KINGFIELD – The committee working on a proposed partnership between MSAD 58 and MSAD 74, which would create a single administration for both districts, has developed a Alternative Organization Structure which will be considered by both school boards this week.
The AOS would create a single central office, including a superintendent, business office and special education administration, which would provide support for both districts. Both districts’ towns would provide a director, with Anson providing two, to create a 10-director board. To reach a quorum, six directors would need to be present, at least three from each district. The board would be responsible for setting the budget for the shared administration, which would be paid for by MSAD 58 and MSAD 74 on a 50/50 basis.
The plan would call for a single superintendent, a position that both districts currently fill. Also in the office would be a single secretary for that superintendent and employees responsible for payroll, accounts payable and similar business-related functions. The four-person business office laid out in the AOS plan represents work currently handled by roughly 5.5 positions across both districts.
System administration represents the only major function handled by the proposed AOS. The state law which created the process mandates that an AOS plan reference five specific areas, including system administration, transportation administration, curriculum coordination, student assessment and special education administration.
The AOS proposed for MSAD 58 and MSAD 74 envisions using a relatively small stipend, $5,000 was suggested as a possibility, to employ someone to file transportation-related paperwork, which is currently filed by employees in the two districts. This would satisfy the state in regards to the AOS requirement of having a joint transportation administration. Curriculum coordination and student assessment will be carried out by school principals, as occurs now, and the AOS proposal doesn’t suggest any changes to those areas.
The final piece would be a shared administration of special education within the two districts. To some extent this is already underway, as MAD 58 and MSAD 74 share a special education director. She would be supported by 1.5 secretarial-like positions, which is what the two districts use now. Both MSAD 58 Superintendent Quenten Clark and MSAD 74 Superintendent Kenneth Coville said they believed a unified administration, with a single filing system, would make the director’s work easier.
After some discussion, the Regional Planning Committee voted to not include $50,000 for a part-time assistant superintendent position. That individual would have been responsible for curriculum and assessment, which multiple RPC members said they’d prefer remain the purview of the local districts.
“I’m not sure we need an assistant superintendent at this stage of the game,” said RPC member Andrew Davis, who is also the chair of the MSAD 74 school board.
The AOS committee could decide to create the position later, should it feel it was necessary. The motion that set the makeup of the proposed joint business office, made by Director Alan Morse, of Phillips, also eliminated an administrative position for transportation, replacing it with the $5,000 stipend.
In the short-term, the savings in reductions in the superintendent lines and business office could save both districts a combined $100,000 or more, assuming that additional positions didn’t need to be created as a result of the merger of administrations. Any savings, both RPC members and superintendents noted, were projections only at this point.
The AOS would also satisfy the state consolidation law, equating to roughly $280,000 in subsidy that would otherwise be withheld by the noncompliance penalty. Due to the new administration taking over in Augusta next year, the future of that penalty in general remains in doubt.
Both school boards would need to approve the AOS, prior to the board chairs sending it off to the state for review. The committee is hoping to have a plan ready for voter consideration by early February. Timing is an issue as, if approved, the AOS board would need to work swiftly to prepare the central office budget in time for the districts’ usual budget process.
