Maine School Adminstrative District 75

The commitment to educating our youth has not changed. Since statehood in 1820, Maine communities have provided their youth with an education. Every winter and spring, community members elected to serve on the U.S.A. No. 75 Board of Directors work with District staff members to develop a budget that will provide students with the programs and services they need in the coming year. They do their best to ensure their plan will meet the needs of the learners and will fairly provide for all students in an equitable manner. Their work is not finished until the plan is accepted by voters in the four towns.

State Funding Keeps Decreasing

The State has been adjusting its funding formula, Essential Programs and Services (EPS). Although EPS has had the same name for the past few years, what it actually funds and the formula for calculating funds changes from year to year. (Though called Essential Programs and Services, it does not fund all school system “essentials” such as adult education or athletics.)

The EPS Funding Model

• State begins by defining the cost of educating a student.
• State uses that amount, and multiplies it by the number of students enrolled in the District .
• State compares that total with the community's ability to raise adequate funds through property taxes.
• State funds the difference between the amount it defines as necessary and the amount a community can raise in taxes (based on a State-set rate).
  

With this approach

•  As enrollments drop in the school system, the State funding decreases.

Our enrollments are declining.

Click here to view a graph of RSU 75's declining enrollment numbers.
Click here to view a chart of declining enrollment numbers by school.

•  As property values rise in a town, the State funding decreases.

Our property values have been rising.

The District has and will be receiving less State funding.

The Forming of the Comprehensive Strategic Planning Committee

Last year in the spring of 2008, in order to present a budget for this school year that the communities could support, the District cut over $1,600,000 from its maintenance- of- effort- budget (a budget that maintains the programs and services of one year in the next year).

To Learn of the impact of budget cuts for the 08-09 year, click here.

In the spring of 2008, student enrollments declined faster than was predicted by the State. In addition, the impact of the closing of BNAS was acknowledged as a factor that will contribute to this trend.

In the spring of 2008, the Board of Directors recognized that it could not continue with “business as usual.” The approach, maintaining existing programs and services by doing things the same way, was no longer feasible. In the past, declining enrollments had been addressed through incremental cuts. The cuts resulted in ever-decreasing capacity as the system became smaller.

Though what we want for our youth does not change, students today must be prepared to adapt in a rapidly changing world. Our mission defines our commitment. It is our responsibility to prepare our students to be fluent learners, critical thinkers and creative contributors to society.

• Every student must be a fluent learner, able to keep learning new knowledge and skills.

In their lifetimes, our youth are likely to have many careers.

• Every student must be a critical thinker, able to think creatively, solve problems and analyze perspectives.

In their lifetimes, our youth are likely to face challenges we can not presently imagine.

• Every student must practice being a creative contributor to our society, able to perpetuate democracy and contribute to the community.

In their lifetimes, our youth are likely to be connected with and to contribute to changing communities in ways we can not imagine.

To meet its mission in the years ahead, the system must have the ability to ensure its students are prepared to thrive in a changing world. It must be able to use what is known about best practices in education, in 2009 and in the years to come, to provide outstanding programs and services. It must ensure that all students have equitable access to these programs and services. The system must find different ways to organize its resources. The system will need a plan to adapt.

Strategic Planning

In the spring of 2008,, in recognition of these needs (to adapt to changing conditions and to shape future programs and services in the face of declining resources) the Board of Directors formed the Comprehensive Strategic Planning Committee (CSPC) . They charged this group with developing recommendations to guide future planning.

The CSPC's work must:

1) improve the system's ability to provide a high quality education for all students

2) allocate resources in an equitable manner that ensure access to all students in the system

2) adapt to declining enrollments and decreasing resources

3) be flexible as future student population and economy are dynamic

This CPSC's process should:

• Assess current resources and their status
• Analyze educational requirements and mandates
• Be based on what is known about proven best practices in education
• Recognize trends in enrollments and funding
• Present strategies that will create capacity by reorganizing existing resources.
• Present strategies that ensure equity and access to essential programs and services throughout the system.

In December, 2008, the Board's Comprehensive Strategic Planning Committee hosted three forums in December to hear from the larger community about its priorities for educating our children for success in this new century. The Committee was then charged with looking at how the District's configuration of schools and school structures affects its capacity to meet its goals. It began seeking if and how declining school populations have altered capacity, resource distribution and opportunity.

In January, 2009, the Board Finance Committee worked on the upcoming budget. Facing the economic realities of the recession and the resources available from the State and communities, it charged the CPSC with presenting alternatives. The CPSC was asked to take its plan-in-development and present alternative ways to organize that could be implemented right away and in the coming years ahead.

On February 26, 2009, the CSPC met with the full Board and presented the strategic plan for feedback and review. This is a multi-year plan to reorganize,and includes actions to be taken in the next school year and a number of years to come. The Board recognized that consideration of this plan must begin with its leadership. The Board took formal action on this plan at its meeting on March 12, 2009 and voted to endorse the plan. From here, there is much work still to be done.

Input From Stakeholders

During the month of March, 2009, three community forums were held. The plan was reviewed by the communities it serves. Citizens had the opportunity to come together to hear about this plan and consider its educational benefits for students, as well as understand budget realities and the system's inability to continue to maintain our present organization. Each community was asked to identify considerations, issues or concerns about the possible strategies in the plan. After each forum, a survey was posted on the district web site in order for stakeholders to continue to give input. These surveys are still accessible on this site in the gray menu area to the left..

Forming Comprehensive Strategic Planning Action Teams

Each strategy in the plan needs a Comprehensive Strategic Planning Action Team. Last year, there was an action team studying the feasibility and educational value of the Harpswell Consolidation. In the fall of 2009, the CSPC will reassess the need for action teams to study the feasibility and educational value of restructuring the Topsham Schools (K-2 and 3-5) and the Bowdoin/Bowdoinham Schools (K-2 and 3-5); and an action team to study the middle school/ high school schedule alignment.