SALEM — The MSAD 58 Board of Directors have continued to explore options for reducing the budget by roughly one million dollars. These discussions, as part of the strategic planning process for the district, have included teachers, staff, students, parents, and community members.
During the Dec. 13 strategic planning workshop, Superintendent Todd Sanders reported back on his meeting with officials at the state level. He had asked what the process would look like if the district voted to close Mount Abram High School, an option that had been discussed. (That option would only save the district an estimated $300,000, and Sanders said it was not cost-effective.)
Sanders said that the meeting with the state provided more questions than answers. For example, when the Town of Madrid disincorporated and became Madrid Township, a special law was written that states that Madrid students must attend K-8 school in Phillips. One of the options the district has been considering is closing a K-8 community school; does that special law mean that the Phillips school could not be closed? Sanders was unable to find answers to that question.
Sanders provided figures on the estimated cost savings scenarios for closing each of the community schools. These were ‘best guess’ figures and the numbers were close; no one school is significantly more costly than the others. Closing Kingfield could save a little more than $1.8 million, while Strong could save $1,913,000 and Phillips could save $1,940,000.
Closing a community school requires a vote in that community. Sanders expressed some concern that a community would vote down the closure. That could potentially leave the district in a similar situation but with less time to work with.
An additional scenario was proposed and recommended by Sanders, to do the following:
● Move seventh and eighth grades from all three community schools to the high school and reduce the middle school teaching staff.
● Combine lower grades to create multi-level classrooms in all three community schools and reduce the elementary school teaching staff.
● Reduce extra staffing by not filling the current high school principal vacancy and instead having Sanders fill that role with support from the assistant principal.
This scenario would save an estimated $800,000, according to Sanders.
There were a number of pros and cons identified by teachers and community members for this scenario.
Pros:
● MTA has the space to support an increased student population.
● The proposed reduction in teaching staff may bring the district teacher-student ratio closer to what the state says it should be.
● There may be minimal impact on transportation costs because buses already run from the elementary schools to the high school.
● All community schools would remain open and active.
● The district would not lose EUT students or tuitioned students.
Cons:
● Multi-level classrooms can come with multiple obstacles for teachers to effectively provide education.
● The quality of education has already been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and reducing teacher staff may had additional negative impacts.
● There would be a loss of teacher jobs and staff positions within the communities.
● There may be negative impacts on middle school students from close contact to older students.
If the school board decides to close a school, they will need to make that decision in January to have enough time to arrange a referendum vote. As such, during the Jan. 3 Strategic Planning workshop, a recommendation will need to be made for the school board’s January meeting.
Additional suggestions and scenarios for saving approximately $1 million should be shared in the Jan. 3 meeting.
The meeting agenda, minutes, and documentation of the cost estimates for different scenarios can be found on the MSAD 58 website under the Strategic Planning tab.
