CHESTERVILLE — Citizens for Common Sense Education will hold an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, at the Town Hall.

The group of residents from Regional School Unit 9 towns meets monthly to discuss school issues, and to monitor the school budget and the state’s participation in education, moderator Robert Millay said.

A former educator for 35 years, Millay is one of the original organizers.

Members are not only concerned about school funding and costs to taxpayers but are also concerned about changes in education and the quality of it, he said.

On Sunday, the group of nearly 40 active members plans to share information it has gathered, he said.

They will have displays, graphs and posters about the school system over the past decade or so: budget trends, special education needs and a comparison between local and statewide incomes, he said.

While the school budget has gone up, the student population has gone down, Millay said.

“We are trying to control a runaway freight train,” he said of the rising school budget over the past 20 years.

Some members have met informally for nearly four years, he said. Over the past two years, the group has met monthly in members’ homes.

The group includes former school board members, former teachers, legislators, doctors and farmers, he said. He said the group often hears from teachers and parents concerned about the system.

Comments are not available on this story.