Wiscasset's school committee and the public March 18 further questioned whether to join the second round of Maine schools providing special education to pre-kindergarteners. Then, 4-1, Jonathan Barnes dissenting, the panel voted to move forward with Cohort 2.

Two months into talks, administrators again stressed the state will cover costs and work with participating schools as its Early Childhood Special Education program continues to roll out. Wiscasset learned it was accepted into the second cohort and the school committee could agree to it or decline.

Barnes suggested Wiscasset sit out Cohort 2 and learn from other schools' experiences, and how the program is taking shape. He noted the program's informational meetings are on YouTube. (View them on Maine Department of Education's YouTube channel.) "We could take this year to ... see how they're developing, see how they're laying it out, and then we'd have all the information as say, 'Oh, yeah, it does look like that'd be successful.'"

Administrators have said when those young students' services have been Child Development Services' responsibility, local schools could not provide them the services instead, but taking part in the cohort lets the schools take on that work. Committee member Jodi Hardwick said, "There's nowhere back from the bottom (but) to go up, and if we can use our resources, what we already have, then we're going to provide them something rather than nothing. Something could be better."

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kim Andersson said, "I feel confident that if we were to have ... four or five students (who need the services), we would most likely be able to service their needs without needing to hire anybody because we already have speech, we already have OT (occupational therapy), we already have this Head Start ed tech (educational technician) and we've got people in place. If it turns out that the program demands are greater than anticipated and we bring on more and our expenses are higher, the (cohort) revenue will go up because ... quarterly we have to ... file a report ... and then they will adjust the amount of money that gets transferred to us. If less kids come and the expenses go down in our quarterly report, then that will also be adjusted," Andersson said. 

Also in the three and a half hour meeting, the committee, 3-2, Barnes and Tracey Whitney dissenting, nodded the 2025-26 budget draft that would up the local ask 4.54% over 2024-25. Barnes wanted more paring to avoid padding, and Whitney wanted more explanation. "I feel like it needs to be more clear for people," Whitney said. 

The committee planned to meet at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, March 25 in the Wiscasset Middle High School library to finalize the warrant for a 6 p.m. April 29 special town meeting at WMHS. The budget that results goes to a vote at the polls June 10.

And the committee unanimously agreed Wiscasset Elementary School can ask the state for a Title One summer program grant of an unknown sum. Andersson said it would be more than $5,000 so the school needed the committee's OK to apply.