PITTSFIELD, Maine — For a school district that had run out of options for consolidation, suddenly SAD 53 is getting plenty of offers.
Last June, voters in SAD 59 (Madison, Athens, Starks and Brighton Plantation) rejected a plan to merge with SAD 53 (Burnham, Detroit and Pittsfield.) Voters in SAD 59 also just recently rejected proposals to consolidate with several other districts in western Somerset County.
Without partners, both districts are in line for severe financial penalties from the state, though several legislators have sponsored a bill that would stave off the penalties at least for one year to give “orphan” districts an opportunity to find partners.
Two weeks ago, SAD 59 board members revoted and determined they would like to reinvestigate merging with SAD 53. SAD 68 in Dover-Foxcroft also asked to begin discussions about partnership with the Pittsfield area district.
“There is no rush,” Superintendent Michael Gallagher told board members Monday night. He said it appears that the bill before the Legislature, which has not yet had a public hearing, has widespread support.
He said he is concerned, however, with another bill introduced through a citizen’s initiative that would eliminate the school consolidation law. In order for the law to be amended or eliminated, voters would need to weigh in, and Gallagher is concerned about having the competing measures both go to referendum in November.
“That really concerns me,” he said. “No one wants a competing resolve.”
Since there was not a voting quorum present at the board meeting Tuesday night, no vote on proceeding with any consolidation investigation was taken. The issue will be pursued at the April board meeting, Gallagher said.
In other business, Maine Central Institute Headmaster Christopher Hopkins reported he recently informed staff and faculty that there would be no raises for the coming year.
He said it was not news he wanted to present but “it was the responsible thing to do.”
He said that endowments to the private school, where SAD 53 tuitions its high school students, have dropped by 50 percent. Hopkins explained that the school usually draws about $100,000 from that fund each year for operating expenses.
“Let me say, however, that MCI is in very solid financial condition,” he added. Other private academies across the country are releasing teachers, he said.
MCI and the other academies are all competing for a shrinking pool of international students.
“We won’t know until August what our boarding student population is,” he said. Hopkins said tuition at MCI is $35,000 a year, and with the economic crisis extending worldwide, he is unsure how many international parents will be able to send their children to Maine.
“It means there will be less students coming to the U.S. and more schools competing for them,” he said.