The town of Frye Island recently filed a lawsuit in Cumberland County Superior Court against the State of Maine.
The suit claims the state legislature violated the town’s rights under the constitution on two separate occasions: enacting LD 500 in 2001 and inserting D-69 into LD1 in 2005.
In April of 2001, three years after Frye Island seceded from Standish with the condition that it continue to pay school taxes to SAD 6, the island tried to withdraw from that school district, arguing that they shouldn’t have to pay toward a school system it didn’t send students to.
Because of this, the state legislature passed LD 500, effectively preventing the island’s withdrawal and prohibiting withdrawal in the future unless “authorized by further amendment to this chapter.”
Then in 2004, with the enactment of LD1, towns’ contributions to their school administrative districts were figured on the number of their students in the system. Since Frye Island has no child in SAD 6 schools, this legislation would mean the town’s contribution would be zero.
But, in early 2005, the legislature inserted a section, D-69, that reverted SAD 6 to the cost-sharing formula in place before LD1. Under the old legislation, Frye Island must pay in excess of $700,000 toward the 2005-2006 SAD 6 school budget.
According to Frye Island’s Town Manager Wayne Fournier, the lawsuit is an attempt to “open up the door for some discussion.”
“We went to surrounding communities; we went to the Attorney General’s Office. They said they were not willing to do anything – even open up some negotiations with us,” Fournier said.
At their annual town meeting in October, Frye Island residents voted unanimously to approve a symbolic article that would reduce their share of funding to SAD 6. The article stipulated funding the equivalent of 50 students per school year at a cost of $300,000 on the condition that current school funding based on assessed valuation is eliminated.
“We don’t have any students but even then we don’t feel we’d pay zero but would try to make it something a little more reasonable,” Fournier said.
Chairman of Frye Island’s Board of Selectmen James Kuiken echoed Fournier’s remarks: “I’m willing to fund 50 students and pay our share of indebtedness. The thing that brought it to a head was the new school formula. We are singled out in the state.”
Frye Island’s attorney, Marshall Tinkle, said if the law finds in their favor, the statutes that were challenged in the lawsuit would be voided.
“Then Frye Island along with the legislature will determine what they pay to SAD 6,” he said.
But not everyone agrees with the notion of reducing Frye Island’s financial share.
SAD 6 Superintendent Suzanne Lukas disagrees with the premise of the lawsuit.
“The expectation in Maine is that all communities pay 8.26 mills of valuation per year as their local share of Essential Programs and Services,” she said.
Standish Town Manager Gordon Billington was chairman of Standish’s Town Council when Frye Island seceded. Although he personally questions whether the state’s method of funding education is fair, he sees the island’s lawsuit as “just a recital of history.”
“They are an entity of the state and, as such, the state legislature can deal with them as they see appropriate,” Billington said. “I see it as more of a political issue than a constitutional issue.”
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