ARUNDEL — Regional School Unit 21 will appeal the decision of the Maine Superior Court that Arundel middle school students have the right to attend private school Thornton Academy Middle School in Saco and their tuition paid through public funding.

RSU 21 oversees education in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel.

In 2016, Thornton Academy and several Arundel parents filed a lawsuit against RSU 21, after the RSU voted to stop providing funding for middle school students to attend Thornton Academy Middle School, or TAMS, a private school in Saco, after the class graduating from the middle school in 2019. The RSU decided that it would only pay for Arundel middle school students to attend  Middle School of the Kennebunks after the Class of 2019.

This decision by the RSU was made at the end of a 10-year contract between Thornton Academy and Arundel, a contract that was made before the three communities joined together to form RSU 21. Some thought that after the contract ended, students from Arundel would have the choice to attend either TAMS or the Middle School of the Kennebunks through public funding.

The school district argued that since Arundel students did not have school choice, or the option to choose from more than one school, prior to the 10-year TAMS contract, it should not have choice after the contract ended. This belief was supported by the Maine Department of Education.

The 2016 vote by the school board did not affect high school students from Arundel, who continue to have the choice to attend Thornton Academy, Kennebunk High School or Biddeford High School, as they had the choice before the formation of the RSU.

The Maine Superior Court on Oct. 5 ruled in favor of Thornton Academy, stating that students from Arundel should be given the choice to attend TAMS through public funding. The RSU 21 Board of Directors voted unanimously on Thursday night after an executive session to appeal the recent decision made by the Maine Superior Court, according to a press release from RSU 21 Superintendent Katie Hawes.

RSU 21 has a high performing middle school in its district with the capacity to serve all middle school students in the RSU, Hawes said.

“If the Superior Court’s decision is allowed to stand, it will divide the district by allowing one small group of students to attend a private school at public expense, create inefficiencies that increase the districts costs, and raise taxes in all three towns,” said Hawes. “The Board does not believe that is what the Legislature intended when it passed the school reorganization law in 2007 to encourage greater efficiencies in public education.”

According to information from Katy Nicketakis, associate director for marketing and summer programs at Thornton Academy, there are 19 students from Arundel in the Class of 2019 at TAMS. She said TAMS tuition for Arundel students is about $8,771, which includes the cost for bus transportation.

According to budget information on the RSU 21 website, the fiscal year 2019 budget for Middle School of the Kennebunks was about $4.3 million, with 586 projected students.

Noel Holmes, one of the parents who filed the lawsuit in 2016, said in an email statement he was saddened to hear the RSU would be appealing the courts decision, at taxpayer expense.

“This decision (to appeal) was made behind closed doors in ‘executive session’ and without public input as transparency should dictate,” he said.

He said he hoped the RSU would use the court’s decision to mend the divide between the towns  and put the issue to rest. But, he said, instead the superintendent and the school board have decided to widen the divide with the decision to appeal.

“Our district has great schools, however, as reported and upheld by this judgment, Arundel has always had school choice and will continue to. Many other Arundel parents like myself support the long standing policy of school choice regardless of whether we choose to send our kids to the district schools or to TAMS or TA as it has always been about what parents feel is the best fit for their child or children,” said Holmes.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 780-9015 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.