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By KEITH EDWARDS
Staff Writer

Tell the state SAD 11 will stand alone.

"We really, as of tonight, don't have any options," said board Vice Chairman Steve Hunnewell, of West Gardiner. "We do this with some regret, because we saw the possible savings and benefits that could result from consolidation."

Hunnewell, reading from a report by a local committee formed to work on consolidation, said SAD 11's effort to consolidate with Augusta or Union 44 schools in Litchfield, Sabattus and Wales was stymied by the potential tax impact of combining with those units.

If SAD 11, which serves Gardiner, West Gardiner, South Gardiner, Pittston and Randolph, merges with Union 44, it would result in a tax shift of approximately $1 million from Union 44 taxpayers to SAD 11 taxpayers, he said.

Hunnewell said the consolidation committee went further and estimated it would save about $300,000 to combine SAD 11 and Union 44's central offices. But even with those savings included, SAD 11 taxpayers, due in large part to differences in property valuations, still would pay about $800,000 more per year in taxes in a consolidation with Union 44.

It's something of a moot point, anyway: Union 44 officials voted Wednesday to try to form their own regional district. And the Augusta Board of Education voted last week it would also go it alone, rather than consolidate with SAD 11.

Augusta Superintendent Cornelia Brown said it would cost Augusta taxpayers more than $500,000 if Augusta consolidated with SAD 11. State officials say that estimate is high.

State education officials are scheduled to meet with Brown and SAD 11 Superintendent Paul Knowles today to discuss the estimated financial impact of an Augusta and SAD 11 merger.

But today is also the deadline by which all Maine school units are required to file a letter of intent to either consolidate with another nearby school unit or submit an alternative plan to remain on their own.

Brown, who attended the SAD 11 meeting Thursday along with multiple other Augusta Schools officials, said she had not yet filed Augusta's letter of intent.

Knowles said none of the state's listed rules for justifying an alternative plan are an obvious fit for SAD 11. The form includes exceptions that can be made for school units with at least 2,500 students, island schools and geographically isolated schools.

SAD 11 has about 2,300 students.

However, an exception approved by the state Legislature but not listed on the letter of intent form -- dubbed the "doughnut hole exception" by legislators -- could apply to SAD 11. That exception was created for school units unable to find willing consolidation partners despite good-faith efforts to do so.

Hunnewell noted SAD 11 made overtures to many local school units looking for a consolidation partner but, ultimately, found none that worked.

He said the main impediment to consolidation for SAD 11, and many other schools across the state, is the potential tax shift that could result as some communities' taxes go up and others go down when their schools consolidate.

"Somewhere down the line, the state has got to alleviate some of that or a lot of these things are going to fall apart," Hunnewell said. "When the whole idea is saving money, it starts not making sense when you get a financial analysis back and find out your taxes are going up."

Keith Edwards -- 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com

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