Jonesboro Selectmen, School Board Urge No Vote on AOS

Machias Officials Offer No Guidance on How to Vote, Stay Neutral

By Will Tuell

[Downeast Coastal Press, 11/25/2008]

With less than three weeks to go before residents in 12 area towns vote on whether to participate in a state mandated school reorganization plan, Jonesboro selectmen and school board members, at a public hearing November 18, urged their electorate to vote the measure down when it comes up for a vote December 9. When asked where they stood on the issue the following night, Machias selectmen and school board officials struck a tone of neutrality.

“After we met with [the Jonesboro School Board and Union 102 Superintendent Scott Porter] we talked about it,” said Jonesboro First Selectman Michael Schoppee. “We've recommended a no vote to the taxpayers because we don't want the town to enter into an agreement there's no way out of. It's not right to ask the taxpayers of the town to do that. If we do suffer a penalty, we'll do our darndest to work around it. Do what we've got to do to save money. We want to maintain the control of our school; we want to have the best education we can get for our kids, and we want family involvement in our school. We don't want to lose this.”

Machias First Selectman Aubrey “Skip” Carter speaking on behalf of his board, said that the Machias Board of Selectmen would offer no guidance on how to vote. “I believe as an elected official we're responsible to provide the public with the information. They should absorb that information and not be forced by any of us to vote one way or the other. That's my opinion.”

Machias School Board member Peter Marshall echoed Carter's statement. “We think that every individual has the obligation to make an independent decision. And [we] would probably not reveal [our positions] publicly.”

Jonesboro School Board chairman Steve Pineo left no doubt about where his board stands on the issue. “We [now] control our own money, our own expenses,” said Pineo. “When we get into the new plan with a weighted vote, we're no longer [going to] have control over our own subsidy. This is a bad deal for Jonesboro. There's no doubt about it. We lose control of the money. We can't get out if we want to. When we get into a big room and there's no way for us to figure out who gets what money, the little town isn't going to win. The big towns are going to be the ones with the most control.”

Marshall also expressed concerns about how the subsidy pie would be split up. “I guess the feeling that I'm having is that we're having to take a leap of faith, because we don't know what this subsidy split is. I'm just speculating that those printouts are not shared because it would be easy for us to make those decisions—to vote up or down—but I think it's difficult as taxpayers to make that jump.”

Jonesboro school board member Kelli Emery also weighed in on the subsidy issue: “I've been sitting on these committees for two years. School finance is a complicated. It takes a lot to understand. The only way I could make sense of it in my own mind is [that] every one of us sitting in this room tonight, we get our own W-2 and the end of the year that shows exactly how much money I made, [and] how much money you made, just what these printouts do. Those will go away. So we'll get one big W-2 for everybody sitting in this room. Nobody knows who makes what anymore, but we're going to put that money in one account and you're going to pay my bills and your bills and Melissa's. We could end up paying Lubec's bills. Lubec could pay ours. We don't want that to happen. And that's the biggest flaw with this.”

Jonesboro regional planning committee (RPC) member Ed White also spoke out against the 12 town alternative organizational structure (AOS). “The answer to [Education Commissioner Susan] Gendron is ‘No, No, No.’ I think that will say something to the Legislature itself. I believe what we need to do is work toward getting 12 towns to say no so that [State Sen.] Kevin [Raye], and Howie [Rep. Howard McFadden, R-Dennysville] and Dave [Rep. Elect Dave Burns, R-Whiting] have something [to show] what's happening in our part of the state.”

“You know,” said White, “repeal is the answer. Leave us alone. We're doing fine. We don't want you in Portland and Augusta and Bangor to take our subsidy, which they have been doing.”

Richard Larson, a retired University of Maine at Machias management professor, was one of four Machias residents besides school and town officials who attended the November 19 meeting. Larson said that based on student headcount, town population, valuation and other factors that come into play in determining school finance issues, he sees where the smaller towns outside of Machias could have problems with the AOS, but that Machias, with its greater population and the one-man,one-vote requirement, could well benefit over the long run. “[It] would benefit Machias to be a part of this [AOS]. … It seems like centralization might benefit Machias a bit more than some of the other towns.”

Public hearings are being held in each of the 12 towns. At press time, Jonesboro, Wesley, Northfield, Roque Bluffs, Machias, Whitneyville and Marshfield have each held public hearings. East Machias and Cutler were held November 24.