PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — On Nov. 6, Maine School Administrative District 1 residents will be voting on a $15 million bond package that would turn the current middle school into a pre-K to 8 school.
The board of directors voted 15-2 Wednesday evening to put the proposal to voters, three years after beginning a “right-sizing” process to explore ways to bring the district’s footprint of five school buildings in line with today’s lower student enrollment.
After analyzing a range of ideas, the administration and board settled on adapting the middle school into a pre-K to 8 school as the best option for both education and long-term costs. Built in 2005, the middle school is the district’s newest school, but is operating at around two-thirds capacity.
If the bond package is approved, MSAD 1 would close and Zippel Elementary and Pine Street Elementary, which is currently operating at full capacity but needs at least $4 million in maintenance.
Assistant superintendent for business Clint Deschene and consultant Oak Point Associates put together the analysis for the $15 million bond package.
Deschene said that spending $15 million on the pre-K to 8 school will allow the district to reduce its costs and tax requirements over the next two years. With the current schools, the district would still have to borrow $11 million for repairs and maintenance, including for roof repairs at Pine Street.
The $15 million bond package would require an initial increase in MSAD 1’s tax commitment, but “our costs will go down over the next 16 years,” Deschene said, referring to savings from maintenance, operations and energy costs that would be realized. “It’s more costs in year one. By year five it gets lower.”
Today, MSAD 1 operates on 11.35 mills of local property taxes, and if the current school layout remains the same, the mill rate would likely increase around 8 percent to 12.3 in 16 years, he said.
With the pre-K to 8 school, the district’s mill rate could be brought down as much as 20 percent, to between 9.7 and 10.1 in the same time frame, he said.
In the first year of a bond, the estimated mill rate would be 12.55, compared to 12 without a bond, according to the proposal. By year 5, the mill rate is estimated at 11.7 under the proposal, compared to 12.08 otherwise.
Deschene said adapting the middle school into a pre-K to 8 school also would have the benefit of positioning Presque Isle High School for state funding for a new high school in the next round of state construction funding. Presque Isle High School ranked 21st in the state in terms of overall need in this year’s state construction list, which means it stands a good chance to qualify for state funding but likely not until or after the late 2020s, Deschene said.
MSAD 1 will now hold three public hearings on the bond package in October, when district officials can listen to ideas and concerns from the five member communities, including about several open questions that the plan raises. The school system serves Presque Isle, Mapleton, Chapman, Castle Hill and Westfield.
One issue would involve the fate of the Pine Street and Zippel properties if the bond package passes. Under state law, the district must offer the buildings and land to the home community, but Presque Isle wouldn’t necessarily have to take over ownership.
Deschene said that demolishing the two buildings would be expensive, at a cost of around $1 million each, and that money is not included in the bond package.
Board member Paul Saija said that having the district pay to demolish the buildings is an unlikely “worst case scenario.”
“I think the city could be interested in Zippel for city hall,” he said, referring to the city of Presque Isle’s long standing need to move out of its aging municipal building
“I suspect they might refuse Pine Street, because it needs so much work. But it is a good 7 acre piece of land in a good area.”
MSAD 1 superintendent Brian Carpenter echoed that point, saying that the Pine Street property could be attractive to a developer interested in building new housing in one of Presque Isle’s residential neighborhoods. “The property itself would be worth more than the building.”
