BATH — At a meeting of the Regional School Unit 1 board of directors slated to begin at 6 p.m. today at Bath Middle School, Superintendent Patrick Manual will share a new legal opinion obtained by the five-town district about whether administrators have correctly interpreted legislation regarding cost sharing of local funds among the communities.
Manuel said this morning that the district retained attorney Bryan Dench of Auburn firm Skelton, Taintor & Abbott to weigh in on the matter after Woolwich officials questioned the formula used to determine each community’s contribution to the district’s annual operating budget.
RSU 1 educates students from Arrowsic, Bath, Phippsburg, West Bath and Woolwich.
Manuel declined this morning to share Dench’s opinion, noting that he wished to discuss it further with Dench today.
Asked if the opinion could affect the costsharing formula for the 2012-13 district budget, Manuel said, “It could. The board will discuss the letter and will decide, as a board, what they do.”
The district was created in 2008 through special legislation known as LD 910, prior to other school consolidation agreements in the state.
Soon after the creation of the district, the board sought a legal opinion on “vague” language in LD 910 in order to determine how to apply a “one-third” formula that calculates cost-sharing based on one-third property valuation, one-third pupil population and one-third overall population, RSU 1 board chairman Tim Harkins said last week.
When two differing opinions emerged, the board voted to accept an interpretation of the law that suggested the district apply the one-third formula to the local additional appropriation, and has done so ever since, Harkins said.
In 2013, the district must raise $17.3 million in revenue, and 88 percent of that — $15.27 million — is slated to be raised according to the state formula used by all districts, RSU 1 business manager Ruth Moore said last week.
Barring a change, the $2.1 million local appropriation will be raised through the unique RSU 1 “one-third” formula, according to Moore.
Woolwich officials raised questions about the legality of the formula after the proposed 2013 budget called for the town to experience an increase of nearly 10 percent, while the other four communities in the district expected to shoulder far lower increases — or in Phippsburg’s case, a slight decrease.
Among other agenda items the board will consider during tonight’s meeting are:
— Public forum on the proposed 2013 budget
— Report on the curriculum development and review process
— Report from the Woolwich Building Committee
— Report from the Finance Committee
The board will meet at 6 p.m. at Bath Middle School.
bbrogan@timesrecord.com
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