MONTICELLO, Maine — Should the town of Monticello explore the possibility of withdrawing from RSU 29?
That was the question nearly 50 residents discussed Jan. 28 at an informational hearing held at the town’s fire station. The meeting was called after a petition was circulated in town asking residents to consider the option.
“We have not looked into anything,” said Terry Wade, chairman of the Monticello Board of Selectman. “We feel the parents should have the choice of where they want to tuition their kids.”
To initiate a withdrawal process, a petition bearing the signatures of at least 10 percent of registered voters from the last gubernatorial election is required. A total of 337 ballots were cast last November, so only 34 names were needed to make a legal request. A petition bearing the names of 51 registered voters was recently presented to the Monticello Board of Selectmen, according to Town Manager Ginger Pryor. There are about 500 registered voters in the community.
A town referendum will be held on March 16. The exact wording of that referendum question is: “Do you favor filing a petition for withdrawal with the board of the directors of Regional School Unit 29 and with the commissioner of education; authorizing the withdrawal committee to expend $2,500 and authorizing the municipal officers to issue notes in the name of the town of Monticello or otherwise pledge to credit the town of Monticello in an amount not to exceed $2,500 for this purpose.”
Voters will be given a “yes” or “no” option.
A “yes” vote gives permission to start the process, which involves forming a committee to gather information on the costs. That committee would feature one school board member, one selectman, one member of the public and one person who solicited the initial petition.
Another public hearing would be held once that group compiles its review. A second referendum vote to actually withdraw is then required, with a two-thirds vote needed to pull out.
If the town did vote in favor of pulling out, it would then have to hire a lawyer to negotiate the withdrawal process. That cost was estimated at about $20,000.
There are 101 students from Monticello who attend classes in RSU 29, which is also comprised of Houlton, Littleton and Hammond.
Laurice Grass-Bell gave a presentation on why she felt the town should at least consider the option of pulling out of the district. Grass-Bell is one of several residents who is on the town’s committee to come up with re-use options for the now empty Wellington Elementary School.
Ronnie Flewelling, another member of the reuse committee, said efforts to find a suitable use for the building, whether it be leasing the facility or selling it, have failed to generate any substantial leads.
“We haven’t come up with anything final at all,” Flewelling said. “We also talked about possibly becoming a charter school. Another thing, we could become our own school district and tuition our kids to wherever we wanted to.”
In her presentation, Grass-Bell stated property values could be negatively impacted by anywhere from 9 to 25 percent now that Wellington School has closed.
“If you have a house in town that you want to sell, it is going to be difficult not having a school,” she said. “If you want young families to buy, it is probably not going to happen if they have to put their kids on busses. We have lost families already.”
Others debated that fact stating other families have moved in to town recently.
Grass-Bell also stated that Monticello, with just two school board members on the 13-member RSU 29 board, does not have as much of a voice as Houlton, particularly when it comes to action items. She suggested the town could look into the possibility of becoming a Stand Alone Unit (SAU), and would then receive its own funding from the state.
“The Department of Education says a rough estimate of what we could expect as a stand alone unit in 2015 would be somewhere around the total allocation for Monticello in the SAD 29 budget,” Grass-Bell said. “That is $985,895.”
RSU 29 Superintendent Mike Hammer stated he did not know Grass-Bell was able to come up with that dollar amount, because he did not feel there was way to get an accurate figure from the state for this purpose.
Based on the numbers Grass-Bell provided, the cost to tuition students to RSU 29 would be $8,231 for secondary education students and $5,809 for elementary education students, which would result in the town seeing a savings of more than $100,000 if it were to withdraw and tuition.
Those figures, however, do not reflect the current 2014-15 costs. Tuition costs change each year, making it difficult to give an actual cost to the town based on future school years. In the current school year, the cost of tuition for secondary education students in RSU 29 is $9,456 per student, while the cost for elementary education is $5,777.
Grass-Bell admitted it was her strong desire to see the elementary school re-open in Monticello.
Flewelling said his primary focus was to reduce the cost to taxpayers in Monticello and admitted he did not see any way that the Wellington School could be reopened for elementary students because of how much it would cost to re-open. The school has sat dormant since the final day of school last June and would need to have an updated fire suppression system installed, as well as the removal of asbestos.
Jennifer Johnston, one of two RSU 29 board reps from Monticello, urged those in attendance not to consider withdrawing.
“This would be a huge mistake and our kids will suffer the consequences,” she said. “We looked into doing the pre-K here before and it was not cost effective.”
One parent in attendance stated the transition of sending their children to Houlton has been seamless.
“They are adjusting phenomenally,” said Tina Pierce. “When our children went down there (to Houlton) we all had concerns about their education and how things were going to work. The classrooms are no bigger than they were here. Our teachers are phenomenal. My daughter is getting first grade level work in kindergarten. It’s not holding them back, it’s pushing them forward.”
In a letter sent from the district to parents of Monticello children dated Jan. 21, Hammer detailed what he believes would be the cost residents would have to pay to tuition students.
For the 2014-15 school year, Monticello’s required share of the school budget was $352,958. If the town were to tuition its students to RSU 29, the cost would be in the range of $687,000 (which was based on the previous years rates). That amount does not include special education costs for students that fall in this category, nor does it cover transportation or tuition for the career and technical education (Region 2).
When combing all of those factors, Hammer stated the cost would be about $905,000. Tuition rates change on a yearly basis, so that amount could go up or down.
Another option could be for Monticello to send its students to RSU 42 (Mars Hill). Those tuition costs were estimated at $957,000 per year. However, RSU 42 reportedly included the cost of transporting students to their school.
Some residents expressed concerns with withdrawing, as it would mean they would no longer have any voice or voting power on the RSU 29 or RSU 42 school boards. The town would have its own school board, but would not having voting rights in either school system.
