OXFORD – The SAD 17 Board of Directors is expected to vote today on a plan that would bring SAD 39 Superintendent Richard Colpitts to SAD 17 as a half-time assistant superintendent next fall.

“This is a way for us to save money in both districts,” SAD 17 Superintendent Mark Eastman said Friday.

If approved by both school districts, Colpitts will continue to serve as superintendent of the 600-student district in Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner but spend half his time in Oxford as assistant superintendent. The SAD 39 board is expected to vote on the issue Wednesday night.

The plan would be in place for a year, Eastman said. “We’ll get two-thirds of the way through the year and ask ourselves if this is an experiment that saved both school dollars and how did it work.”

Sharing costs is nothing new for the two districts. Eastman said in 2003, SAD 17 approved a resolution to identify ways to cooperate with SAD 39 and save money. That vote led to a number of successful initiatives including purchasing heating oil and, in a more limited way, purchasing paper. The adult education project, bus repairs, diesel fuel purchase and limited bus maintenance also occurred as a collaborative effort.

“Since that time, it’s been, ‘Let’s see if there are other ways to save money,'” Eastman said.

Colpitts, who was not available for comment late last week, would be paid between $43,000 and $45,000 for the SAD 39 half-time position if it is approved. The previous full-time assistant superintendent was paid $83,000.

A school consolidation plan proposed by the state will also be on tonight’s agenda. Eastman said he hopes to present the latest information to the board of directors. A new “select committee” has been formed to look at the comments from the Appropriation Subcommittee’s recent plan to reduce the number of school districts statewide to 80, he said.