FARMINGTON – More than $600,000 has been saved and other ways to continue whittling down expenses keep developing as schools work with others schools or municipalities to keep costs down.

The ultimate goal is to put more money into the classrooms to improve student performance.

Some school districts are sharing staff, maintenance, food services, professional development and purchasing supplies or joining with towns to put out joint requests for proposals to get the best deal on fuel, grounds work, insurances and payroll.

The Western Maine Educational Collaborative, made up of several school systems, is continuing to find ways to save money, Executive Director Mona Baker said.

Savings are defined in multiple ways, she said. “It might be money or resource savings, and in other cases it could be improved programs for the same amount of money,” she said.

The work the group is doing is independent of school consolidation or reorganization and is in its third year.

And they keep coming up with ways to achieve their goals.

For example, now when there’s an employee opening it’s becoming common for superintendents to check with other districts to find out if there is a way to share services, Baker said.

“There is more conversation,” she said.

Ten school districts from Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties are getting together to look at library automation software systems. Some schools already have library inventories automated and want to upgrade or revamp what they have, while two school districts libraries are not automated and want to have their books and media collection computerized.

The system makes it easier to keep track of inventory and share books and other items between libraries, Baker said.

SAD 36 plans to offer a virtual high school class, Advanced Topics in Chemistry, in the fall, and there will be a way for students at other high schools to take the class in their own schools, she said.

There is a proposed initiative for a university public school, which would offer programming for high school seniors in specific disciplines.

There are focused courses offered by the University of Maine System at the entry level dealing with papermaking. Partners in the effort are Jay, SAD 9 in Farmington, SAD 21 in Dixfield, SAD 36 in Livermore Falls, SAD 58 in Salem Township, U-Maine, and Verso Paper in Jay. According to an WMEC information sheet, Verso Paper would pay for Kennebec Valley Community College courses for two years and offer two years of employment at Verso Paper. An estimated cost savings has not been determined.

A new daytime treatment program is planned for 2008-09 in SAD 52 in the Turner area designed to address the needs of students with challenging behaviors. The program will be done through collaborative schools so kids can stay in their communities. Partners are SAD 52 with tuition-in option for other districts.

SAD 36 and Jay, in partnership with Evergreen Behavioral Services, have a Crossroads Program to help students with behavioral challenges in middle and high schools. It is estimated to have a cost savings of $15,000 per student.

Each year new ideas are being explored and developed, Baker said, and the list of cost saving opportunities grow.