POLAND — The Regional School Unit 16 board of directors on Monday selected a former acting deputy commissioner of the Maine Department of Education as the facilitator of the Cost Sharing Committee for the towns of Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland.

Suzan Beaudoin retired in 2018 after 31 years of service in the state Department of Education, including serving as the director of Finance and Operations and supervisor of School Funding and Governance.

In her role, Beaudoin will work with the committee to gather information on the current cost-sharing method for funding education in the three towns and consider the concerns of municipal officials, educators and the public.

The committee will develop a plan of action if changes are to be made. Any change has to be approved by a majority of the nine committee members. If a change is approved, then it has to go to voters of the three towns as a referendum vote.

Town managers from Mechanic Falls and Poland, and Minot’s town administrator must select two residents and one school director from each of their respective municipalities to serve on the nine-member Cost Sharing Committee.

The Poland Select Board had formally requested the school directors review the formula.

The current formula is based on 90% town valuation and 10% student count. The formula only pertains to the funds raised by the district above the state funding amount given to the district for Essential Programs and Services.

Of the current $28.4 million budget, the cost sharing formula was applied to expenditures of $4.6 million.

A Maine Department of Education news release stated, “Beaudoin attended Augusta public schools and earned her B.A. degree in public administration at the University of Maine. She has served on and or staffed numerous commissions, study groups, and task forces.”

She was on the board of the Maine Health & Higher Educational Facilities Authority, and is regarded as an expert on Maine’s Essential Programs and Services funding.

Beaudoin is currently a consultant and assisted on the cost funding formulas for School Administrative District 28, which includes Camden and Rockport, and Regional School Unit 5, which includes Durham, Freeport and Pownal.

The estimated cost of hiring Beaudoin as facilitator is $7,250.

In other business, directors moved to modernize the heating and ventilation system at Minot Consolidated School by 2026.

The directors want to conduct open discussions at public forums so the best financial approach for modernization can be employed with public knowledge.

A $10.2 million master lease program was approved earlier in the year as a financial remedy to update all three elementary schools’ heating and ventilation systems, but that was tabled in July due to public outcry that taxpayers were completely left out of the decision making process.

The directors may consider the master lease program again, but feel that open discussions with the public are necessary.

The directors want a comparison between the lease program and a bonding option to be explained thoroughly to learn which is the better financial route for the district.

In another matter, Superintendent Amy Hediger informed the directors that according to official reports, the incident involving a school bus going off the road in Minot on Oct. 22 was due to “operational failure.” She didn’t elaborate except to say the county’s district attorney is investigating.

Sixteen out of 43 students on the bus were injured, none seriously, according to officials.

Following the incident, the school bus was inspected and declared totaled due to a crack in the frame.