BELFAST - Residents of Searsport and Stockton Springs on Tuesday raised questions, aired suspicions, and above all appealed to the Regional School Unit 20 board of directors not to close the Searsport District Middle School and High School complex. The venue was a public forum on three plans that would consolidate and reorganization the district in an effort to save money.

Stagnant or decreasing state aid and rising costs have led to property tax increases over the past three years that have averaged above 10-percent in RSU 20’s eight municipalities. According to Superintendent Brian Carpenter, these tax hikes will likely continue apace unless the district can dramatically cut costs.

In November, Carpenter released a slate of seven plans that the school board has since narrowed to three. Each would close schools and cut teachers and support staff. A rough financial analyses presented last week, and again on Tuesday night, indicated that two of the plans would save money — in the range of $1-2 million. The third would cost the district an additional half-million dollars per year.

Unfortunately for residents of Searsport and Stockton Springs, the more expensive plan, dubbed “Course of Action 5,” or “COA 5” in district literature, is the only one in which the Searsport District Middle School and High School complex would remain open.

The discussion on Tuesday was framed by old divisions between the former Searsport-based School Administrative District 56 and Belfast-based SAD 34. The districts were merged in 2009 under the umbrella of RSU 20 as part of a statewide push for school consolidation. However, consistent with the state mandate, only the central administration was truly merged. The new district retained middle and high schools in both Belfast and Searsport, and in other ways the former districts have maintained separate identities.

According to many who spoke on Tuesday, budget cuts that came in the years after the consolidation have fallen disproportionately on the towns of the former SAD 56. Frankfort left the district last year after several battles to over closing the town’s elementary school, and Stockton Springs Elementary School was recently reduced to a Pre-K program with K-5 students relocated to Searsport and the only remaining elementary school of the former district. 

As one citizen told the board on Tuesday, “It feels like your turn.”

Many saw the potential closure as a sucker punch by a district largely steered by Belfast’s interests, and several speakers questioned whether the plans were calculated with a bias for Belfast. Carpenter said the figures came directly from school principals and staff. Others saw closing the Searsport complex as squandering a local resource given the relatively recent renovation of the building and innovative programs at the schools.

Amid a presentation that was focused on money, some residents asked: What about the students? Carpenter said the financial review was one of three prongs in a process that would also take the effect of the consolidation plans on education into account.

Stockton Springs resident Jeff Davis asked the board for a straw poll on whether the directors were getting a sense of outrage from the audience.

Searsmont director Valerie Mank said what stood out the most in comments was the idea of “them and us.” She related how she had attended schools in both former districts. “I feel like I want to call them Waldo County kids. I feel like I make decisions for all the kids,” she said. “But as a Searsmont taxpayer, I’m done.”

Searsmont residents saw a spike in their share of school district costs two years ago due an increase in the town’s valuation. Mank said taxes forced her to put her house on the market and considering moving to Waldo where taxes are lower. She added that she has trouble looking her fixed-income neighbors in the eye.

“So, I hear you,” she said. “But there are a lot of taxpayers struggling.”

Attention turned away from divisions of the former school districts several times. Belfast director Stephanie Wade credited Gov. Lepage’s $150 million income tax cut with the trickle-down austerity from state the years since.

During Tuesday’s forum, there were many calls to go back to the drawing board. The board has been on a fast track in hopes of making a final decision by February 23, a date recommended by Carpenter as the latest the board could wait and still implement a consolidation plan for the coming year.

Still, a number of speakers on Tuesday were not satisfied with any of the choices. 

Jess Connor of Searsport proposed having one upper level school in Searsport and one in Belfast, rather than let the resource of the Searsport complex go to waste.

Board chairman Tony Bagley said Connor’s idea was similar to a previous proposal — under former superintendent Bruce Mailloux — that was abandoned after a strong community outcry.

“There’s an outcry now,” Connor said.

When the idea was brought up later by another resident, Connor asked Bagley, half-jokingly, what it took to kill the last consolidation plan.

“What do we have to do to annoy you so much that you won’t do it?” she said.

Bagley said all forms of communication were encouraged, but ultimately each representative would vote based on information he or she felt was valid. His sentiment was echoed by other board members.

What’s ahead?

Carpenter said he learned on Friday that the state is anticipating a $9.6 million curtailment, of which roughly $175,000 to $200,000 would be cut from state aid to RSU 20.

Adding to the complexity of the consolidation plans is what would happen to any school buildings that were not being used by the district. According to Carpenter, using the buildings for anything but educational purposes would run afoul of a bond provision and incur a 5-percent tax on interest from the state. The buildings would have to be sold at market value, even to the town.

“It’s not going to be for a dollar like Frankfort was,” he said. The tax, he said, might scare away potential private buyers.

Carpenter warned that waiting to consolidate could have major consequences. In addition to having to weather two budget cycles with the potential of continued double-digit percentage tax increases each year, Carpenter saw the demographics of the district shifting away from families and toward retirees who might not be as invested in the schools.

Belmont director Steve Hopkins saw another pitfall of inaction. 

“When we decide to do nothing, we will have a whole other group of people here,” he said. “It won’t be the people who want to keep the schools open, it will be the tax payers who don’t want to pay for it.”

The RSU 20 board of directors is planning additional public forums in each municipality. As of Tuesday no additional forums had been scheduled. Details of the three consolidation/reorganization proposals can be found on the RSU 20 website.

Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com