JAY – Members of the Regional Planning Committee received a preliminary draft of a proposal to consolidate Regional School Unit 36 and the Jay School Department Tuesday evening, as they look ahead to the busy four months leading up to a Jan. 25, 2011 vote in all three towns.
The plan spells out decisions previously reached by the RPC, including the makeup of the new school board, dispensation of preexisting funds, debt and property, as well as the time line of the proposal. If approved by Livermore, Livermore Falls and Jay voters on Jan. 25, a transition committee would form by Feb. 15 and help analyze and develop a budget for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. A new school board of 13 members, six from Jay, four from Livermore Falls and three from Livermore, would be elected sometime in the spring of 2011, and that board would usher in the new Regional School Unit, on July 1.
Both superintendents for RSU 36 and Jay School Department will also do preliminary, conceptual work on two separate budgets, in the advent of a negative vote at the ballot box in January.
The superintendents, RPC member and Town Manager Ruth Cushman and a Jay selectman will be meeting tomorrow to discuss the disposition of property not directly owned by the school districts, some of which is owned by the town of Jay. None of those involve believe the delineating of property rights will be difficult, and that is the final piece of the RPC’s plan.
If approved by the RPC, probably after review by both the Department of Education and legal counsel, the plan would need to be approved by both district’s school boards before proceeding to the planned vote in January.
Under the plan, the new district’s member towns would share the cost of educating students that exceeds the state’s Essential Programs and Services funding model. These costs would be divided among the towns according to state valuation numbers, and representatives from both communities do not anticipate major cost shifts.
“It does not mean a tremendous difference for any of the towns,” Jay Superintendent Robert Wall noted.
In the short term, the consolidation could save more than $300,000 in avoided subsidy penalties. In the longer term, the presence of a single superintendent, eventual staff reductions, combining support service administration and the possible closure of facilities could mean much larger savings.
The RPC has been discussing a facility arrangement of four, major schools in the new school district. With this concept, both Jay and Livermore Falls’ elementary schools would remain open, with all middle school students attending class at Jay Middle School. The RPC has discussed recommending the new school board close Livermore Falls High School after the 2011-2012 school year, and educate all of the district’s high school students at the Jay facility.
The RPC will meet again in two weeks.
