By Kerri Pepoy,Staff Writer

OXFORD – If state policy-makers follow through with their plan to boost the coffers of Maine’s Essential Programs and Services school funding program, SAD 17 could receive more money from the program in fiscal 2007 versus fiscal 2006, Mark Eastman, SAD 17 superintendent, said Tuesday.

“It has the potential to be better, but I’m not going to speculate until I see the numbers,” he said. Eastman should receive the funding numbers from the state in December and would then meet with town selectmen in January to discuss any possible impact on taxes.

Nonetheless, Eastman said he remains cautious about EPS, which is currently significantly underfunded and which allocates money to school districts using what Eastman claims is a flawed model that penalizes rural school districts while benefiting wealthier ones.

EPS is a complex method of distributing state aid. The state calculates the amount that each school system should spend to provide a basic education and awards money from there.

The new formula – approved last year – is set to be phased in over the next four years.

Eastman gave a presentation on EPS funding earlier this month to the annual conference of the Maine Municipal Association. His district did not fare well under the funding formula. SAD 17 gained only $226,148 in fiscal 2006, despite assurances from the state that the district would be getting much more. “We were told by state policy-makers we would be getting over a million dollars (gain) in fiscal 2006,” Eastman said.

Yet SAD 17 was the only district among the 15 largest school systems that fared poorly. The other 14 systems gained an average of $1.8 million.

Eastman said the most significant issue is that EPS is funded at only 84 percent, which serves to widen the gap between poorer school systems and wealthier ones. “They are funded at 84 percent of what they say the costs will be,” he said. “If they were funded at 100 percent, our calculations are that we would have gotten approximately $3 million more.”

The rationale behind EPS was to fund school systems at levels that would translate into tax relief for property owners by capping mill rates. But the program’s underfunding has so far made that difficult for several towns that are in SAD 17. Eastman oversees schools in Harrison, Hebron, Norway, Otisfield, Oxford, Paris, Waterford and West Paris.

“There’s no question if EPS was fully funded, you would see property tax relief,” Eastman said. However, the low level of EPS funding forced SAD 17 to try to garner support for a budget that translated into tax increases in some towns. Only Hebron, Paris and West Paris saw their taxes decrease.

Moreover, EPS is using a flawed funding model that penalizes large rural school districts, particularly in transportation, he said. A density model that is based on how many students can be picked up by a school bus in a mile helps determine allocations to school districts, ultimately benefiting urban districts that can show cost efficiencies by picking up a greater number of students in a shorter distance.

Eastman said that hurts SAD 17 because of the large rural area it covers. Bus drivers in SAD 17 travel 4,400 miles per day on rural roads around geographical obstacles that Eastman said can’t be adjusted for greater efficiencies.

“We cannot gather 25 kids at a time in one spot and go pick them up and then go somewhere else,” he said. “This model based on density really causes consternation to us.”

EPS also allocates a cost-of-living adjustment based on salaries and wages in school systems. Because salaries and wages are typically lower in SAD 17 versus more urban districts, the urban districts received higher cost-of-living adjustments because they are considered more expensive areas to live.

“The goal was set but they really didn’t take the time, or have the time, to look at the impacts on districts across the state,” Eastman said. “And they enacted it and then they tried to find where the problems were and did some Band-Aid stuff and it just so negatively impacted a lot of districts in Maine.”

State policy-makers have said the program will be funded at 90 percent next year and will be fully funded in 2009. Eastman said the economy in Maine would have to show marked improvement in order for that to occur or the state will have to make some hard choices, including a possible cutback in state services or cutting back on requirements it places on districts in order for students to achieve the Maine Learning Results, requirements that drive up costs for schools. “It’s got to come from somewhere,” he said.