Editor’s note: The Tri-Town Weekly asked each side of the withdrawal debate to provide an explanation of its position. This represents the anti-withdrawal point of view.

It will cost the taxpayers of Freeport more to run a Freeport-only school system.

The stand-alone budget for Freeport, based upon the 2014-15 operating budget, and using the same template and assumptions used by the Withdrawal Committee in its analysis, produced a $274,000 revenue shortfall at full enrollment and a $907,000 revenue shortfall if enrollment decreases by as few as 60 of the 190 Pownal and Durham students now attending the high school. It is fair to say that some of the loss from the decreased number of students will produce expense savings. However, the rest will have to be made up by either cutting programs or by raising taxes. Proponents of withdrawal talk repeatedly about wanting to equalize pay with surrounding districts in order to keep great teachers and to be able to hire a quality superintendent. Will we be able to afford to do that when we become the smallest school district in Cumberland County?

My wife and I moved to Freeport in 1972 and we have lived here since. We raised two children who were educated in the Freeport public schools. Our kids got a very good education here. However, when our children entered high school (at that time, approximately 320 kids), we found the number of students were just not there to support both quality and quantity of programming. We would ride around town in the evening looking for new construction and hoping that the new construction would bring families with children of high school age in order the bolster the enrollment numbers.

Now we have a high school of approximately 510 students, with 135 students from Durham and 55 from Pownal, and we offer many and varied programs and activities. From all accounts the young people from the three communities have adapted well to each other at the high school and have created a real school community.

Unfortunately, after 25 years there are still only about 320 Freeport students at the high school. With the exception of the newly formed Casco Bay High School in Portland (275 students and growing), there is only one high school with enrollment of less than 500 in Cumberland County. Even with the Pownal and Durham students, we are the third-smallest high school in Cumberland County. Will we soon have the dubious distinction of being the smallest public high school in Cumberland County? Small high schools, without an infusion of substantial dollars, are neither cost-effective nor comprehensive.

In Maine, we live in a time of declining enrollments statewide. We are also surrounded by top-performing high schools such as Falmouth, Greely and Yarmouth, not to mention our neighbors to the north, Brunswick and Mount Ararat. Further, there are excellent private schools in our area that are options. In addition, we have charter schools that have taken a number of our students out of the RSU 5 system. Why, in this environment, would we consider turning our backs on Pownal and Durham by exiting from the RSU and risk losing 185 high school students in the process? If we exit RSU 5, parents of Pownal and Durham students will have in effect, school choice. They will be able to choose from the many options available in the area.

RSU 5 Better Together believes that the enrollment decrease over the next five years will be greater than the 60 students assumed in the financial analysis. If that is the case, there will be an even larger revenue loss than the $907,000 projected. The issue boils down to a simple question. What will happen to our enrollment if we withdraw from RSU 5? In our view, if enrollment drops, we will lose part of that critical mass of students we need for a truly comprehensive high school. If enrollment drops, we also lose revenue and once again the more we lose, the more it will cost the residents of Freeport financially. We are at risk of not being able to provide quality programming and pay competitive salaries. We will then be faced with cutting programs and/or raising taxes, or both.

Freeport should not withdraw from RSU 5. With new leadership in the administration and the high school, we can all focus on building upon the very good academic foundation that the RSU has established.

The negative consequences associated with withdrawal are too risky. We have a very good system and we can make it better. But, we need to try harder at working cooperatively with our partners in this effort. We do not want to gamble with enrollment numbers. Please don’t vote for withdrawal. It’s a chance we don’t have to take. Vote no.

By Fred Palmer, former Town Council chairman and school board chairman, on behalf of RSU 5 Better Together, which includes Rod Regier, Kristina Egan, Alan Caron, Betsy Peters, Pat Palmer and many other parents and residents.