Withdrawal requires careful consideration
Kennebunkport may have caught the withdrawal
bug.
At a selectmen’s meeting there two weeks ago, Vice Chairwoman Sheila Matthews-Bull said the town will likely be looking into getting out of Regional School Unit 21, as Arundel is now considering.
A petition containing nearly 380 signatures was submitted to Arundel Town Hall earlier this month to get the withdrawal process rolling there.
While we can see the concerns on all sides of the issue, we caution Kennebunkport and Arundel to proceed with caution, as the marriages of school districts are often dysfunctional relationships.
Arundel has said the costs of the RSU are too much, and with proposed Kennebunk High School renovations, tax bills will be too high.
But
townspeople should keep in mind that high schools in this state are aging and
expensive to replace – no matter their locations. Currently, Biddeford High
School is undergoing $34 million worth of renovations and the high schools in
Wells and Sanford are in need of expensive renovations or replacement as
well.
While Kennebunkport and Arundel may feel they are getting a raw deal, many other towns feel the same way.
Ogunquit has been trying to pull out of the Wells-Ogunquit Community School District for decades, and its most recent attempt – in the form of a bill before a Maine legislative committee – failed.
Ogunquit has less than 5 percent of the student population, but pays about 20 percent of the district budget. In his bid to get Ogunquit out of the district in December 2009, then state Sen. Peter Bowman, D-York, said, “The approximate cost per student to taxpayers in general is around $8,000 per student, and in Ogunquit, it’s closer to $80,000 per student.”
Taxpayers in Kennebunkport have made the same argument. At that recent selectmen’s meeting, Matthews-Bull said Kennebunkport pays $13,500 per KHS student, while Kennebunk pays $11,500 per student.
At a selectmen’s meeting there two weeks ago, Vice Chairwoman Sheila Matthews-Bull said the town will likely be looking into getting out of Regional School Unit 21, as Arundel is now considering.
A petition containing nearly 380 signatures was submitted to Arundel Town Hall earlier this month to get the withdrawal process rolling there.
While we can see the concerns on all sides of the issue, we caution Kennebunkport and Arundel to proceed with caution, as the marriages of school districts are often dysfunctional relationships.
Arundel has said the costs of the RSU are too much, and with proposed Kennebunk High School renovations, tax bills will be too high.
While Kennebunkport and Arundel may feel they are getting a raw deal, many other towns feel the same way.
Ogunquit has been trying to pull out of the Wells-Ogunquit Community School District for decades, and its most recent attempt – in the form of a bill before a Maine legislative committee – failed.
Ogunquit has less than 5 percent of the student population, but pays about 20 percent of the district budget. In his bid to get Ogunquit out of the district in December 2009, then state Sen. Peter Bowman, D-York, said, “The approximate cost per student to taxpayers in general is around $8,000 per student, and in Ogunquit, it’s closer to $80,000 per student.”
Taxpayers in Kennebunkport have made the same argument. At that recent selectmen’s meeting, Matthews-Bull said Kennebunkport pays $13,500 per KHS student, while Kennebunk pays $11,500 per student.
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