LIMESTONE, Maine — When Rob Constantine arrived at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics as the new executive director in July, he had a few broad goals in mind: recruit more students and urge state leaders to help Maine’s only public magnet high school thrive.
Five months into his tenure, Constantine has a greater understanding of the challenges he is facing.
Topping the list of problems to be solved is MSSM’s declining in-state student enrollment, which has decreased by 15 percent in the past two years, with more families reluctant to pay the residential school’s room and board fees.
Then there’s a flat-funded state budget and revenue loss during COVID that have left staff with fewer resources as expenses increase.
Last summer, a proposal to increase the school’s $3.6 million in state funding by nearly $2 million failed, resulting instead in a one-time allocation of $500,000 for the 2024-2025 school year’s budget.
Constantine became MSSM’s tenth executive director not long before school leaders heard news that LD 1458, the legislative bill that proposed more funding, would not cover $990,903 in annual room-and-board fees for students over the next two years and a 10-percent increase in teacher pay.
Faced with tepid support in Augusta, Constantine wants MSSM to forge stronger connections with state legislators and Department of Education leaders to better advocate for the school. Legislators from both sides of the aisle have already visited MSSM. School leaders want to visit Augusta more often to testify on bills that affect Maine education.
As the school creates a strategic plan, Constantine hopes to learn more from DOE leaders about Maine’s goals for STEM education and career opportunities. That way, MSSM can better tailor students’ experiences to future goals while still focusing on high-level academics, Constantine said.
“I’m really thinking about our overall partnership with the DOE and legislature, not just our physical presence [in Augusta],” Constantine said. “We also want to more actively share what’s happening here with them. We need to tell the story of MSSM better.”
MSSM has always pitched itself as a unique educational opportunity for students in Maine. Founded in 1994 by state statute soon after Loring Air Force Base closed, MSSM began as one of a few Maine schools offering advanced placement and dual enrollment courses for high school students at that time.
The school graduated its first class in 1996 after admitting high school juniors and seniors. It soon expanded to a four-year high school, becoming a place where high-achieving students could explore a curriculum beyond what their home districts could typically offer. Many alums now have careers in engineering, law, scientific research, education and technology start ups, according to the school’s website.
Constantine feels at home at MSSM. He spent most of his elementary and high school years attending private schools, allowing him to learn among teachers who supported and gave him more challenging environments, he said.
After high school, Constantine earned his bachelor’s degree in applied sociology and organizational analysis from the University of Rhode Island and his master’s in sociology from Emory University.
He spent 15 years in various roles at private boarding schools, colleges and high schools in New Hampshire and Maine. This included being associate director of development at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire, the country’s oldest boarding school; and vice president for advancement at Unity Environmental University in New Gloucester, Maine.
Prior to MSSM, Constantine was chief financial officer at the White Mountain School, a private, college-prep boarding school in Bethlehem, New Hampshire. He and his partner, Tess Woods, live in Limestone with their 12-year-old son and also have three adult children living in Maine and other states.
Constantine knew he wanted to become a school director and was impressed with MSSM students’ intellect and eagerness to learn among others like them, he said.
“Our kids are gifted and talented and there is a strong sense of community here,” Constantine said. “I call it an ‘intentional learning community.’ Our students are high achieving and highly motivated. They’re here because of the joy of learning.”
Enrollment at MSSM had traditionally remained steady at 120 to 130 students. That number is ideal, Constantine said, for offering more high-level elective courses while keeping class sizes small and the school community close knit.
But since COVID began in 2020, student enrollment has hovered just above 100, with 103 students in grades nine through 12 currently attending. As the pandemic worsened and school districts relied more on remote learning, many parents became reluctant to send their children to a residential school, Constantine said. Advance placement and dual enrollment courses are now more common in many public schools.
Lower enrollment has given the school $100,000 less in room-and-board revenue annually since COVID, said Marie Strouse, MSSM’s director of finance. The school also eliminated its international student program, losing $700,000 annually from 15 students who were paying the full tuition rate of $34,300. Maine students pay $9,800 for annual room and board fees.
The largest block of students today — 24 percent — hails from Cumberland County, while 18 percent are from Aroostook. Less than 10 percent of the remaining student population comes from Maine’s 14 other counties, including rural ones where low-income families struggle to afford room and board, even with financial aid.
“I think the biggest issues right now are funding for our school and affordability,” said Debbie Eustis-Grandy, MSSM’s Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics Division leader and longtime biology instructor. “A lot of parents hear about the cost and that deters them.”
Unlike traditional public schools, MSSM does not rely on the Maine Department of Education’s subsidy formula, which factors in local tax valuation. Instead, the school is funded through the state’s General Purpose Aid budget, which allocates money toward specialty schools and programs.
MSSM’s portion of that state budget has been flat-funded at $3.6 million since 2017 and has fluctuated from covering 40 to 70 percent of the school’s budget. The remainder of the school’s current $5.6 million budget is funded through tuition and room and board revenue, summer camp programs and donations made to the MSSM Foundation.
In this fiscal year’s budget, Constantine’s salary is $150,000. The school’s average salary for full-time teachers is $58,513, according to Strouse.
The school’s summer camp program for children has brought in $100,000 less in annual revenue since returning in 2021 due to a post-COVID enrollment decline. That and other revenue losses mean that the school’s budget would be stretched thinner today even if the state’s contribution increased, Constantine said.
Constantine and his staff have gotten creative while working within a strict budget. This past summer MSSM hired seven new teachers, a registrar and school nurse, but also combined many positions – including that of the admissions and summer camp director – to reduce employee costs.
To get more students to MSSM, Constantine wants to start more conversations with leaders at students’ home school districts.
“It’s hard for some of these smaller, rural schools to imagine sending away their best students. We need to figure out how to better partner with those schools so they feel connected to students’ successes here,” Constantine said.
