LUDLOW, Maine — Could the third time be the charm for Ludlow in its effort to withdraw from SAD 70?
The town is once again faced with making a decision of whether it should stay in its current school district or begin the process of pulling out in favor of moving to RSU 29 after a citizen’s petition brought the matter back to the forefront.
That petition, bearing the names of 21 registered voters, was presented to selectmen back in December and a public hearing was held at that time. During that meeting, the majority of those in attendance spoke against withdrawing. There are about 350 registered voters in the community, but a petition only needs to have 10 percent of those who voted in the last gubernatorial election.
On Saturday morning, an informational meeting was held at the town office and this time around the mood was decidedly different as many of those in attendance were in favor of withdrawing. The town’s board of selectmen have also gone on record as saying they are in favor of pursuing withdrawal because they feel there can be a cost savings to the town.
“This decision has not come lightly,” chairman Theron Bickford said. “The five of us selectmen sit around a table each month and, with the town manager, decide how we are going to spend your money to keep our town running.”
On April 14, a special town meeting will be held with polls open from 2-6 p.m. Residents will be asked to vote on the following question: “Do you favor a petition for withdrawal with the board of directors of Regional School Unit SAD 70 and with the Commissioner of Education, authorizing the withdrawal committee to expend $750 and authorizing the municipality, i.e. selectmen to issue notes in the name of the Town of Ludlow or otherwise pledge the credit of Ludlow in an amount not to exceed $3,500 for this purpose.”
Results of that vote will be announced at 6:30 p.m. that night.
The town of Ludlow currently does not have a board member on the SAD 70 school board since Laura Geiger resigned from the position several months ago.
Bickford said rising costs for the county, state and school as motivating factors in the push to explore withdrawing from SAD 70. Selectmen also expressed reservations about a loan that the school district was pursuing to pay for a number of upgrades to both Hodgdon High School and Hodgdon Mill Pond School.
Bickford also said on the municipal side of things, the town has a number of roads that are in serious need of repair, which could wind up being very costly for taxpayers.
During Saturday’s meeting, town officials stated it was time for them to “start thinking outside the box” to meet the educational needs of the students, as well as the expectations of the taxpayers.
There are 40 children in Ludlow, with 27 of those youths attending SAD 70 and 13 already attending RSU 29.
At the meeting, it was stated the town of Ludlow could save as much as $43,635 by leaving SAD 70 and joining RSU 29. Those figures are based on the current school year budgets. Predicting the actual cost savings, however, is difficult since school budgets differ from one year to the next and the 2016-17 school budget for both districts is only in the introductory stages.
The town originally petitioned the state to withdraw from SAD 70 in the spring of 2012. A public hearing and town vote were held where residents gave the go-ahead to start exploring the withdrawal process by a referendum vote of 67-36 on March 29, 2012.
Before that withdrawal process could continue, however, the state’s Education Department informed the town that the petition Ludlow submitted to first put the measure onto a ballot did not contain the required number of signatures. Therefore, the process was nullified.
To initiate a withdrawal process, a petition bearing the signatures of at least 10 percent of registered voters from the last gubernatorial election must be submitted. Ludlow submitted a petition bearing the names of 13 residents asking for the process to move ahead, but that turned out to be not enough signatures.
Later that same year, the matter was resurrected, and enough signatures were gathered to place the question on that year’s November ballot. At the polls, the measure failed by a vote of 79 “yes” and 150 “no.” Nearly 72 percent of the registered voters participated in that election.
Supporters of the withdrawal plan, in the past, expressed a desire to see the town withdraw from SAD 70 and join RSU 29. SAD 70 serves the communities of Amity, Cary Plantation, Haynesville, Hodgdon, Linneus, Ludlow and New Limerick. RSU 29 serves Houlton, Hammond, Littleton and Monticello.
Supporters of withdrawal believed the town could achieve a cost savings by switching school districts, but hard numbers for what that actual savings would be are difficult to predict because the savings would be based on a budget that has not yet been created.
Others expressed it was a personal preference to send their children to RSU 29 because, logistically, the school is closer, while others said it was for educational reasons.
