BATH

A Regional School Unit 1 cost-sharing committee has disbanded — leaving it to the school board to decide the issue on its own.

Tim Harkins, chairman of the RSU 1 Board of Directors, said the panel last met Tuesday.

“We have now disbanded that committee,” Harkins said. “Their work is done. It’s now in the hands of the (RSU 1) board.”

The committee had been able to make a unanimous proposal for the 2015 fiscal year cost sharing at a previous meeting. But when trying to craft a plan for 2014, no consensus could be reached.

It boils down to this: West Bath and Woolwich do not favor an immediate switch to a cost allocation based solely on cost per student, because it would cost them more. But both towns have indicated they’re willing to go along with that plan for 2015.

“There’s no mandate for next year, but a unanimous vote for 2015,” Harkins said. “It now falls to the board to try to sift through the work this committee has done, and try to do what is best for the district.

“The one certainty is that the board isn’t going to be able to make all those communities happy.”

Harkins said the school board will conduct a costsharing workshop within the next couple of weeks.

Should the board opt to change to a cost-per-pupil formula for 2014, it may need to bring such a plan to a public referendum as early as January.

Currently, RSU 1 is working with a formula based onethird on student population, one-third on state valuation and one-third on town population. Arrowsic, Bath and Phippsburg pay more under that plan.

Tuesday night’s Cost-Sharing Committee meeting was brief, Harkins said. Facilitator Mark Eastman tried but was unable to establish a unanimous recommendation to the board, Harkins said.

The committee on Tuesday night considered three motions:

— Maintain the current cost-allocation, which failed 3- 2, with only West Bath and Woolwich voting for it.

— Go to a cost-per-student formula, which passed 3-2, with West Bath and Woolwich voting against it.

— Stick with the current plan for 2014 and go to costper student for 2015. The motion passed 4-to-1, with Bath voting against.

“But Arrowsic and Phippsburg said they were willing to compromise only if everyone voted for it,” Harkins explained. “In my mind, that nullifies the 4-1 vote.”

Harkins praised the committee’s effort.

“As board chairman,” he said, “I saw these folks put in a lot of hard work in the process. But they’ve reached the point where they agree to disagree.”

lgrard@timesrecord.com