Withdrawing from Regional School Unit 14 could cost Raymond taxpayers an additional $500,000 to $2.8 million annually, according to a study by the Raymond Withdrawal Committee.

During a withdrawal committee public hearing Tuesday, Committee Chairman Joe Bruno said the town contributed $8.5 million to the Regional School Unit 14 budget this year, and is projected to contribute between $8.3 million and $8.7 million next year. Under the committee’s projections, Raymond residents, who will vote June 9 on whether to continue the district withdrawal process that started last fall, would pay between $9.2 million and $11.1 million annually if the town withdraws from RSU 14.

“I think it’s going to be a big tax increase if you go out on your own,” Bruno said. “If someone realizes they are going to pay $200 to $300 more on your average house in Raymond to pull away from the RSU, that’s going to be a concern,” he said.

Following a lopsided vote in March to approve a new school district cost-sharing formula that increases taxes for Windham residents and reduces Raymond’s burden, members of the Raymond Withdrawal Committee indicated they would move to prematurely end the withdrawal process. At the town meeting on June 9, voters will weigh in on a question that could end the withdrawal effort: “Should the RSU withdrawal committee continue the withdrawal process?”

In a 3-1 vote meant to informally gauge sentiment, the withdrawal committee recommended that the town end the withdrawal process. Committee members Bruno, Kaitlin Lacasse and Jennifer Moore voted yes, while Teresa Sadak, the withdrawal effort’s longtime champion, voted no. Sadak said the withdrawal process should continue in order to educate Raymond voters more about the pros and cons of withdrawal.

“I think Raymond needs to see what it would be like, not just money wise, but everything else to stand alone,” she said. “It’s not just about the money, and that’s what Joe thinks it is. It’s also about local control, local say, and also about not being consolidated.”

Sadak declined to say whether she supports withdrawal.

“I said to move forward on it just to see how much more we can find out,” she said.

According to Bruno, who has been skeptical about the idea of withdrawal from the outset, a $250,000 Raymond home could see an annual tax increase between $200 and $600 annually as a result of withdrawal – reason enough, he said, to dissolve the withdrawal process. Yet if Raymond residents vote to continue the process on June 9, Bruno said he will interpret it as a vote for withdrawal, not for more information.

“If the town votes to keep going forward, we’re withdrawing,” he said. “If I’m going to serve on this committee and I’m negotiating withdrawal contracts, negotiating with a school district and saying, ‘You’re going to take our kids at what price?,’ negotiating with teachers and saying ‘What’s a new contract look like?’ – that process has already sailed.”

“Since the beginning, I’ve not thought it’s a good idea,” he added.

To calculate the cost of withdrawal, the committee extrapolated numbers from the last Raymond school board budget prior to district consolidation, and adjusted them to account for inflation, Bruno said. In the year prior to consolidation, which occurred in 2008, Raymond paid $8.5 million for school costs, according to Bruno.

At the Tuesday public hearing at the Raymond Elementary School, attended by about 40 people, most speakers did not send a very strong signal either way on the withdrawal question, aside from former and current school board members, who strongly urged against district dissolution.

Doug Kerr, a teacher at School Administrative District 15, said he wanted to prioritize the quality of education above financial considerations.

“Personally, I think we have a very low mil rate for what we get,” he said. “I don’t mind paying less. However I don’t want to affect my kids’ education to try to save a buck.”

Erin Dulac, of North Raymond Road, complained about the length of bus rides and also suggested that the cost-sharing formula should be based on student population, not property valuation.

“Fair is you pay your way, right?” Dulac said. “They’ve got three times as many children as we do. We should only pay a quarter. I don’t get it. My other complaint is the fact that, middle school kids, it takes them an hour to get home on the bus.”

“That’s absurd,” she added.

Diana Froisland of Raymond, the vice chairwoman of the RSU 14 school board, said the cost-sharing formula is fair.

“Basing it on valuation is the fairest way to look at it, because it’s your ability to pay. If we did it by student population, you’re correct we don’t have as many students, but their argument would be that they’re paying for half-empty schools, which isn’t fair,” she said.

“I am against the withdrawal,” Froisland added. “I think if you’re guessing at a budget ranging from $9 million to $12 million, first of all I’m sure you can’t look at me with a straight face and say the citizens will pay for that, because I don’t think they will. So if they won’t approve budgets like that, what does that mean for our schools? It means cuts. It means closing schools and it means cuts.”

On March 25 at the Windham High School auditorium, district residents voted 167-22 to approve the new cost-sharing formula, which also changes the way the district funds capital improvements, such as renovations and new school construction. According to Windham Town Clerk Linda Morrell, 160 Raymond residents and 30 Windham residents participated in the vote.

Concerns about Raymond’s contribution to a proposed new middle school in Windham provoked Sadak’s effort to begin the withdrawal process from the district. Under the new cost-sharing formula, if the district builds a proposed new middle school strictly for Windham students, Raymond taxpayers would not fund the project. Sadak has described the new formula as a “huge,” positive development for Raymond residents.

Assuming that expenses and incomes remain at current levels in coming years, district administrators estimate that a $250,000 home in Windham will see a $51 tax increase as a result of the new formula, which is based on a ratio determined by averages of each town’s property valuation for the previous three years. School taxes on a $250,000 home in Raymond will decline $90, according to the projection. The tax modifications will be phased in during a three-year period, starting in fiscal year 2016.

Raymond Withdrawal Committee members, from left, Kaitlin LaCasse, Joe Bruno and Teresa Sadak, listen as Catriona Sangster, the former chairwoman of the Regional School Unit 14 school board, expresses opposition to withdrawal from the district at a public hearing Tuesday.Staff photo by Ezra Silk