Charlotte faces impasse over school budget

Following a significant decrease in school subsidy funding for this year's budget, Charlotte Elementary School is in the midst of contention among residents, with some wanting to keep it open and others believing its costs outweigh the school's benefits. While the school will continue operating this year, the situation has prompted consideration of what the impact of closing it would be.
This is not the first time school consolidation has been considered for the region, as small Washington County towns have contended with aging and shrinking populations over the preceding decades. With the decreasing population and often increasing tax burden on residents, small schools are on the front lines when it comes to reducing municipal costs.
The most recent elementary school to close in Washington County was in Robbinston. In 2015, town residents voted for the school's closure by a margin of 25 votes, with a voter turnout of 64%. While Charlotte is the only elementary school in AOS 77 currently facing significant budget issues, others in the region are struggling under the state's property value based subsidy determination formula.

Decrease in school subsidy prompts difficult decisions
When the Mills administration released the preliminary estimates on state subsidies for the 2023 24 school year, it marked the second consecutive year in a row that Maine's overall cost of K 12 education will be subsidized by 55%. However, schools that are located in towns with coastal or lakefront properties are disproportionately affected by the state's usage of a formula that incorporates property value, explained former AOS 77 Superintendent Ken Johnson earlier this year.
As a result, small rural municipalities such as Eastport, Lubec, and Charlotte received much higher property valuations than their peers with less waterfront land. The higher property valuations, in turn, dramatically decrease the state's subsidies for those schools.
In Eastport, for example, 11% of the education costs were subsidized by the state in 2021 22. In Lubec, it was 12%. In nearby Calais, however, almost 65% of the school's budget came from the state subsidy, owing to the comparatively lower property values.
Having higher property values does not translate to municipalities having more wealth to put into their education systems, contributing to a domino effect of subsidies being lowered and schools making significant cuts.
In Charlotte, the state subsidy for the upcoming year took a dramatic cut, dropping by $159,870 to $222,722. The depth of the cut prompted the school committee to spring into action to develop a suitable budget that would keep the school functioning.
Following seven drafts of the budget -- six of which have now been voted down by the town, despite the most recent drafts showing no increase to the town's taxes -- the conversation has expanded into what value small schools such as Charlotte Elementary bring to the table.

Costs considered
The population in Charlotte has been steadily increasing. The most recent American Community Survey data indicate a population of 378, or the highest population on record since the 1890s. Both the median age and the number of households with children, 46.8 and 19% respectively, are about average for the county and the state.
Along with the sale of properties in Charlotte for "much higher prices than the town's valuation of them," the reduction in the school subsidy for the upcoming year was caused by a decrease in enrollment at the school, "a decrease in the number of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch, and the retirement of a long time teacher and subsequent hiring of a teacher at a much lower rate, changing the salary ratio," according to a letter sent to residents by the members of the Charlotte School Committee.
With the most recently proposed budget, which was approved by the school board on August 21, the local share of the cost to operate the elementary school would be $1,050 less than last year's total of $381,757. If the budget is adopted by the town's residents, the school's student body of 18 will be divided into two groups, upper and lower grades, as the budget cuts necessitated cutting one of the three teacher positions. Other schools across the state also have multi-age classrooms, and in this area Wesley has a one room and Whiting a two room school.
State data from 2020 21 show a cost to local residents of $8,818 per student in Charlotte, though it appears to incorporate data for high school students as well. Comparatively, the cost to educate a student in Eastport was $4,596 the same year; in Pembroke, it was $9,313; in Perry, $7,060. In Calais, where the state subsidy is significantly higher, resident costs per student were $3,143.
For Charlotte Selectman David Frost, the cost of educating the town's students locally is enough of a concern to merit deliberation. Even with a "zero increase" to taxpayers for the coming year, Frost says that the school board would need to use monies from its fund balance to make ends meet as it did this year, he wrote in a letter to Charlotte residents in July.
With a total operating cost to the town of approximately $380,000, the school represents a sizable portion of the town's budget. Aside from the school accounts, Charlotte appropriated $422,000 at its June budget meeting -- which, while an increase of $55,000 over last year, almost matches the local share for the school's operating cost.
Closing the school would not result in that much of a savings for the town, though. For FY 2019 20 the superintendent's office conducted an analysis of how much it would cost to send all of the elementary school students to nearby schools, including tuition and transportation. That report found that, if Charlotte Elementary School were closed, it would save the town only $79,374 a year. Figures used in the report have since changed, as it incorporated $461,960 in state subsidy compared to $222,722 for this year, and $428,443 in local contribution -- in other words, the town's savings could be less.

Focusing on school performance
Since the 1980s, studies have been done across the U.S. to determine the impact of smaller classroom sizes. The findings have generally shown that small classrooms with 12 to 15 students or fewer lead to better test results than classes that have 20 or more students.
At Charlotte Elementary School, test data are not generally made publicly available, which complicates the situation for residents such as Michael Lawson. Citing, Lawson notes that Charlotte is listed "in the bottom 50% schools in the state" and that its rating is 3/10 with 1.5 stars. The for profit website draws its information from "numerous public data sets from federal and state education agencies."
Recognizing that the online scores have not been provided directly from the school, Lawson says that the school committee has refused to provide its test results to residents. "We have no other choice but to use what is publicly available to make a decision," Lawson says. "As an aging adult, I want what is best for the kids first."
Small schools like Charlotte don't typically provide their testing scores to the public as it would jeopardize student anonymity, says Ann Luginbuhl, a former Charlotte Elementary School teacher of 31 years. With such a small student body, she continues, it's hard to determine what test scores really mean.
"In my time at Charlotte, the largest grade had 14 students, the smallest, one," Luginbuhl says. "It doesn't take an advanced degree in statistics to figure out how easily test scores could be skewed in a grade with four or five students, [and] so much more so in a grade with one or two."
Furthermore, Luginbuhl adds, "It is sad that the way people are choosing to measure the effectiveness of classrooms and schools is a single test score. All the stakeholders should be discussing all the ways their small school both serves and fails to serve the students in that setting."

The 'heart of the town'
For the members of the school committee -- Janet Moholland, Krista Vining Means and Martina Wallace, who has since resigned -- the value of Charlotte Elementary is clear. "No other school can provide a better education than our students are currently receiving," the committee wrote in a letter to residents provided by Superintendent MaryEllen Day. "We have an excellent staff that care about every child in our school."
The education available at Charlotte Elementary goes above and beyond the curriculum, the letter continued. "Even one visit to the school shows you that the students are not only taught the basics of education, but they are taught, by example, to be kind, generous, compassionate people."
Because of its commitment to teaching generation after generation, the committee wrote, "Charlotte is a wonderful town to grow up in and to live in, and the school is the heart of the town."
With some wanting to keep the school open and others against it, a flurry of school committee meetings and public votes has occurred over the past few months, resulting in the current stalemate. It's been enough for some residents to issue complaints to the Maine Attorney General's Office about inadequate notice of meetings and other procedural issues, prompting a warning letter to be sent out by the District Attorney's Office for Washington and Hancock counties to both the school board and the selectmen to adhere to notice protocols "so citizens would not feel disenfranchised from public debate on important issues facing the municipality," explains District Attorney Robert Granger. Concerning the complaints, Superintendent Day comments, "I do not believe any meetings took place outside of school board meetings where any decisions were made."

Approaching alternative solutions for area schools
If the currently proposed budget is not approved by the residents of Charlotte, the previous year's operating budget will be used. It's far from ideal, and it won't solve the problem when it comes up again next year.
"I don't believe the solutions to the questions about local schools begin with answers," says Luginbuhl, speaking not just of Charlotte but of each small school struggling with its budget year after year. "It all has to begin with questions."
Noting that all small towns in similar predicaments will be in Charlotte's shoes soon unless demographics shift, Luginbuhl says, "I think a committee of interested, wise, thoughtful people from several towns with small schools that are all facing declining enrollments and sharply rising costs should be formed."
Among the questions the group should seek to ask, Luginbuhl continues, would be: "What does a town gain by having a local school? What are the advantages and disadvantages to students in small schools? What are the advantages to families in small schools? What happens to buildings if a town closes a school? What about transportation?"
Others are in favor of exploring options. "As with anything, if you are not open minded or willing to look at other aspects or opportunities, you will never grow," Lawson says. "The town is sending a clear message that other options need to be pursued."
Both Luginbuhl and Lawson envision different possibilities to keeping individual schools open, including a combined single school for the area, two separate buildings for the upper and lower grades, or tuitioning students to other schools to share costs. "All of these solutions should be considered in light of the pros and cons and costs," Luginbuhl says. "Finally, a solution or combination of solutions should be selected and then aggressively pursued. Each solution will be opposed by some, but hopefully the best solution can be agreed upon and the communities can work together to implement it."