The waiting game has arrived in SAD 61 as it seeks to chart an independent course in the face of statewide school district consolidation.

That the district filed an alternative plan – one not to merge with any other school unit or district as required by state law – with the Maine Department of Education Nov. 27 came as no surprise.

School board members, district employees and the committee established in the summer to examine consolidation have long maintained merging with other districts will not save taxpayers any money.

Instead, the district has filed a plan long on intentions of cutting costs to match state reductions in the Essential Programs and Services subsidies and further cuts stemming from the Reorganization Law passed in June. The plan is still short on how the cuts will be exactly attained. The state must approve or deny the plan by Dec. 15.

There are more than $185,000 in administrative reductions cited, including the elimination of the assistant superintendent, technology coordinator and receptionist in the district. However, the goal for total administrative reductions is more than $280,000 to reach the state-mandated ratio of spending $204 per pupil.

SAD 61 Superintendent Frank Gorham, who announced last month he would retire in June 2008, said the additional cuts were still being considered by the district financial committee and might not be identified until the 2008/09 budget is readied for voters. The plan does say further staff cuts are unlikely because the district could face penalties for not completing state and federal reports.

With the budget, district voters could be asked to approve a plan to close as many as four facilties. The district office on Route 302, Casco Memorial School, Bridgton Memorial School, Sebago Elementary School and Crooked River Elementary School are all mentioned as facilities that could close in the plan sent to the state.

All but the district office require two-thirds approvals from the SAD 61 school board and a majority of local voters to shut down.

SAD 61 faces a potential loss of $1.4 million in subsidies before the state reduces its subsidy to education by $36 million beginning July 1, 2008. Cuts of 50 percent in administration, and 5 percent reductions in transportation, facilities and maintenance, and special education will be added to the current projected reduction.

The reductions in facilities and maintenance and transportation are more skeletal now, with $44,500 of potential cuts of more than $1 million identified in facilities and maintenance and others such as a cut of more than $508,000 to the district capital improvement plan listed to show what might be pared.

In district transportation, where supervisor Andy Madura has said district buses traveling more than 3,000 miles per day already use state-recommended software for the most efficient routes, cuts totaling $27,500 are listed, including the elimination of a route in Naples for elementary school students. Potential cuts list eliminating three more routes to save more than $73,000.

No reductions were identified for special education for fear of violating state and federal special education mandates, but closing Casco Memorial School, where the services are housed, which voters could be asked to approve for 2008, could save more than $38,000.

The plan was filed instead of the state suggestion that SADs 55, 61 and 72 merge to form Regional School Unit 44. By law, the number of school districts must be reduced from 290 to 80 districts of at least 2,500 students. There are instances where districts with at least 1,200 students would be allowed to remain district.

With more than 2,000 students, SAD 61 has sought exemption from consolidation because SADs 55 and 72 do not want to merge with SAD 61, the population density in the district is less than 100 residents per square mile, the local economies have not kept pace with rising property taxes, and the size and scope of the district where Bridgton, Casco, Naples and Sebago and separated by lakes and waterways that make transportation challenging.

The alternative plan filed was a change in strategy because it elucidates how the district could better pare costs on its own.

The district also outlined collaborations with other districts to cut costs, including taking on maintenance and repair of vehicles and technology equipment for all area districts. It is also proposed the district seek to merge some special education services with Gray-New Gloucester, Windham, Gorham districts and SAD 6.

Plans filed by districts which are merging or seeking to remain independent must outline how these reductions will be achieved, although David Connerty-Marin of the Department of Education said the plans submitted by Dec. 1 were not expected to be fully complete.

Connerty-Marin said Wednesday that the department was still cataloging the plans, but he was confident close to 80 plans would be considered by the department.

That number could work in SAD 61’s favor, and Kevin Hancock, chairman of the district reorganization committee, and SAD 61 School Board Chairman Brooke Sulloway said they were encouraged by Education Commissioner Susan Gendron’s response to the outline of the SAD 61 plan they presented to her at a meeting in late October.

Connerty-Marin said it was too early to comment on the substance of the SAD 61 alternative plan, but said Gendron was encouraged by what she heard in October. “In general, they are on the same page,” Connerty-Marin said.