NEWRY — Selectmen asked the town administrator Wednesday night to draft a letter asking the acting commissioner of the Maine Department of Education not to support a bill that would prevent Newry from withdrawing from School Administrative District 44.
State Rep. Fran Head, R-Bethel, wrote to acting Education Commissioner Robert Hassan Jr. on Jan. 24, asking him to support her bill.
The letter to be drafted by town Administrator Amy Bernard will make three key points:
• The bill would unconstitutionally take away the town’s right to vote, especially, Selectman Jim Largess said, since Newry clearly had an “out” clause when they entered the district in the 1960s;
• There are differences between the withdrawal of Frye Island from School Administrative District 6 and Newry’s potential withdrawal; and
• The commissioner will be asked to make a statement against the bill.
In her letter, Head said the two withdrawals were “nearly identical,” but Newry resident Brooks Morton said that isn’t so.
“Frye Island — their attempt was to get out of paying any school tax to any district, but that’s not the intent of Newry,” he said. Newry proposes paying tuition for its students to attend SAD 44.
The withdrawal effort began in June 2014 when Newry Withdrawal Committee Chairman Jim Sysko circulated a petition that led to a town vote of 82-60 in September 2014 to leave.
Since then, a series of proposals and counterproposals have been offered, including changing the cost-sharing formula so Newry paid less and Bethel, Greenwood and Woodstock more.
The formula is based 100 percent on property valuation, which has Newry paying about $3 million of the $9 million annual budget.
The proposal to change the formula to 90 percent valuation and 10 percent student population for fiscal years 2017-18 and 2018-19, and an 85-15 split for 2019-20 was rejected by district voters in November 2016.
Since then, Newry has continued with the withdrawal process, proposing to pay tuition to send its 25 students to SAD 44 and additional money as agreed upon with the district.
Last month, longtime Bethel resident Scott Cole advised the committee he contacted state Sen. Lisa Keim, R-Dixfield, and Reps. Head and Johhn Madigan, D-Rumford, to ask them to consider submitting a bill to the Legislature to stop the withdrawal.
The committee has rejected such a move.
Selectman Gary White requested that Bernard draft the letter and send it to selectmen for approval “sooner rather than later.”
Selectmen also set voting hours for municipal elections March 6 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Town Office. The offices to be filled are:
• Selectman/assessor/overseer of the poor for three years;’
• SAD 44 director for three years; and
• SAD 44 director for two years.
On March 7, there will be a potluck supper at 5:30 p.m in the Town Hall, followed by the annual town meeting at 6:30 p.m.
