PENOBSCOT, Maine — Blue Hill Peninsula voters need more information about George Stevens Academy’s operations, and area school leaders need a greater say in how the private high school is run.
That was the message from Chairman Jerry Markley of School Union 93’s Board of Directors after academy leaders on Wednesday unveiled a proposal to phase in a tuition increase of $2,700 per student over the next three years to the seven towns that send high schoolers there and pay the tuition out of their local school budgets.
“This is a big cost increase and there doesn’t seem to be really any justification for it,” Markley said Wednesday after a school board meeting at Penobscot Elementary School. “The education here is a taxpayer business, and they have every right to know what’s going on.”
Under the tuition hike proposal, George Stevens would charge an additional $597 per student next school year to increase the tuition to $12,545 per student. It would increase by $1,158 the following year, 2021-22, to $13,703 per student, with a final increase of $945 to $14,648. After that, tuition would rise each year by the same percentage as the state-set tuition for private high schools that serve public-school students.
“I’ve got no problems with their quality of education, but they’ve had a board of trustees that’s been very closed off. What some members here may want to see is a more open process where you have a member of each school committee be on the board of trustees and have a direct say,” Markley said.
Earlier this week, Head of School Tim Seeley released financial information school board members had requested, including a 2019-20 budget summary, a draft copy of the 2018-19 school audit report, and a summary of the school’s residential program expenses and revenues.
Some school board members, including Markley, said Wednesday they had not yet reviewed the information while others said the disclosure was inadequate.
“I do not feel comfortable enough to say whether the school is doing everything it can to defray costs,” said Jan Snow, a Union 93 board member who represents Blue Hill.
George Stevens cut about $300,000 from its operating expenses over the past two or three years by combining jobs, finding better ways to buy student computers and by deferring some maintenance, Seeley said.
Union 93 board member Edward DeVito of Penobscot praised the quality of education George Stevens offers.
“This is a school that teaches what rich kids get to learn. Our kids aren’t rich, and it just blows me away that they get to go to school there,” DeVito said.
Meanwhile, board member Jon Smallidge of Blue Hill said town officials need to start planning to build a public high school on the Blue Hill Peninsula. While there might be a slim chance of getting the state to agree to help fund a new school, he said, George Stevens’ classroom sites are old and likely in need of significant repair.
School Union 93 includes five of the academy’s towns — Blue Hill, Brooksville, Castine, Penobscot and Surry — but some parents opt to send their children to high schools in Bangor, Bucksport and Ellsworth. The other two towns that send students to George Stevens are Sedgwick and Brooklin. About 300 students from the seven towns attend the high school, along with 31 international students.
The proposed tuition hike marks the first time in school history that George Stevens has sought an increase over the tuition level set by the state. This year, that amount is $11,948, below the $14,646 per student George Stevens says it costs to educate each student. Town officials will negotiate the proposed increase with the school, and residents will have the final say in annual town meetings that start this spring.
George Stevens seeks to close a budget gap it expects because of a drop in its international student enrollment. That enrollment two years ago, 49 students, fell to 40 last year and to 31 students who pay annual tuition of as much as $52,000 to study and stay on campus this year.
With the enrollment drop, the international student program now nets about an $800,000 surplus, compared to a $1.6 million surplus two years ago, academy officials said.
George Stevens officials plan to continue to discuss the proposed increase with local governments and school boards, and will continue to update the school’s website with financial information, Seeley said.
“People are asking good questions,” Seeley said. “They are properly concerned about how public money is being spent.”