LIMESTONE, Maine — After Limestone officials accepted a petition to withdraw from RSU 39 and townsfolk collectively voted to appropriate $25,000 worth of surplus funds to hire an attorney to help guide them through the process, the next step is a public hearing at the Limestone Community School auditorium on Wednesday, May 3 at 6 p.m.
The catalyst for withdrawal was RSU 39’s recent vote to send Limestone’s High School students to Caribou in an effort to make up for a $1.4 million funding shortfall, which Superintendent Tim Doak said is primarily a result of Governor LePage making funding changes via the state budget as opposed to legislation. Moving Limestone’s high-schoolers will result in less than $1 million worth of savings, and the RSU will still need to make over $500,000 worth of cuts for the 2017-18 year.
The May 3rd meeting will include public comment on the petitioned referendum question for withdrawal, which will be on the Warrant for a May 16 election.
According to a notice from the town, the referendum verbiage will read: “Do you favor filing a petition for withdrawal with the board of directors of Regional School Unit 39 and with the Commissioner of Education, authorizing the withdrawal committee to expend $40,000 and authorizing the selectpersons to request funds from the Limestone School Reserve and to issue notes if needed in the name of the Town of Limestone or otherwise pledge the credit of the Town of Limestone in an amount not to exceed $40,000 for this purpose?”
