ROCKLAND, Maine — A contingent of Rockland board members is arguing that the district spends far less on Rockland schools than the ones in other district communities.
“I think this is a travesty in an RSU,” Rockland board member Esther “Tess” Kilgour said at Wednesday night’s Regional School Unit 13 meeting. “After six years, there should be equity.”
Kilgour said Rockland should consider separating from the district for its kindergarten through eighth grade students and have a joint high school with the other RSU 13 communities. She said this should especially be considered in light of the potential dramatic increase in expenses that Rockland may incur from the 2015-2016 budget.
In January 2014, Kilgour began circulating a petition for Rockland to separate from RSU 13 but that effort did not gain traction although one petition remains posted at Rockland City Hall.
Kilgour said the district spends less on Rockland’s elementary school students than in the other schools within RSU 13. She said the per pupil spending ranges from a high of $11,420 at the Owls Head Central School to a low of $6,887 for the South School in Rockland.
Carol Bachofner, another Rockland board member, said the gap was astounding.
Board member Donald Robishaw Jr. of Rockland agreed that the inequities across the schools should not exist.
Board Vice Chairman Loren Andrews of Cushing said, however, that dollars spent per student is not the best way to determine equity. He said the class sizes of the schools are similar and that is the most important sign of equity.
“I’m concerned about pitting one school against another,” Andrews said.
He also said board members should present such information to the superintendent and business manager before dropping such a “bombshell” at a meeting. This would allow the administration to review the information and offer an analysis, he said.
Superintendent John McDonald said each school is unique and that it was extremely short sighted to compare them just based on a per pupil cost. He said one school, for instance, might have a special education program that another does not.
Cushing School Principal Ainslee Riley said that at Cushing, for example, there is a small student population and most of the teachers are at the top end of the pay scale.