plan that is being voted upon will be the plan that is carried forward. Any town that votes not to consolidate will alter the RSU's makeup and the financial considerations in the plan.

Since legislators in Augusta are currently still discussing ways to fix the consolidation law, the RPC has put its work on the local consolidation plan on hold. King ended the meeting by acknowledging that another meeting would probably be necessary once the legislature has completed any amendments to the consolidation law and the RPC has completed its work.