Officials in Regional School Unit 12 hope changes to the eight-town district’s funding formula might quell Wiscasset voters’ desire to explore splitting from the pack.

In a Nov. 8 vote, Wiscasset voted 917 to 220 in favor of exploring the town’s options to withdraw from the district that formed in 2009 as a part of the state-mandated school district consolidation.

On Wednesday, RSU 12 will hold the first of two public hearings on a new cost allocation formula for the towns in the district. The new funding formula would have to be approved by RSU 12 voters by the end of March if the revised plan is to be used in the next fiscal year.

The state consolidation law mandated that the funding scheme adopted with the formation of the district remain constant for two-and-a-half years. That interval expired on Jan. 1, according to RSU 12 Superintendent Greg Potter.

During an October meeting about Wiscasset’s consideration of leaving the district, Potter said it “would be sad to miss out on the opportunities” that could be afforded to RSU 12 towns by a change in the cost-sharing formula.

Currently, that formula has Wiscasset paying 38 percent of the overall bill for the district that also includes Alna, Chelsea, Palermo, Somerville, Westport Island, Whitefield, Windsor and Wiscasset.

Jerry Nault, chairman of RSU 12’s Finance Committee, said during that October meeting that any changes to the funding formula would benefit Wiscasset.

“No matter how we run the numbers, Wiscasset wins because simply the historic costs for running the education in (Wiscasset) were much higher than their cohorts on a percentage basis,” Nault said.

The district’s finance committee will host the first of the two public forums to discuss the new funding formulas on Wednesday in the Wiscasset High School library, starting at 7 p.m.

The second forum will be held Jan. 25 at the Windsor School at 7 p.m.