DIXFIELD – Peru Selectman Jim Pulsifer wondered Wednesday whether SAD 21 has now fallen into a doughnut hole after previously serving as a poster child for the state when it attempted to consolidate with Peru.

He wondered that and many other things when he and a half-dozen other selectmen from SAD 21 member towns heard a presentation by district Superintendent Tom Ward on how things are going under the latest state mandate to administratively consolidate neighboring districts.

“I thought it was just for upper management, but it’s becoming one district. This has been really misleading. This concept should be thrown out,” Pulsifer said. “It was presented as sharing administrative costs.”

SAD 21 has submitted a letter of intent with the state’s Department of Education to try to consolidate with SAD 43 in Rumford, SAD 44 in Bethel and Union 37 in the Rangeley area.

Problem is, under the state’s current valuations, whichever district or districts agree to join with SAD 21 would be penalized by several hundred thousand dollars because of the uneven property valuations among the towns in the four school units. SAD 21 has low property valuations, while the others are valued much higher.

“We have to show due diligence in trying to partner,” Ward said.

Becoming a “doughnut hole,” which is a term for a district that does not partner for a variety of reasons, could be expensive for SAD 21 because the district would stand to lose a significant amount of state funding.

As it is now, Ward said, the district could potentially lose nearly $300,000 in state aid during the next school year budget because the state is already cutting back on subsidies for expenses for central offices, transportation, special education and building maintenance.

Also this year, he said the district will have to deal with its first payment on the Region 9 School of Applied Technology building and renovation project.

“This will be an extremely rough budget year,” he said. “We count on increased state funding to balance increased contract costs and utilities.”

Next year’s budget vote will also be done differently than in the past and will cost more to conduct.

Ward said part of the state consolidation mandate includes requiring every district in the state to act on school budgets through the budget validation process.

SAD 21 has traditionally held a districtwide meeting to vote on the budget. The new process calls for district residents to hold a meeting where they can change a budget line, then adopt a budget. Then, a few days later, residents in each of the district’s towns must adopt or reject that figure at a referendum. If voters turn the proposed budget down, then the process begins all over again with a new figure.

Although Ward said the monetary impact of not finding a suitable partner could be negative for SAD 21, he believes the state will find an answer to districts such as his that no one wants to partner with because of the unequal property valuations.

“They (the Department of Education) know there’s an issue. They know cost sharing must be equitable or there could be a whole bunch of doughnut holes. I’m confident they are working on it. The department emphasizes partnering with neighbors,” he said.

In the meantime, he said SADs 21, 43, 44 and Union 37 are searching for a facilitator to work with them. Once that is done, each district will name representatives to the regional planning committee, and public informational meetings will be held.

“We’ve really worked hard at sharing costs and personnel with SAD 43 and SAD 44. We’ve been a leader in the state. We were a poster child for the state when we brought our small district up to 1,000 with Peru. It’s frustrating,” he said.

Boards of Selectmen from Canton, Carthage, Dixfield and Peru will be kept up-to-date on the state mandate. Ward also asked them to consider naming representatives to the regional planning committee.