MINOT – School officials have begun the administration consolidation process with outright dread. Dread that begins at $200,000 a year.

“There’s way more to it than just looking at administration, way more involved than just dropping a number of administrators,” said School Committee Chairwoman Lisa Sabatine.

Sabatine said that according to preliminary figures prepared by School Union 29 Assistant Superintendent Marc Gendron, the least expensive scenario wherein Minot splits off from Union 29 and, by itself, joins with Auburn, would drive up Minot’s overall school cost more than $200,000.

That scenario, with only Minot joining Auburn, was probably the least likely of the options Gendron considered to become reality.

The other possibilities would all cost Minot more than $200,000 a year, according to early calculations. Those possibilities include all three Union 29 towns, Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland, joining Auburn as the state department of education redistricting map suggests; Union 29 joining with SAD 15 in Gray-New Gloucester; or with SAD 39 encompassing Buckfield, Sumner and Hartford; or simply dissolving the union to form a three-town regional school unit.

“These early numbers are speculative and any merger would involve plenty of negotiation, balancing town property valuations and student enrollment numbers to what makes the best sense for everyone, but there’s no question it’s going to cost Minot and cost Minot plenty,” Sabatine said.

According to Sabatine, the worst scenario – and one that will not happen because SAD 39 is headed toward joining with SAD 17 in Oxford Hills) – showed that joining with Buckfield, Sumner and Hartford could cost Minot something approaching $1 million per year.

To put this situation in perspective, Minot voters just approved a $3.8 million school budget for next year. The budget includes $133,668 as Minot’s share to run the Union 29 superintendent’s office and, of that, $47,000 pays for the superintendent, assistant superintendent and business manager.

“That’s a tremendous bargain. How could we possibly get those services for much less?” Sabatine added.

According to Sabatine, Minot’s problems are Minot’s own doing; the town is a victim of its overall prudent fiscal policies.

“This isn’t just about administration cost. Consolidation will also mean new contracts for teachers, support staff, bus drivers, everybody, as well as new programs, and the problem is Minot has been so frugal,” Sabatine said.

Indeed, there is a big disparity just within Union 29 towns.

For comparison purposes, in K-8 teacher contracts, Step 14, master’s degrees top step with no percentage add-ons, Minot pays $38,010; Mechanic Falls pays $38,025; and Poland pays $44,153.

If Union 29 dissolves and is replaced by a regional school unit with the same three towns, teachers in all three towns would be covered by one contract. “As towns and districts join, the highest contract will tend to be the norm. It will be hard for teachers to accept a contract for less pay. Therefore, you likely will settle by raising contracts at lower paying school to meet the higher scale in the new district,” Gendron noted.

Sabatine pointed out that contracts for support staff and bus drivers in the three towns follow the same pattern, with Poland running high.

And then there is the education of high school students.

Presently, Minot contracts, and for 11 more years will contract, to send its students to Poland Regional High School. By state law, Minot pays Poland at the state average tuition rate of $7,617 per pupil, but according to the state web site, the actual per-pupil cost at Poland Regional High School is $9,848.

Sabatine noted that there are huge unanswered questions on what will happen with existing tuition contracts all across the state, and he said it is anybody’s guess how they will be handled.

“I don’t see any way any of this is going to save Minot money, and we certainly will lose control over the education of our kids. Like most small towns, we have been fiscally responsible. What we now pay (for the superintendent’s office) is reasonable but what we’re entering into now, all I can see is costs going up,” Sabatine said.