LIVERMORE FALLS – Consolidation talks have broadened in SAD 36 as school systems scramble to pick partners in hopes the state will accept those choices rather than mandate what districts will buddy up in education.

SAD 36 Superintendent Terry Despres said he expects picking partners will happen within a 30-day period.

“We’re not waiting for the world to come to us; we’re exercising it now,” he said.

Each school system has different ways to do budgets, receive revenues, fund school operations and have different teacher contracts, among other differences.

“This is not a simple, ‘We’re going to consolidate and go to a dance.’ We’re going to have to be careful choosing partnerships,” Despres said.

Some SAD 36 board members have already met with Jay and Winthrop boards separately and are planning joint meetings next week.

The public meetings will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 28, at the Winthrop Multi-Purpose Building below the grade school and at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 29, at the Cedar Street Complex in Livermore Falls.

The discussions will continue from one night to the next, SAD 36 Chairman Ashley O’Brien said.

The district is also in discussion with SAD 52 in Turner and with Fayette, Despres said, and there has been an inquiry from a northern direction.

“Anything is probable in this environment,” he said.

There are 288 school systems in the state, and the idea is to get them down to 80 school districts, he said.

Board Vice Chairman Fred Nadeau said they had a very positive discussion with Winthrop, but there is really not a lot that can be done until they find out what is going to happen at the state level.

One possibility is to have four high schools in the same system targeting different programs such as a math and science school, trades school, performing arts school and an alternative education school, Despres.

“I welcome it as a real opportunity to broaden what we deliver and not just at the high school,” he said.

Districts that don’t move are going to find themselves at the short-end with the state choosing their partners for them.

Despres said the magic number for a school district is most likely going to be 2,500 students.

Jay and SAD 36 combined don’t meet that population figure and neither does SAD 36 and Winthrop.

Even without the consolidation efforts, some changes will need to be made in SAD 36 in the next school year, most likely the last year the district will remain as is, Despres said.

The state won’t fund buses for single-run bus systems – meaning all students will be going to school at the same time and riding buses together – so SAD 36 will have to revert back to a two-run system, he said.

He won’t ask the taxpayers to pay for three buses without state help, he said.