As the founder of the successful RSU 12 withdrawal movement in Wiscasset, I’ve been following the current debate in Freeport with interest. I’ve read the scare tactics from founders of the RSU movement who hate to admit they were wrong. They’d like voters to believe their model has provided savings and withdrawing will unravel the fabric of education in the community. This misinformation is not supported by fact and, in our case, our education and student count declined every year after joining an RSU.
Wiscasset just completed our withdrawal process. We voted to explore withdrawal in 2012, just like Freeport is doing on Dec. 17. On Nov. 5, 2013, 69 percent of our voters approved the withdrawal plan and we recently exited RSU 12. A committed withdrawal committee can weigh all the options available to the community and the impacts in both cost and education along with alternative structures. Despite all the RSU scare tactics, our children’s education was never at risk, since state law won’t allow a withdrawal to take effect in the middle of a school year.
We were in a similar situation to Freeport in that we have the high school and several aging buildings in need of repair. Since we are also a coastal community, our property valuations were much higher than the inland towns and we weren’t getting state aid at anywhere near their level even though their incomes exceeded ours. As you can imagine, friction between the communities became intense. The law also gave no consideration to the extensive capital outlays towns had made to build their schools, only to have to give them away for no consideration to the RSU.
The RSU model is not working and towns are waking up to this reality. Saco and Dayton just withdrew from RSU 23, leaving Old Orchard Beach the last town in its RSU. Fifty percent of the towns in our RSU have petitioned to leave our RSU, with Wiscasset being the first. Education is trending back toward smaller, more nimble schools, not the large 700-seat high school model that RSU 5 and others want. It is an accepted fact that 300 high school students is the critical mass needed to offer a comprehensive curriculum along with competitive sports programs.
The process can take time, but it is well worth it. A yes vote can allow Freeport to explore regaining local control of the education process and to make the best use of scarce tax dollars.
Doug Smith
Wiscasset
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