Cost shifting expected during consolidation

16 years ago
By Deanna Jordan
Staff Writer

    Plans for the consolidation of local school districts were still being worked out and voted on during the RSU meeting which was held at the New Sweden school on August 28.     The big topic of discussion for the night was the cost of consolidation and what will happen to the different schools’ budgets when they are combined into one. It’s expected that there could be a lot of cost shifting occurring during the consolidation.
    Jake Clockdile, a consultant on school finance, made a presentation about the topic of Cost Sharing. Clockdile explained several options that the RSU could use to reduce the amount of cost shifting that might take place. His presentation focused on keeping the amount of money above the required amount that each district is currently contributing. Clockdile suggested using a combination of school population percent, resident population percent, and budget percent to perform calculations.
    Following the presentation, members of the RSU broke off into subcommittees to discuss the information given to them by Clockdile. Everyone then returned to the larger group to deliver brief reports about the topics their subcommittees discussed. Nothing was voted on, but members of the RSU hope to get much further into the consolidation process over the next coming weeks. In order to have a plan ready to go to voters in November, the RSU will now be meeting every week.
    The next RSU meeting will be held at Caribou High School on Thursday, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m.