PARIS – SAD 17 officials said Tuesday night that they are willing to talk with SAD 39 about a merger, but first they must be assured that financial barriers will be addressed before voters are asked to weigh in on the decision.

The stipulation leaves SAD 39 in a tenuous position, Department of Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said. After a 2-hour talk, she advised SAD 39 officials to continue to explore options with other districts.

While Gendron said she fully understood the problem, there appeared to be no resolution available to the penalty that SAD 17 could face, or other financial issues, before the state Legislature reconvenes in January.

Because school districts’ merger plans are due on the commissioner’s desk by Dec. 1, SAD 39 officials from Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner seemed to agree they have no choice but to look in another direction.

SAD 39 Superintendent Rick Colpitts said after the meeting that he expects the reorganization committee to meet soon and agree to reach out to Union 29 in Mechanic Falls, which has already begun merger talks with SAD 52 in Turner.

About 100 town and school officials, and residents from SAD 17’s eight towns in Oxford Hills and SAD 39’s three towns, met with Gendron at the Paris Elementary School in an attempt to see if SAD 17 would consider talking with SAD 39 about a merger.

“Yes, we want to continue conversations, but we have to have assurances that barriers can be overcome,” SAD 17 Superintendent Mark Eastman said after school officials in his district caucused for nearly 30 minutes to decide whether to continue entertaining SAD 39 officials in a possible school consolidation.

The merger was once touted by state officials as a role model for successful school consolidation, but was dismissed by many local officials in later months as not financially feasible. Tuesday night’s discussion failed to resolve how to overcome what may be at least a $1 million hit by SAD 17 taxpayers if the merger occurred, and brought to light more financial penalties by the state if SAD 17 voters were asked and then failed to agree to a merger.

In August, SAD 17 directors voted to stand alone rather than merge with another school district because of the significant financial ramifications to taxpayers of Oxford, Norway, Paris, Hebron, Otisfield, Harrison, Waterford and West Paris. The directors filed a letter with the Department of Education requesting permission to file an alternative plan that would allow the district to remain in its current configuration rather than merge with another school district, but Gendron said she hoped the two districts could find a way to continue discussion about a merger.

“Remove the barriers. Then we’ll talk,” said SAD 17 board Chairman Ron Kugell during the caucus of SAD 17 officials.

While not wanting to give SAD 39 officials “false hope,” as Eastman put it, SAD 17 officials said they could not put taxpayers at financial risk and therefore had no choice but to ensure the financial issues could be resolved before agreeing to discuss a merger.

Gendron, who said she called the meeting to act as a “broker” for SAD 39, said she will meet with school officials in both districts next week to continue to try to resolve the financial barriers caused by differences in Essential Programs and Systems spending by both schools as well as contractual issues and a host of other financial problems that officials say would impact SAD 17 taxpayers by more than $1 million.

Districts must submit their reorganization plans by Dec. 1.

By Dec. 15, the commissioner is expected to approve the plans or return those that do not meet the requirements of the reorganization law.

Voters must approve the plan by November 2008.