FREEPORT
A public hearing regarding the Freeport Withdrawal Agreement has been scheduled for Aug. 26 by the Regional School Unit 5 school board.
The withdrawal agreement received preliminary approval from Maine Department of Education Commissioner Jim Rier on Aug. 6 without any recommended substantive changes, said RSU 5 Board of Directors chairman Nelson Larkins in a phone interview with The Times Record on Friday.
The public hearing is a statutory requirement for a municipality to withdrawal from an RSU, and step 11 in a 22-step withdrawal process. Following the public hearing, the Freeport Withdrawal Committee will submit the final withdrawal agreement for DOE approval.
“Technically, there can be changes up to the submission of the final plan,” said Larkins, “but if there are any substantive changes it has to return (to the DOE) for conditional approval and it wouldn’t meet the November election time frame.”
Only “clerical cleanup” is required on the agreement, said Larkins, and the purpose of the public hearing is to provide information about the proposed withdrawal plan and gather public input.
Freeport Town Council and Freeport Withdrawal Committee member Rich DeGrandpre said Friday that the council has discussed the possibility of creating a draft budget for a standalone Freeport school district prior to the public hearing.
“We’re working on what type of a budget we might try to forecast, and who should do it — a new school board would set policy for a new school district, and we don’t know what that might be,” said DeGrandpre. “All we can do is take the (withdrawal) agreement we have and apply that to an existing budget and see where the revenue sources come from and where the expenses lie.”
At the Aug. 13 Brunswick School Board meeting, the board voted unanimously, with one abstention, to be the school of guaranteed acceptance for Pownal and Durham high school students if Freeport votes to withdraw.
Brunswick High School has the capacity to take approximately 1,200 students, said Brunswick Assistant Superintendent Gregory Bartlett, and last year’s enrollment was just more than 800.
The council has requested that Freeport Finance Director
Abbe Yacoben and RSU 5 Finance Director Kelly Wentworth create a draft budget using the terms of the proposed withdrawal agreement.
“It’s not going to be an accurate budget, but it could help us forecast some possibilities,” said DeGrandpre. “We’re hoping we can get this done before the public hearing, but we’ll know more next week.”
Upon approving the final withdrawal plan, the DOE commissioner sets the date for the withdrawal referendum to take place — preferably coinciding with a statewide election, according to the statute.
The commissioner must notify the withdrawing town 35 days in advance of the vote of the date selected, and then the town must set another public hearing regarding the withdrawal question 10 days prior to the withdrawal vote.
The question to appear on ballots for Freeport voters is also substantially determined by statute, and must appear in a format close to: “Do you favor the withdrawal of Freeport from Regional School Unit 5 subject to the terms and conditions of the withdrawal agreement dated (date to be inserted)?”
The entire withdrawal agreement — a roughly 40- page document — will not appear on the ballot, but must be posted by the municipality “in the same manner as specimen ballots are posted,” according to the statute.
The public hearing called by the RSU 5 board of directors will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the Freeport Community Center, located at 53 Depot St. in Freeport.