JAY — RSU 73 Superintendent Robert Wall said Thursday that the district is doing everything the Reorganization Planning Committee set out for it to do in the consolidation plan in 2010.

“I believe we have made significant progress on the goals set by the RPC,” he told the school board.

The plan was approved in January 2011 by voters in Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls. Jay and RSU 36 consolidated on July 1, 2011. The final version of the plan can be viewed on rsu36.org. It is located down in the bottom right corner. There are also meeting minutes and the Transition Committee minutes on the website.

The plan supports the concept of providing enriched learning opportunities for students in all three towns.

The potential opportunities listed in the plan include: greater opportunities for students to pursue multiple career paths that involve higher level coursework; a realistic course/class load for teachers in core subjects will result in more student attention; better use of staff with multiple certifications and endorsements; more abundant courses in the visual and performing arts; the opportunity for early college coursework; and greater virtual coursework offerings.

Everyone in the district is working toward the goals, Wall said.

He also pointed out the section of the plan that the estimate of cost savings to be achieved by the formation of a regional school unit and how these savings will be achieved: “Cost savings will be realized over a period of years,” Wall read from the plan. “The immediate transition period will more than likely produce budgets that are greater than currently paid for each member town.”

Key components of cost savings include staff attrition; reorganizing and reducing staff; combining classes at realistic teacher/pupil ratios; moving from two superintendents to one; combining business services in one location, eliminating redundant supervisory positions and combining students in central locations by closing schools as needed.

A number of these have already been accomplished, Wall said, including having one superintendent and an administration complement below the state’s funding essential programs and services formula.

“It is anticipated that cost savings that are significant and measurable will not be realized until there is discretionary authority to modify or close buildings, relocate the student population, and adjust the employee complement,” Wall read.

One school has been closed and students from Livermore and Livermore Falls will be in their second year of attending the Spruce Mountain Middle School in Jay this fall.

“We started the process with the middle school,” Wall said. “We have realized significant cost savings.”

“Although the efficiencies are hard to quantify, it is estimated that approximately $300,000 will be saved in the third year of operation through the application of the economies listed” in the document, the plan states.

The district already has realized much more than $300,000 in savings, Wall said, and will continue to do so as work continues.

It was a misnomer that it would lower taxes, he said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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