Robbinston voters opt to leave AOS 77

A total of 42 out of about 450 registered voters in Robbinston, or less than 10%, turned out on March 9 to cast their ballots on whether to have the town's school system leave or remain with AOS 77. The residents voted 29 to 13 to leave the AOS. While the vote was exclusively to remain or leave the AOS, now that the decision has been made the school committee will be working on a one‑year contract with the Calais school system's superintendent's office for services.
Robbinston will pay an annual fee to Calais for superintendent duties such as overseeing the budget and the school, superintendent office duties such as warrants and accounts receivable and payable, as well as special education services. The cost for contracting with Calais has been tentatively agreed upon as set at 10% of the Calais superintendent's office total annual expenses, an amount of just about $40,000 for the current fiscal year. If the annual expense increases, so would the amount of the 10%. Robbinston's current share of the AOS 77 budget is about $54,000.
As was reiterated at school committee meetings and workshops held to discuss the contractual arrangements if the town should vote in favor of leaving the AOS, the annual agreement between Robbinston and Calais allows either party the opportunity to renegotiate or end the contractual relationship.
Robbinston has been paying 10% of the AOS 77's central office budget costs, and that amount, which was about $54,500 this year, will now have to be divided up among the nine remaining towns.