Robbinston revises tuition payment policy

A change in policy by the Robbinston School Committee to limit tuition payments for students who attend schools other than the Calais schools has upset some parents in the town. However, the Calais superintendent says the action was taken by the Robbinston board simply to save money and was not an effort to draw more students to the Calais schools.
On August 7 the Robbinston school board sent a letter to parents of students in the town stating that the school system will only pay the Calais school system tuition rate plus up to 10% additional and that parents will have to pay any difference if they send their children to another school. The board had approved the action at a March 14 meeting.
For Robbinston students attending Shead High School, the decision will mean that parents now will have to pay $654 per student. If a student attends Woodland High School, the cost to the parents will be $1,070 and for Washington Academy the cost is $1,723. The elementary rates are much less, with the parental cost being $22 for students attending the Eastport Elementary School.
Robbinston parent Brittin Morris, though, calls the board's action "absolutely ridiculous." Between her family and her next-door neighbor's family, six students are going to the Eastport elementary and high schools, with two more in the coming years. "They were already going there and had established friends," she explains, noting that they will continue to attend the Eastport schools.
Morris wonders why parents were not notified until two weeks before the start of school about the policy change, since the board had taken the action back in March. "They've known for five months, with no notification." She also believes it's unfair that parents were not notified about the meeting beforehand.
Superintendent Ron Jenkins of the Calais School Department, who also serves as superintendent for the Robbinston School Department, says the policy change was made "strictly for monetary" reasons. Because of the significant differences in tuition rates, it was costing Robbinston more to send students to some schools, with Washington Academy and Woodland having rates that are considerably higher.
"The Robbinston board doesn't want to just choose Calais," says Jenkins, who adds that the action was not an effort by either Calais or Robbinston to recruit students to attend the Calais schools. "We're in favor of school choice," he says. "But it makes sense for Robbinston not to pay significantly more" to send students to other schools. He adds that a 10% buffer was put in by the Robbinston board.
When Robbinston closed its elementary school in 2015, the town's school system had a contract in place for the Calais school system to take its elementary students. However, school choice was allowed, with the town picking up the tuition costs. The town has continued to offer school choice, although Jenkins says that Robbinston does not have to do so and that the Maine Department of Education prefers, if a town does not have a school, that a contract is signed for all students to go to the same school.
Through its contract with First Student, Calais does send a bus to Robbinston to pick up students, with the town paying a pro-rated amount of the transportation contract.
As for the delay in sending the letter to Robbinston parents, Jenkins says, "We didn't have the tuition amounts" for the different schools until the letter was mailed. He also notes that the agenda for the board meetings is posted in the town and all citizens are welcome to attend. The issue was discussed during at least two of the board meetings, he adds.
Shead may consider scholarships
At the August 15 meeting of the Eastport School Committee, Superintendent Ken Johnson noted that the board could decide to waive the $654 difference in the high school tuition cost between Shead and Calais, but he said if it was done for one student it would have to be done for all and the school system would lose revenue. He then asked if the board would consider offering scholarships to students to make up the difference. Noting the competition that exists among high schools in attracting students, he said, "We don't have a lot of options."
The board agreed that the superintendent should research whether the school system can offer scholarships.
Principal Paul Theriault noted that Washington Academy, which is a private school, has offered scholarships to students but only if the student performed 50 hours of community service before the school year began.