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| Savings from SAD44/SAU37 consolidation calculated |
| By Alison Aloisio |
The estimated direct cost saving in a merger of SAD44 and SAU37 is $59,000 for the first year, a consolidation planning committee learned last week.
The savings estimate is for a new, combined school system, known as a regional school unit (RSU).
Residents in the two current systems will vote Jan. 27 on a merger plan completed last week by a Regional Planning Committee (RPC).
As part of the plan, the two current central superintendent offices would be combined into one.
The $59,000 in savings would result from the potential reduction of 1.5 full-time positions and from reductions in the areas of rental space, dues and fees, liability insurance and employee bonding, supplies and board contingency budgets.
But the total cost savings is significantly higher when the “avoidance” of a financial penalty from the state for not consolidating is factored in.
The savings for not having to pay the penalty is $299,349 for the combined systems, making the total savings for the first year $358,349.
The figures were calculated by Jake Clockedile, a facilitator for the planning process.
SAD44’s current budget totals just over $10 million.
Penalty “secondary”
The idea that the state requires the penalty to be factored into the cost savings did not sit well with some RPC members.
“That really bothers me,” said Rob Welch of Rangeley. “When I stand in a public meeting and they’re asking me, ‘Where are the cost savings?’ I’m going to point that out. I know my audience — being a former selectman in Rangeley — they’re going to go crazy over that.
“They’re going to say it’s a lie, it’s manipulation, and they’re going to be furious about it. The real savings in all of this in the first year is $59,000. The penalty is a secondary issue, at least for the voters I know. I think it’s a really important point that people need to understand.”
Estimating savings beyond the first year or two would be “a shot in the dark,’ Clockedile said.
Salaries to increase?
Also factored into the cost analysis is the potential for “leveling up” teaching and other staff salaries and benefits.
Because the two current salary and benefit scales differ, new agreements would be negotiated after the existing ones expire.
Clockedile’s numbers are based on bringing the lower pay scales up to the higher ones.
Teachers’ salaries in Union 37 are generally higher than SAD44, according to SAD44 Supt. Dave Murphy.
But the pay scale for SAD44 support staff is higher than in Union 37, he said.
Clockedile’s figures show the leveling up for teacher salaries to cost approximately $94,000. Benefits would cost approximately $68,000.
For support staff, the wages would cost $63,000, with no significant adjustments needed for benefits.
But Sid Pew of Andover said no one should assume the compensation will automatically increase.
“The union’s perspective is that all the salaries are going to go up,” he said.
But Maine school management lawyers, said Pew, “are saying, ‘You have this new RSU. Everything you’ve had for an agreement before is not binding on this new RSU, and you start with a blank sheet.’
But, Pew added, the wages might still be pushed to the higher levels.
Local committees defeated
The RPC also voted against the formation of local school committees.
A new school board will oversee the new system. But SAU37 representatives, concerned about local control, asked that the plan provide for local committees to have some powers, as long as their actions do not conflict with the larger board.
The planning committee voted 12-8 against the proposal.
The vote was not by roll call, but it appeared that the 12 nays came from the SAD44 members and the yeas from SAU37.
SAU37 members said they believed the local committees were needed to convince their voters to pass the plan.
The plan does allow for the formation of local committees after three years, with approval of the RSU board.
Another state facilitator working with the RPC, Bill Cumming, noted that members of the new RSU board may meet directly with their constituents to get input.
The selling begins
The final vote to accept the consolidation plan was unanimous.
Murphy praised the effort, saying that overall the group had worked well together.
And, he said, “If we can’t sell this, then we’re going to be doing it again with somebody else [i.e., other existing districts], and chances are, in both of our situations, with a much bigger organization.”
A public hearing for the SAD44 area will be scheduled for mid-January.
On Monday, Nov. 17, the SAD44 School Board is expected to vote on the plan.
That role, however, is largely a procedural formality. Directors will vote simply to acknowledge receipt of the plan and authorize Murphy to send it to the Commissioner of Education for approval.
School committees in SAD44 tuition towns Upton and Gilead were scheduled to take the proposal up this week or next. |
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