HOLDEN, Maine — Residents of the RSU 63 member towns of Holden, Eddington and Clifton will be asked on Election Day if they want to withdraw from the education union they formed with four Airline communities several years ago.
During a meeting that followed an informal public hearing on the proposed withdrawal, members of the RSU 63 board voted to conduct a formal public hearing on Monday, Oct. 26, on the proposal to leave Alternative Organizational Structure 81.
They then signed a warrant calling for a referendum vote on the withdrawal on Nov. 3.
Alternative Organizational Structure 81 also serves the Community School District 8 member towns of Amherst, Aurora, Great Pond and Osborn.
The potential split of the school units has been discussed for the past several months.
AOS 81 was formed in 2010 and became operational on July 1, 2010, according to documents filed with the Maine Department of Education.
At the time, the state was compelling school districts to consolidate in the interest of creating efficiencies by imposing financial penalties on those school districts that did not comply. That no longer is the case.
During Monday night’s informal public hearing, AOS 81 interim Superintendent Kenneth Smith outlined reasons RSU 63 board members want to go it on their own.
The move, they believe, would eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy in the AOS member districts, with each required to go through the budget validation process individually and together. The cost for paying ballot clerks for the budget votes was estimated at $350 per year.
Withdrawal also would enable RSU 63 to save an estimated $4,000 in audit costs and cut down on the number of meetings that RSU 63 board members would have to attend.
There also are some differences in educational priorities between the RSU and the CSD, Smith noted.
It was not immediately clear if the Airline school district would contract such central office functions as superintendent services as well as business, transportation and special services management — as it had before consolidation — or if it would look to another nearby school district.