RANGELEY – SAU 37 Superintendent Phil Richardson wants the state to treat his rural district the same way it treats island districts.

“We’re unto ourselves. We’re islands in the sky,” he said Wednesday afternoon.

At issue is whether Rangeley and its member plantations must merge with another district as mandated by state law.

“We were considered isolated schools until 2003. We’re asking to be considered isolated schools again,” he said.

He said the Legislature may soon consider an emergency bill sponsored by Sen. Peter Mills, R-Skowhegan, and co-sponsored by Sen. Walter Gooley, R-Farmington, and others, that would allow SAU 37, SAD 12 in Jackman, and Union 60 in Greenville to each stand alone. He said the three are the only school units in the state, other than island schools, that had been considered isolated school units.

He said the three should receive exemptions from state law calling for school districts to partner with others.

SAU 37 worked with SAD 44 in Bethel for several months in the late autumn 2008 to devise a merger plan. When the proposal came to a vote in January, member towns in SAD 44 voted for the merger while members of SAU 37 rejected it.

Under current law, SAU 37 is liable for state penalties for not agreeing to a merger. The penalty amount is uncertain, said Richardson, although it had been estimated at nearly $80,000. He said that figure may have been reduced.

He and superintendents from other small school districts in the state are also taking steps to try to defer or eliminate penalty payments for not partnering with another district.

“Penalties would ultimately impact budgets and this is a tight budget year,” he said.

The Small School Coalition, which comprises superintendents of Maine’s small, rural schools, have been meeting to try to meet the law or find ways to become exempt.

The group should know within a couple of weeks whether its efforts to raise funds to hire a lobbyist are successful.

SAD 44, meanwhile, has petitioned the state Department of Education for permission to also stand alone.

SAD 44 Superintendent David Murphy has not received an answer to the request.