LIVERMORE FALLS — RSU 36 Superintendent Sue Pratt told the school board Thursday that the total savings from closing the middle school is estimated to be $578,434.65.

That is the amount taxpayers in Livermore and Livermore Falls would have to share if residents in both towns vote to keep the school open, Pratt said. That is on top of paying for a share of Jay Middle School.

“Livermore and Livermore Falls will still share the cost of the Jay school whether students are there or not,” Chairman Ashley O’Brien said.

Voters in all three towns including Jay, voted to consolidate school systems in January effective July 1.

RSU 36 directors voted on Feb. 7 to close the Livermore Falls school due to lack of need. The next step in the closure process was for Pratt to develop a cost analysis and summary and supporting information. It took three weeks to put the information together, she said.

She submitted that information on Monday to the Maine Department of Education and the towns of Livermore and Livermore Falls, Pratt told the board.

Selectmen in the two towns have 10 days to respond to the Department of Education to ask any questions, she said. Then the department has 10 more days to approve the school closure or not, she said.

The school board will meet at the end of the month to set the date for the referendum on the closure to go before residents in both towns. Pratt estimated in February that the vote could be conducted on Tuesday, May 10. However, it will be up to the board to decide once the state approves the plan.

If the voters decide to close the school, then middle school students would go to Jay Middle School, which is about 2 miles away. If they don’t vote to close the school, then the school remains open, Pratt said.

The $578,434.65 figure does not include teachers’ salaries, transportation or other factors, Pratt said.

According to Pratt’s analysis, $1.03 million was spent on instruction in 2009-10, the base year.

“Most of those costs would still be needed should the students transfer to another school,” she wrote. “Actual projected savings for instruction would be $122,911.05. The cost of administration would be a savings as would the staff for maintenance of the plant, which would include employee wages and benefits, $264,166.43.”

Closing the kitchen at the school would result in savings for the hot lunch program of $42,906.61, she said.

Under the cost analysis section for transportation, Pratt wrote that if middle school students went to Jay, new bus routes would be established to minimize the additional transportation.

It is projected that an additional 1,400 miles per bus will occur for about four additional buses or 5,600 miles per year, Pratt wrote.

Reductions in extra-curricular trips will occur with about one-third the cost for these trips. The annual school day busing will cost approximately $18,236, which is factored at $3.26 per mile multiplied by 5,600 miles per year, she wrote.

The $18,236 is the net added cost for busing.

The rationale for closing the building is that it is unnecessary and unprofitable to maintain, Pratt wrote.

Both declining enrollment and the antiquated facility with drastic health and safety issues warrant the closing of the school, she said.

“This coupled with the (Americans with Disabilities Act) issues related to a facility built in 1916 make this a building that is far from meeting current code and safety requirements,” Pratt wrote. “The building heat, electrical, and ventilation systems are far from reaching safety codes that exist today.”

In addition, the educational program space does not meet sound education requirements and are especially troubling for handicapped individuals, she wrote.

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