PARIS – Officials expressed concern Tuesday night that under the state’s school consolidation plan, SAD 17 towns might be penalized for being too fiscally efficient.

During a 90-minute presentation from Maine Department of Education consultant Don Higgins about how the consolidation plan will work, local officials and residents were told that to reduce the state’s education aid by $36.5 million, local school districts will take a financial hit in areas such as transportation, special education and facilities and maintenance.

“That’s going to be a challenge,” said SAD 17 Superintendent Mark Eastman, whose district is already $500,000 under what the Essential Programs and Services allows. “You take another 5 percent off how will that not effect classrooms?”

Close to 50 people from the 15 towns representing SAD 17 in Oxford, SAD 39 in Buckfield and Union 29 in Mechanic Falls were at the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School to hear the presentation.

The ramifications of the complex and comprehensive law are still being ironed out, said Higgins, a former school superintendent who is traveling the state to inform school districts about the plan. But officials made it clear that one of their major concerns is how the plan will affect budgets and how that will affect services to students.

“You’re penalizing a school that’s efficient,” said Mark Cyr, chairman of the Otisfield Board of Selectmen of the state’s intent to reduce state aid in certain areas by a percentage of the district’s budget. “If we had known this we would have inflated our budgets two years ago.”

Under the law passed by the Legislature earlier this month, school districts have until Aug. 31 to submit a notice of intent with the Department of Education that states if they are going to reorganize and who they are looking at joining. Although SAD 17 appears to be exempt from the reorganization mandate because its has a student population of more than 2,500, school officials have been looking at whether it would be a positive move to have SAD 39, which must reorganize due to its 600-size student body, join the district.

The consolidation plan recommends, but does not mandate, the merger of SAD 17 and SAD 39 (Buckfield, Sumner and Hartford). The two already share some programs, such as adult education, and will share the services of a superintendent for a year.

Higgins said SAD 17 could file a notice of intent that it will file an alternative plan, rather than a reorganizational plan, which must be approved by the commissioner. Reorganization requires a majority vote of registered voters in all school districts involved. Financial penalties will be placed on districts that do not conform to the law.

The law was enacted in June to ensure that schools be organized as units in order to provide “equitable educational opportunities, rigorous academic programs, uniformity in delivering programs, a greater uniformity in tax rates, more efficient and effective use of limited resources, preservation of school choice and maximum opportunity to deliver services in an efficient manner,” the Department of Education has stated.