BUCKFIELD — A committee tasked with negotiating the town’s departure from RSU 10 is expected to bring outlines for two withdrawal proposals at its meeting next month.
According to committeewoman Judy Berg, two proposals are going to be submitted and one will be chosen as a platform for negotiating with the school district’s board of directors.
In June, Buckfield residents voted to establish the committee and withdraw from the 12-town district. The four-member committee was established in September.
One idea is to consolidate Buckfield’s elementary, middle and high school students into the Buckfield Junior-Senior High School, Berg said. The school serves middle and high school students from Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner.
The three towns formed SAD 39, which was merged with districts in Dixfield and Rumford in RSU 10 as part of a statewide school consolidation law in 2009.
Berg said she was unsure whether an integrated K-12 school would require Hartford and Sumner students to move to a different school or whether the town would need to hire outside academic administration.
A second possibility is contracting with another school district to provide education for some or all of Buckfield’s students, according to committee Chairman Glen Holmes.
“This is about providing access to education efficiently,” Holmes said.
“I think RSU 10 offers a tremendous amount of opportunity, but due to the simple fact of distance, it makes it hard to deliver sometimes.”
Committeewoman Cheryl Coffman intends to outline the contract plan while Berg plans to come up the single-school proposal.
The committee is waiting on the outlines before meeting with negotiators from the RSU 10 board.
“Nothing is worked out yet,” Berg said.
Supporters of withdrawing from RSU 10 have said the cost of education is too high in the district and Buckfield students do not receive the level of education that was advertised when the town joined RSU 10.
According to RSU 10’s 2013-2014 budget information, Buckfield residents were assessed $1,037,127 in education taxes, the third highest in the district. With roughly 302 students, the town has the district’s fourth-highest student population.
State law requires the committee to negotiate an agreement with the RSU school board 90 days after it is formed, but Buckfield is already nearing that deadline and has received an additional 90-day extension from the Maine Department of Education.
If the committee can work a deal with the RSU 10 board, the agreement must be approved by the state education commissioner and may be subject to changes before it is presented to residents for a vote.
At its meeting last week, committee members agreed to have the proposals prepared for a meeting Dec. 4 but Berg doubts there will be enough time to get plans together by then.
Holmes, however, said he would like to see a draft plan on time and begin negotiating with the RSU 10 board next month.
“Personally, I want to see this happen efficiently and effectively, but at the same time I don’t think it should take a year to happen,” Holmes said.
pmcguire@sunjournal.com
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