JAY – Selectmen voted Monday to have the $40,000 raised by voters in April for adult education go to the SAD 36 Adult Education program as of July 1.

Selectmen agreed the voters’ intent was for the money to go to the SAD 36 program, which Jay was formerly a partner in. Jay residents voted a couple of years ago not to fund the town’s share.

The article appeared in the Jay school warrant in April as required by law with no amount to be raised.

Voters amended the article to raise $40,000 for adult education after residents decided a program was needed to support workers losing their jobs.

SAD 36 Adult Education Director Carrie Castonguay of Jay spoke during that meeting and said she still serves Jay residents. She also noted that 33 percent of those enrolled in the program are Jay residents.

Livermore and Livermore Falls residents raise a combined total of $79,500 for that program, she had said.

Jay residents decided to split that amount and raise $40,000.

However, there was no specified program the money should go to listed in the warrant article.

Jay School Committee Chairwoman Mary Redmond-Luce said in April, after the vote, that a resident asked her which program the money was going to because some Jay residents also attend SAD 9 Adult Education.

It was left up to selectmen to decide.

Jay Town Manager Ruth Marden said that Jay School Superintendent Robert Wall would like to see the money split between both programs.

Marden requested enrollment information from directors of both programs.

According to SAD 36 data, the program served 115 Jay residents in 2006-07, 44 residents in 2007-08 and 59 residents from July 1, 2008, to Jan. 31, 2009, for the summer and first semester with 5,607 contact hours.

As of March, enrollment in the overall program was up 159 percent.

When Jay opted out of the SAD 36 program, one teaching position and one three-quarter time support position had to be eliminated, according to Castonguay.

“This reduction eliminated our ability to provide community programming and some learning center based classes,” Castonguay wrote.

Since 2003-94, 81 Jay residents have passed through SAD 9’s program, according to that district’s information.

Currently there are five people from Wausau Paper’s Otis Mill enrolled in programs but there was no determination of what town they were from.

Twenty-six people from the mill had attended a program put on for three days in December, the information states.

Castonguay also said she was at the mill last week and did 56 test assessments for workers who will lose their jobs when the mill closes this month.

Discussion at the April school budget vote was centered on the SAD 36 program and no other program was mentioned.

Selectmen said they believed the intent was for the money to go to SAD 36.

“I didn’t know there was any other program,” Selectman Steve Barker said.