BIDDEFORD — Last month, Saco School Board said “yes.” This month, Biddeford School Committee concurred, agreeing that their School Superintendent Jeremy Ray would be Saco School Department’s leader too.

Biddeford’s vote, taken March 9, was unanimous and without comment.

Ray’s contract as Saco school superintendent is for three years, and each community has a 90-day “out” clause, said Ray.

“This brings some revenue to taxpayers here, and over time, perhaps some opportunities for sharing programming,” he told the Biddeford School Committee.

The arrangement costs Saco $160,000 annually for leadership services with Biddeford through an interlocal agreement.

“Special education, human resources, technology, maintenance, transportation oversite, and finance remain 100 percent Saco employees in this arrangement,” said Ray in an email. “Biddeford/Dayton then applies these funds to the budget’s revenue side to reduce taxes.”

In a memo to Saco School Board last month, Ray outlined efficiencies and collaborations between Biddeford, Saco, and Dayton — from administrative team meetings to the three districts sharing a food services director.

He noted net savings in a shared superintendent is $40,000 and said other efficiencies realized with the purchasing power of districts working together for decreased per unit spending.

Shared nutrition services result in a yearly savings of at least $32,735, said Ray, and potential contracts with vendors could provide an additional $40,000 in savings.

Student-centered examples of collaborations include streamlined cross-district support for homeless youth and a joint summer program for speakers of English as a second language, he said.

The memo notes each community maintains their own school board, each school department maintains their own policies and organizational structure, and will not  be relinquishing control of their educational policy prerogative to the other.

“I believe that over time, we can continue to find financial efficiencies that will benefit all communities,” Ray said in an email.

The Saco School Department hired Ray, of Southern Maine Administrative Collaborative, for a short-term interim position in the spring of 2021, when former superintendent Dominic DePatsy left earlier than his planned June departure. Later, Ray was hired for one year on an interim basis. The Saco School Board voted to hire Ray and SMAC for a three-year term Feb. 9 and noted then that while they did not conduct a full superintendent search, Ray had already been in place for nine months.

“Despite the fact we aren’t going through a full search, I feel like we’ve already done a 9-month interview, and the proof is in the pudding, there really is no other way to put it — but stand-up job on everybody at SMAC,” said School Board member Sarah Truman at the Feb. 9 meeting. “To not move forward with this just seems foolish.”

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