Waterford Memorial School, built in 1949, will close after the end of this school year. Its students will attend Harrison Elementary School. Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat

PARIS — Oxford Hills’ school board of directors voted Monday to merge Harrison and Waterford preK through sixth grade students into Harrison Elementary School and close Waterford Memorial School before the start of the 2025-2026 school year.

The decision comes as Maine School Administrative District 17 faces more than $1 million drop in state aid due to higher assessed local property values and declining enrollment.

Across SAD 17’s eight sending towns, property valuations have increased by a total of $433 million. Applied to the state’s calculation for essential programs and services (EPS), higher real estate values mean an increase of $934,000 to the local taxpayer share.

Maine Department of Education has eliminated another $110,700 in support because of declining enrollment in Oxford Hills.

Closing Waterford’s elementary school will help SAD 17 close its $1.04 million budget gap by $398,000.

District administrators are working on a budget that will bring additional cuts to instruction, facilities and extracurricular programs, including athletics.

While closing a second elementary school in Oxford Hills in as many years is being primarily driven by financial reasons, Harrison and Waterford students will see some benefits.

Currently, the schools share a principal as well as a special ed teacher and student services specialists – those staff will serve all students in one building instead of spending part of their days traveling between the two towns.

Currently WMS accommodates students between preK and second grade, while third through sixth attend HES. Having all students attend one school will ease transportation challenges especially for families with children in multiple grades.

WMS was built in 1949 with a capacity for up to 204 students. HES was built in 1987 for a capacity of 213. Seventy-three students are enrolled at WMS this school year and 107 attend HES.

The schools are part of a larger state-sanctioned consolidation proposal that calls for a new elementary school that students from Harrison, Waterford and Norway would attend. Voters from all eight of SAD 17’s sending towns will be asked to vote on building a new school in June of 2026.

If the referendum is approved, it will take approximately three years to complete the new school.

Harrison residents have already balked at the prospect of losing their community school and have formed a committee to investigate whether to secede from SAD 17.

The Harrison committee is actively researching its education options, but the community will not make any decisions until, at the earliest, the district referendum vote next year.

Given the uncertainty surrounding a broader consolidation, SAD 17’s school board is not likely to formally close WMS in the near future.