RSU 10 saves $2.6M by sharing costs

SUMNER — RSU 10 has seen savings of nearly $2.6 million over the past four years through cost-sharing, Superintendent of Schools Thomas Ward told the selectmen during their meeting Tuesday.

"That's a significant amount of money," Ward said. "That doesn't even include the monies we've saved through efficiencies of becoming one RSU, instead of [operating] three separate districts."

Ward said his goal is to meet with all 12 towns in RSU 10 to discuss school funding and what the district has accomplished financially.

"Even though we've cut well over $2.6 million from the budget in four years, you are still seeing increases every year," Ward said.

According to Ward, property valuations in a majority of towns in RSU 10 have increased consistently over the past 10 years, and has impacted the overall school budget dramatically. 

Ward explained that "property values are a key item in determining the cost of education to each town."

Over the years, he said, the total cost of education in Sumner, and the state of Maine as a whole, has steadily increased. General Purpose Aid, he said, which the state sets aside for education each year, however, has slowly declined. 

Decline in aid

GPA, for the 2012-2013 school year, Ward reported, is $913 million statewide. In 2007 it was $977 million.

"It pushes that money onto the locals," Ward said of the GPA decline.

In 2004, Ward said, Maine voters approved a ballot measure requiring the state Legislature to fund public education's Essential Programs and Services at 55 percent.

 But in 2007, Governor John Baldacci realized "the state couldn't afford to fund education at 55 percent. He put the brakes on it," said Ward.

"We got up to 53 percent funding, but after 2007-2008, we started cutting aid to education, so we started slowly going down in General Purpose Aid," he explained.

Around this same time, Ward said, the state of Maine instituted the school administrative reorganization law, which is critical to prioritizing limited resources for the classroom.

Ward said even before the RSU 10 formed in 2009, "neighboring districts were looking at ways to share costs."

Consolidation

One way is to consolidate resources, Ward explained.

"Instead of fighting it," he said, "we thought, if we want to preserve what we have for educational programs in western Maine, then we need to do something and take a serious look at consolidating."

In Sumner, he said, property values and local education assessments have increased. For 2012-2013, Sumner's total valuation is $65,250,000. Ten years ago, according to a chart showing educational funding district-wide, Sumner's valuation was a little more than half the amount – $35,300,000.

This means local education assessments in Sumner has also increased. According to Ward, education in Sumner cost $712,309 this year.

Ward said while RSU 10 couldn't lessen the burden of property taxes, it could minimize the increases overtime. In 2009, the district projected savings to be $400,000, he said, but actually ended up saving $600,000 by combining its three central offices. 

Staff cuts

He said since school consolidation in 2009, RSU 10 permanently eliminated 59 positions, from administration, teachers, custodians and ed techs, resulting in savings of $2.6 million. 

In addition, he said, the amount of GPA the district receives is dependent upon the district's overall property valuation. From 2011 to 2012, he said, property valuation dropped by $18 million, "which helps us," he told selectmen. 

He said the increase in funding (as well as the savings) serves as a reminder of why RSU 10 formed. Since formation, RSU 10 has developed a formula for cost-sharing over a period of eight years, and has raised money above Essential Programs and Services.

"We are a million dollars below [budget] what we projected, which is a good indicator of the money we saved," Ward said.