BUCKFIELD — About a dozen people stood up Aug. 18 to make the case that being in a larger school district has resources that a smaller district wouldn’t have, and would have less to offer students with fewer teachers.

The plan by Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner to withdraw from Regional School Unit 10 based in Rumford faced strong pushback by Nezinscot region residents during the public hearing at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School, held as the district prepares for the Nov. 3 referendum vote.

“I was the IT person here for 23 years. I just retired 10 months ago,” said Jay Hansen, first at the podium. “Since we joined RSU 10, we’ve put technology (in classrooms) from pre-K all the way through grade 12. …. And as far as I’m concerned, the best thing we ever did was to join RSU 10.”

Among several key issues, residents questioned the conclusion by the withdrawal committee that the burden on property taxpayers would be reduced.

“I’d like to know a couple of things,” said Peter Warwos, of Buckfield. “One is whether in this projection of what the mill rate would be, (have you) included any inflation in the local town budget, apart from the school budget?”

Other questions focused on the services the district may provide.

“Is the education service center included in the annual budget that you guys projected,” asked Audra Trenoweth, a special education teacher and Buckfield resident. The education service center is a regional public organization that helps local school districts operate more efficiently, save money, and improve student learning.

Withdrawal committee member Neal Austin said those details haven’t been figured out yet.

“So, right now the the budget that we’ve built is based on what we can actually, you know, put our hands on, because we’re not having the opportunity to be a part of an ESC (educational service center), we can’t actually put numbers in there that include that.”

The first of several students to speak was Ava Carsley, a senior at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School, who focused on some of the negative effects withdrawing would have on education.

“While I love Buckfield school, we are already limited on resources we have for the students due to finances,” Carsley said. “Our programs already face low budgets, putting a choke hold on what students have access to. One example of this is our music program. This past year, I auditioned and was accepted into the All State Music Festival. … I was unfortunately almost not able to attend because our school did not have the funding to pay for my tuition for the program.”

Carsley said her family was able to pay the tuition price, but others were not so lucky.

“For some of my classmates, they had to drop out as the price was too high for their families,” she said. “By pulling out of the district, our programs that already lacked funding will suffer even more, limiting your children to the learning opportunities they have.”

As a child of two teachers, Carsley said she knows the struggle will go deeper than the classroom.

“By leaving the RSU 10 district, our teachers would face serious budget cuts, not only in their programs, but also in their salaries, forcing many to find new, more financially stable jobs,” Carsley said. “In rash cases, districts struggling with funding have to cut teachers altogether. As someone whose family’s main source of income is teaching, this not only affects my education, but also my personal life.”

Some residents asked if other options were considered before withdrawal.

“If we are struggling with being heard in RSU 10, what were the other options that were on the table before withdrawing?” asked Iva Damon, of Buckfield. “Have we talked about renegotiating? Who is sitting at the table and how many people? What were all the other opportunities or possibilities that we could have had with keeping our partnership with RSU 10 before we’re walking away?”

A LONG PROCESS

Superintendent Matt Gilbert provided some background on the withdrawal process up to now. He said that Hartford, Sumner and Buckfield have formed their own committee and they meet together as a collaborative to work through the withdrawal process.

“We’ve had several meetings working with the members of the withdrawal process with both administration and other school leaders within RSU 10 to try to make sure that this is as smooth a process as possible,” he said. “And in an effort to make sure that we’re working together because whatever the outcome is, we want to make sure it’s good for kids.”

The withdrawal plan had to be submitted to the state at the end of June, and it got approved on a conditional basis, Gilbert said. “There are still some other steps like this meeting that we need to go through in order to get that final approval,” he said.

There are technically three separate agreements, he explained.

“There is a separate agreement, but essentially an identical agreement, in the withdrawal agreement between RSU 10 and each of the three withdrawing towns,” Gilbert said. The RSU 10 board has approved the withdrawal agreement as has each of the withdrawal committees.

Gilbert said that if the withdrawal is all approved, Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner would form a new regional school unit rather than operating as three separate districts.

“It’s an all or nothing condition as well, meaning that the withdrawal becomes effective only if all three towns approve their withdrawal agreement,” Gilbert said. “So, each one of the three towns needs to have a majority vote in favor of withdrawing.”

If even one town chooses to not leave RSU 10, then the withdrawal process ends and three communities remain in RSU 10.

Gilbert said each town will hold another hearing on the referendum question. These hearings must occur at least 10 days before the Nov. 3 vote.

The withdrawal would be effective June 30, 2027, the last day of the current fiscal year, and the new RSU would become operational at that time. The new RSU would have to elect a school board, develop and approve its 2027-28 budget, transfer assets and liabilities, and hire a superintendent and a business manager. Withdrawing towns would not participate in RSU 10 budget work in the spring of 2027.

“There were just complaints made, concerns within the voting base about the fact that there are decisions made on a regional level that don’t seem to impact our communities the way some of the voters here feel like they should be made,” said Austin, of the withdrawal committee. “The second thing is escalating annual budget increases, local priorities within our three towns not always being the top priority.”

Committee member Erin Hinkley, of Buckfield, who also serves on the RSU 10 board of directors, said more than 40 municipalities have successfully withdrawn from RSUs and organized school districts since the 2007 initiative.

“Overall, we have seen a 62.48% increase since 2017, which is about $17.3 million over that course of time,” Hinkley said of a 10-year budget analysis.

“If you withdraw based on the budget that we’ve built, based on the information that we’ve got so far, you know, you’re looking at less than $500 increase to your taxes, give or take,” Austin said. “So, if people vote in favor of withdrawal, what happens next? … I just feel like it’s important for people to understand, you know, local control doesn’t just mean making this decision and walking away from it.”

Austin told residents that withdrawal could be an opportunity for the community to be more involved.

“You know, more people would need to step forward to join on to serve on the board, join committees, volunteer, attend meetings, take interest in what’s going on, help shape budgets, and and so many other things,” he said. “But, you know, when you see the people sitting at the front of this room who have worked to get us to this point, that vote that you cast in November needs to have follow through with it if you were to vote in favor of withdrawal.”

The committees for the three towns remain in the negotiation phase and have not finalized the withdrawal agreements.

Austin said upcoming withdrawal committee meetings will be on Sept. 8 in Sumner at 6 p.m., Sept. 15 in Buckfield at 7 p.m., and Sept. 22 in Hartford at 6 p.m.

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