March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

New union school consolidation eyed> Officials cite cuts in subsidies, servi

EAST MILLINOCKET — East Millinocket, Medway and Woodville school officials will study the possibility of combining students in kindergarten through grade eight into a union school. If approved by voters, the towns would make up only the second union school in the state.

A union school is a consolidation option where towns enter into a cooperative agreement to share school services. It can take many forms. For example, pupils in grades K-3 from the three towns could attend the Opal Myrick Elementary School in East Millinocket and students in grades four through eight could attend the Medway Middle School.

The form of a union school will be decided by the study group, which also will look at issues such as governance, transportation, finances, curriculum and negotiated contracts.

School officials representing the three towns believe consolidating students may be the only way to maintain educational programs and to stabilize local costs.

“We are looking at cuts in programs that are real, real serious to the quality of education,” said Bruce Cox, a Medway school board member, in a recent meeting.

Medway is expected to lose $113,000 more in state subsidy this year, bringing the total loss to more than $613,000 during recent years.

Like Medway, Woodville, which sends its students to East Millinocket schools, is expected to lose more subsidy. East Millinocket is faced with a tax cap for the next three years.

Earlier, officials of the three school boards, who make up School Union 113, met with Dr. John Skehan of the University of Maine in Orono and reviewed different types of school units, such as a school administrative district or a community school district.

Combining elementary grades appeared to provide the greatest cost savings. But because of the disparity in the state value of the towns, it would not necessarily mean a savings for each of the three towns. East Millinocket’s state valuation is nearly $214 million. Medway’s value is nearly $28 million and Woodville’s value is $8.1 million.

In order to avoid the valuation disparity, Skehan said, another consolidation option was a union school, where the towns could enter into a cooperative agreement to share school services.

Cox and other Medway board members said they could not ask taxpayers to make up for all of the lost state subsidy. “It is the only workable solution we have for these towns,” Cox said of the school consolidation option.

Jim Meehan, an East Millinocket school board member, said officials had looked at consolidation options within School Union 113, but had not looked at the whole picture. Meehan suggested officials consider consolidation options with Millinocket and made a motion that they meet with Millinocket officials.

Donald M. Hendsbee, chairman of the East Millinocket board and chairman of the School Union 113 board, said officials needed a focus. He said the boards had studied various consolidation options and had conducted surveys during the past several years. “Every town wants to know what is in it for them. The bottom line is money,” he said.

Barbara Miner, an East Millinocket board member, agreed the board needed a focus. She said numerous meetings had been held about consolidating area schools dating back to 1988. “This is a very frustrating process because we just tread water and we don’t make any headway,” Miner said.

Cox said if the three school boards could not work out something satisfactory for a union school, they never will consolidate schools. “Medway cannot take another hit of $100,000 this year,” Cox said. He and other school officials believe there is public support for consolidation within the three towns.

Meehan’s motion to meet with Millinocket officials died for lack of a second. With a unanimous vote, school board members voted to form a committee to study the union school concept. The study committee will include the chairman of each of the three school boards.


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