Dear Editor:

I am currently an Alna representative to the RSU 12 school board. I was previously an Alna School Board member from 1999-2009. I would like to correct some statements made in Ms. Fossel’s letter last week.

Alna never voted for school choice. Historically, Alna had high school choice but K-8 students were contracted to Wiscasset. This changed in 1999 during an informal meeting, in which I was a participant, between the Alna and Westport school boards and the Wiscasset school board chairman. Quoting from the 2000 town report, “An important piece of work done by your School Committee this fall was the negotiation with Wiscasset for a new clause in the tuition contract that would allow parents, should they wish to do so, to select a school other than Wiscasset for their child to attend. A few children had previously attended another school at their parent’s expense and under this new arrangement Alna will now pay the tuition for these students (as long as they are not attending a religious school). The students newly electing to attend another school will have their tuition paid by Alna also.”

While tuition can be cheaper at some private schools than public ones, Alna pays the same per pupil cost to the RSU for every student, regardless of whether he or she attends a public or private school. Students attending private schools do not save the town money.

Alna is in a unique situation as far as schools. While statewide there is a 9 percent decline in school population and other towns in the RSU are maintaining their current student counts, Alna is gaining students. Our student count is up approximately 20 percent over what it consistently was in the 2000s. One dynamic of this growth is parents wanting to take advantage of the town paying for attendance at some of the local private schools.

School choice does encourage growth, but this comes at the cost of more tax money being needed to spend on education.

Barbara Baston

Alna