School Union 29 Regional Planning Committee

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School Union 29Regional Planning Committee
2
Introduction

• All three school committees met individually and
  voted to approve the Reorganization Plan as
  written and recommended by the Regional Planning
  Committee, and submit it to the Department of
  Education for approval.

3
Reorganization PlanGovernance

• Each town will have 5 RSU board members. The new
  RSU board will have a total of 15 members. This
  is the same structure that is used for the
  current school union committee and will make sure
  that each town has an equal voice at board
  meetings.
• The voting method is what is known as a weighted
  vote. A weighted vote takes into consideration
  the population of each town to ensure that the
  principle of one man, one vote, is followed. The
  formula for determining the weight of each board
  members vote is determined by the state. Poland
  school board members will have 48 of the votes,
  Mechanic Falls members will have 28 of the
  votes, and Minot members will have 24 of the
  votes.
• This structure will provide equal voice at RSU
  board meetings but fair voting based on
  population.

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Reorganization PlanTransition Plan

• The transition plan will help to prepare for
  opening day of a new school district on July 1,
  2009. The plan calls for a committee to be
  created in September which will help begin the
  process of preparing for a district budget and
  coordinating school programs. This committee
  would exist until the new RSU board is elected.
  The new RSU board will finish preparing a budget
  and present it to the voters before July 1, 2009.

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Reorganization PlanCost Sharing Formula

• The cost sharing formula proposes that during the
  next school year (2009-2010), all towns will pay
  approximately what they did this year.
• In year one of the new Regional School Unit
  (RSU), the cost sharing formula will be 100
  based on property valuation.
• During year two of the RSU the formula will be
  changed to 95 based on property valuation and 5
  based on pupil count.
• During year three, four and five, the formula
  will be 90 based on property valuation and 10
  based on pupil count.
• Starting in year five, the formula will be
  reviewed every two years to ensure it is fair and
  equitable to all three towns.

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Reorganization PlanTuition Agreement

• The towns of Mechanic Falls and Minot will
  dissolve the tuition contracts for Poland
  Regional High School. Since the high school will
  be owned and operated by all three towns, the
  tuition contract will no longer be needed. See
  next slide for details.

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Reorganization PlanSchool Choice/Tuition

• Minot currently has a tuition contract for their
  secondary students with Poland Regional High
  School (PRHS). That contract and Minot school
  policy allows a limited number of secondary
  students to attend a secondary school, approved
  for tuition pursuant to ?5805 and ?5806, other
  than PRHS. This plan allows those students who
  are approved to attend those schools in the
  2009-2010 school year and their siblings who
  start Grade 9 no later than the 2012-2013 school
  year to attend those schools until graduation.

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Reorganization PlanSchool Choice/Tuition

• Mechanic Falls currently has a tuition contract
  for their secondary students with Poland
  Regional High School (PRHS). That contract and
  Mechanic Falls school policy allows a limited
  number of secondary students to attend a
  secondary school, approved for tuition pursuant
  to ?5805 and ?5806, other than PRHS. This plan
  allows those students who are approved to attend
  those schools in the 2009-2010 school year and
  their siblings who start Grade 9 no later than
  the 2012-2013 school year to attend those schools
  until graduation.

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Reorganization PlanDebt Assets

• All three towns would collectively own all of the
  school buildings and properties. These schools
  and properties include the superintendents
  office, Poland Community School and Bruce M.
  Whittier Middle School, Poland Regional High
  School, Elm Street School, and Minot Consolidated
  School.
• All debts and leases will be assumed by the RSU.
  The total debt of the new RSU will be 1.98
  million.

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Reorganization PlanCost Savings

• During the first year of our new Regional School
  Unit we will continue to reduce costs and improve
  efficiencies. Some of the proposed cost
  reductions that will be submitted to our Regional
  School Board include
• Consolidation of our three transportation
  departments into one and installation of a
  transportation software routing program.
• Reduction of administration in our three town RSU
  by two positions
• Reduction of teaching staff due to enrollment,
  student/teacher ratio and sharing teacher
  resources.
• Educational cost sharing between our three towns
  we are planning on sharing our present
  music/band instructors, health/wellness, and tech
  ed, across all three towns. This will allow
  schools that do not have these programs to offer
  these education programs to our students with no
  additional costs to our towns since we will have
  a single RSU budget.
• Consolidation of our three Food Service
  departments into one.

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Myth Busters

• Myth "We're going to buy into a ton of debt
  associated with PRHS."
• Fact  PRHS was paid for by the state there is
  NO PRHS debt.

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Myth Busters

• Myth "Without the tuition contract, Minot and
  Mechanic Falls will end up picking up 3,000 more
  cost per student."
• Fact  The actual gap between the cost of a
  Poland student and other students is only 545.
  With the efficiencies created by the combined
  RSU, this number will continue to go down with
  the goal being that all students will cost the
  state average.

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Myth Busters

• Myth"If we join the 15-member RSU board, the 5
  folks from Poland will have a weighted vote and
  can do whatever they want."
• Fact Under the proposed weighted vote, Poland
  actually only has 48. Minot and Mechanic Falls
  have a combined majority vote and could control
  the budget and programming at PRHS.

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Myth Busters

• Myth"I've heard they plan on taking programs
  from other schools and sharing them with Minot."
• Fact Partially true. Because of the efficiencies
  of a combined school system, all personnel
  resources can be more fully utilized. Programs
  that one school could not support alone, now
  become possible at no additional cost.

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Myth Busters

• Myth"Under this combined school system, we lose
  the 10 option to place students out of
  district."
• Fact Partially true. Only kids that are
  currently out of placement will be allowed to
  finish and graduate.  Siblings of those students
  can also be placed out of district and allowed to
  graduate. No new kids will be allowed to go out
  of district and be paid for through taxes.

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Myth Busters

• Myth"this whole thing will cost all taxpayers
  more."
• Fact While the efficiencies and savings are hard
  to quantify (future cost of oil, salary
  increases, etc.), we firmly believe that there
  will be some immediate savings, and certainly
  savings over the long run.

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Myth Busters

• WHAT IF OUR TOWN VOTES "NO?"
• The state imposes two penalties
• First, the town will receive less educational
  funds from the state Mechanic Falls would lose
  about 75,568, Minot 67,803 and Poland 173,656.

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Myth Busters

• WHAT IF OUR TOWN VOTES "NO?
• (continued)
• Second, towns will also be placed at the lowest
  level/priority when it comes to new building
  projects, thus school repairs and additions will
  be all local debt.

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Myth Busters

• WHAT IF OUR TOWN VOTES "NO?
• (continued)
• The most costly penalty though is that the town
  that voted "no still has to hire a
  superintendent and their own central office at
  their own expense and/or find another district to
  consolidate with.

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Colleen Quint, Chair

• I would like to thank the committee members for
  their good-will in confronting the difficult
  issues that school consolidation raises.?You made
  it the easiest local project I've worked on.
  Everyone worked with good-will, everyone did a
  lot of heavy lifting."

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Web Site For More Information

• To view the complete reorganization plan and
  meeting minutes, please visit
• http//www.poland-hs.u29.k12.me.us/reorganization.
  html