Dear Editor:

The Future of the Schools Committee’s final report recommends that Wiscasset should explore a brand-new regional model. Why new? There are existing regional schools, most with higher graduation rates, lower chronic absenteeism and better testing outcomes than Wiscasset. Didn’t Wiscasset recently withdraw from a regional school at a cost of $2 million to taxpayers?!?

The committee was asked to determine if tuitioning out grades 9-12 and moving PreK-8 to one school would save money. For years, the superintendent insisted PreK-8 wouldn’t fit in one building, but the committee finally acknowledged it is possible and could save $500,000/year. That’s substantial, but they failed to examine a long list of expenses specific to the elementary building and grades 9-12 that could save an additional $1 million/year in a one-school scenario. The report said that no single school could take our students, but they only looked at three schools, saying one was in bad shape and the other two were near capacity. Why must all students go to one school? Some friends might want to stay together, but others will look at what a school has to offer – tech classes, AP STEM, or maybe a great art department.

Wiscasset’s aging population and decline in enrollment is not unique in Maine. Data from the superintendent’s 2025 budget narrative and recent enrollment numbers show a 38% decline in enrollment since 2015 with the largest drop in the past year when we lost more students than we did during the pandemic. All this while spending 32% more per pupil than the state average.

How does creating something larger and potentially more expensive make any sense? It makes more sense to save over a million dollars a year, allow our high school students to attend schools that offer more of the programs they want and need to build solid futures and to explore transforming the elementary school into affordable housing that will add to our tax rolls. Then we can focus our attention and resources on our youngest children, to improve their education and prepare them to make sound decisions for their high school years and beyond.

Kim Dolce

Wiscasset