BELFAST - It may sound like a bureaucratic koan, but with each of the eight municipalities of Regional School Unit 20 pursuing withdrawal from the district in some form, it seems fair to ask: 

If every town leaves a school district, is anything left?

The scenario is still officially far-fetched. The Department of Education only recognizes withdrawal bids in towns that have approved the issue by referendum. When Penbaypilot.com posed variations on the eight-town withdrawal scenario to DOE’s Samantha Warren recently, five had done so in RSU 20. Swanville subsequently approved the measure, becoming the sixth.

Searsport and Stockton Springs officials have signed off on petitions collected in a whirlwind signature campaign last month and have indicated that referendums are forthcoming.

But even if voters in those towns formalize their withdrawal bids, Warren said the likelihood of all eight crossing the finish line is very small.

“It’s important to remember that of the 335 Maine towns in RSUs, ultimately, only nine have successfully gone through the withdrawal process,” she said. “And in most cases, they’ve discovered that many of the core challenges that led to their withdrawal remain even after they’ve separated.”

Warren listed separately six other towns in which withdrawal bids completed last fall are slated to take effect July 1.

Of the eight municipalities in the state have tried and failed, six were part of an all-or-nothing bid to leave RSU 20 that came to an abrupt end last June when voter turnout at the final validation referendum failed to meet statutory minimums.

Five of those towns are on back the DOE’s radar. If they are able to successfully withdraw, Warren said RSU 20 would continue to exist as the administrative entity for the remaining towns. The district would be required to honor withdrawal agreements with the five that left, and also Frankfort, which withdrew from RSU 20 district in 2012.

“Given the challenges some of those communities have had in even getting turnout in past votes on this matter,” Warren said, “it is somewhat of a leap to imagine a scenario in which all eight of the towns would end up withdrawing at the same time.”

If they did, an additional leap of imagination might be needed.

To date, Warren said, no RSU has pursued dissolution because all of its member towns withdrew. She added that the law governing withdrawal does not specifically address what would happen to an RSU if all of its member towns left. “Nor does it allow for a dissolution of an RSU,” she said.

Warren said it’s likely that at least one town would be left, and Maine has several single-town RSUs, in Orono (RSU 26), Madison (SAD 59), and as of July 1, Old Orchard Beach (RSU 23).

Cold feet 

Last fall, when RSU 20 officials introduced a slate of consolidation plans intended to save the district money, some withdrawal supporters questioned what would happen if leaving the district was judged to be worse than staying.

Local withdrawal committees have mostly operated as though a final referendum on withdrawal is inevitable. But Warren said the referendum that officially starts the process does not legally obligate the committee to finalize a withdrawal agreement and bring it to a public vote.

“The accountability to keep the process moving forward thus comes not by statute, but likely from the citizens of the community,” she said.

She gave the example of Buckfield where citizens are poised to vote for a second time on whether to stop the withdrawal process before completion. Alternately, she said, voters could reject whatever proposal comes forward.

From the perspective of the DOE, she said, an organized split, like the one that failed last year, would be preferable to having eight towns trying to start separate school districts. Ultimately, she said, the DOE believes “the current configuration [of RSU 20] can be effective and efficient in serving students and stewarding tax dollars.”

“We support efforts that produce savings and increase efficiencies and innovations while allowing tax dollars to be focused in the classroom,” she said, “and these regional district units can really foster that, if towns are willing to work together.”

Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com