BRUNSWICK
With an eye on an increased state subsidy and more purchasing power, the Brunswick School Department is looking at joining the Greater Sebago Education Alliance Regional Service Center.
Brunswick councilors heard the department’s pitch Monday about the benefits of becoming part of the current group of 10 school districts. The collaborative also would provide teacher training and help generate ideas to improve the districts’ work.
The partnership includes Gorham, Scarborough, Cape Elizabeth, Portland, South Portland and Westbrook school districts and Regional School Units 6 (Bonny Eagle), 14 (Windham Raymond) and 15 (Gray New Gloucester).
“The superintendent and I have met with a number of different districts looking for ways to exact efficiencies to find ways to purchase things in bulk or to find collaborations where we could provide more services for less money,” said Brunswick Assistant Superintendent Pender Makin.
With some of the largest school systems working together, the group could, for example, approach local universities for specific needs — including teacher training, and food and other services — at possibly a lower cost.
Makin said the state Department of Education has offered an incentive — $38,000 this year — for finalizing the partnership; that incentive, she added, could double for the next fiscal year. As long as the school department avails itself of two services provided through the alliance, it gets the subsidy bump, Makin said.
Attorney Aga Dixon said the Department of Education is providing $20,000 for startup costs for each group.
“The beauty of this initiative is that it’s quite flexible and it allows the collective to decide what they want to offer to their membership,” Dixon said. “And then it allows the members to choose whether or not they want to participate in any of those services.”
“We’re pretty excited to work together,” Makin said. “Most of us have collaborated and worked together already as part of the Cumberland County superintendents group.
“ We’re seeing a lot of opportunity for other kinds of collaboration, so it’s also for the professional, collegial and also idea generating and partnering in a number of different ways,” Makin added. “ It’s been kind of a holistically good experience in development stages.”
Before Brunswick can join the alliance, councilors must put the proposed agreement before voters in a referendum.
A hearing on the plan will be held Aug. 20.
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