WEST BATH

Acknowledging the “chaos” that an April 23 vote to change the district’s cost-sharing formula wrought in its five communities, the Regional School Unit 1 board of directors on Monday voted unanimously to delay its vote on the 2012-13 budget until May 15.

Board chairman Tim Harkins proposed the delay during a meeting Monday at West Bath School.

The forum provided Harkins, who was out of town during the April 23 vote, an opportunity to speak for the first time about the decision. It also drew criticism from a number of residents, with many, including state Rep. Peter Kent, D-Woolwich, suggesting that specific cuts to “community” programs — such as a soccer program at Woolwich Central School — could erode the district and spur communities to withdraw.

When the board opted to adhere to one legal opinion over another in 2008, board members — “seven intelligent, fair-minded citizens from the district … made a decision with the best interest of the RSU in mind,” Harkins said, noting later that he took offense at recent suggestions that the board is “a calculated group and we have some ulterior motive.”

RSU 1 provides public education for Arrowsic, Bath, Phippsburg, West Bath and Woolwich.

When Woolwich selectmen raised questions about the local cost-sharing calculation this year, “we addressed it immediately,” Harkins said, and a resulting legal opinion essentially left the board no choice, he said.

“We felt we had no choice but to act immediately” after a new legal opinion determined the board must adhere to the “one-third” cost-sharing formula, although he added, “in my opinion … the way we had been conducting the cost-sharing formula is in some respects more equitable.”

Harkins said RSU 1 administrators have met during the past week with representatives of all five communities to discuss forming a committee to further discuss the cost-sharing formula.

“I am confident, based on that early meeting, that if the municipalities are willing to work together, we will find a successful solution before the next budget cycle,” Harkins said.

To “soften the blow,” to Bath, Arrowsic and Phippsburg, which are now slated to see larger increases in their share of the district budget than projected earlier this year, Harkins said the board could make more cuts to the 2012-13 budget, but he noted that to do so “would be very difficult for us to even consider … after having (already) made nearly a half-million dollars in cuts … the board can’t alter the budget which serves our children without compromising (aspects of) education.”

He suggested waiting to vote on a budget to send to voters at a district-wide budget meeting currently scheduled for June 5. The budget approved that night will then go to a district-wide referendum on June 12. The extra time, he said, would allow administrators search for more cuts “that may have an impact on what the municipalities are paying.”

During discussion of the 2012-13 budget, board members continued to express concern about cuts to the district’s pre-kindergarten program and transportation for students who take advantage of school choice, as well as the elimination of a soccer program at Woolwich Central School.

“We’ve got to dig a little deeper for these kids, because when they finish high school, are they going to be able to hold a job?” asked board member Robin Buczkowski, who represents parts of Bath and Woolwich. “Are they going to be able to get into a college of their choice? … We’re kind of nickel and diming ourselves into not a good community and place to live.”

David Barber, who represents parts of Bath and West Bath, suggested that the board should “think more creatively about where we can transfer money” without simply adding programs back in to the budget.

During public comment, a Bath man said the board’s decision on cost-sharing and comments about the city of Bath potentially withdrawing from the district “remind me of a circle of intimidation. … I’m living in a town right now that is threatening to withdraw, and that would take my kid out of a school she likes. … It seems like it was a very big decision that took place in the last couple of weeks that has completely altered the landscape. I’m surprised this board and others have acted as rashly as they have.”

Kent, who will have two children at the Woolwich school next year, encouraged the board to “take very seriously budget decisions that impact communities” — particularly because, he said, “RSUs at a state level are still very much in controversy in large part because across the state, there is an outcry that RSUs are threatening communities.”

“The conversation is happening in Bath about withdrawal,” Kent said. “It’s also happening in two other communities that I know of and at the state level. There are efforts to make withdrawal easier … which will help dismantle our RSU if we don’t fashion our budgets with a very small ear to how budgets impact our communities.”