FARMINGTON – A small gathering of people reviewed plans for the proposed Western Mountains Regional School District Tuesday during a SAD 9 school consolidation public hearing at Mt. Blue High School.

A referendum on the merger proposal will go before voters in SADs 9 and 58 and Coplin and Highland plantations on Nov. 4.

A reorganizational planning committee of 45 members created the plan over the past year, Ray Glass, school board chairman, told the audience. The plan would unite the districts and plantations into one regional school district by July 1, 2009, if accepted by voters.

School boards in both districts voted earlier this fall not to support the plan. The SAD 58 board voted 7-1 and SAD 9 voted 13-1.

Collaborative efforts of the two districts have already seen success in sharing teachers, technology and other personnel positions, Superintendent Michael Cormier said.

While touted as a cost-saving measure by the state by bringing nearly 200 school districts down to 80, consolidation does not provide significant savings for these two school districts.

“It’s difficult to project any cost savings at this time. It’s hard to find any savings,” Glass said.

The plan hit a snag in August when the committee discovered the cost of consolidation put SAD 9 at a disadvantage. State funding formulas based on property valuation and population would shift the major portion of cost above state funding onto SAD 9 towns.

The smaller SAD 58 district has paid amounts above state funding itself to maintain smaller class sizes and smaller schools. Fear of that changing created opposition to the plan from that school district, Cormier said.

Regardless, the committee took the task seriously and gave it the diligence it deserved, Glass said.

“If voters approve the plan, we would work hard to make it work, but it’s difficult to support it,” Glass said.

Acceptance of the plan hinges on district-wide votes. In SAD 9, for example, the votes of the nine member towns will be tallied as a whole. Some towns could reject it, but a majority of voters in all of the towns combined could pass it.

If the plan is rejected, school boards would have to apply to submit an alternate plan, Cormier said. Without an alternate plan, SAD 9 could face fines up to $400,000 during the first year.

If voters reject the plan, the board would go to work immediately on a plan that would leave SAD 9 to stand alone as a district. With the district’s student population, Cormier does not expect fines to be imposed. A minimum of 1,200 students is needed to stand alone; the SAD 9 student population is about 2,300, he added.

Cormier endorsed continuing to collaborate with SAD 58 and other school districts in the region.

Voters were encouraged to learn more about the consolidation plan by visiting the SAD 9 Web site at http://www.msad9.org