By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

BETHEL – Towns in SAD 44 will be exempt from a new cost-sharing formula that would have drastically altered who paid what for school services.

On Jan. 20, the Maine Legislature passed a bill containing language that allows towns in SADs 44 and 6 to retain their current cost-sharing formulas. In SAD 44, that means the towns of Andover, Bethel, Greenwood, Woodstock and Newry will continue to pay for schools based on property valuations.

SAD 6 includes Buxton, Hollis, Limington and Standish.

SAD 44 Superintendent David Murphy said Wednesday that he is relieved by passage of the bill, which also is intended to increase the state’s share of education costs, reduce property taxes and reduce government spending.

“We still, like many other school districts, are going to have to scrutinize our budget, so we’re not out of the woods yet,” he said, making reference to other changes in school funding and program requirements expected to begin taking effect this year.

Without passage of the bill, SAD 44 would have been subject to a cost-sharing formula based on a combination of property valuation and pupil counts from each town. The formula, which was passed into law last year and will go into effect July 1, could have resulted in a $1 million school-budget cut for Newry, which is property-rich and has few students, Murphy has said. Other towns in the district would have had to pick up the difference.

The legislation that exempts SAD 44 from the new cost-sharing formula is receiving mixed reviews.

In Greenwood, Town Manager Kim Green hasn’t been able to complete the town budget because of questions raised by the cost-sharing issue. Now she hopes to have her numbers in line shortly.

However, Greenwood Selectman Wayne Hakala expressed frustration over the school funding issue in general. “I think we ought to have more (local) control,” he said. “I think it would help because Augusta is just not showing any leadership.”

Bethel Town Manager Scott Cole called SAD 44’s exemption from the new cost-sharing formula “good public policy.” The passage of the bill, he said, “guarantees that properties of the same value, anywhere in the five towns of the school district, will be taxed at the same level for school purposes. That is the premise upon which SAD 44 was formed.”

But, Cole pointed out, other towns in the state will be affected by the new school funding formula soon to take effect.

Sen. Bruce Bryant, D-Dixfield, helped develop the language exempting SAD 44 from the new formula. He said he still has “deep concerns” about the law, and has requested the Joint Standing Committee on Education look into the matter further.