On March 7, the Edgecomb School Committee went before the town budget committee to present two options. Neither included a requested five percent reduction. Selectmen and members of the public also attended.

Jack Brennan, head of the budget committee, opened the meeting with praise for Edgecomb Eddy School, saying that, as a frequent visitor, he could attest to the school’s “numerous standards of academic excellence and joyful vibrancy.” He then turned the meeting over to School Committee Chair Tom Abello.

Abello acknowledged the request for the five percent cut. “We wrestled with trying to live up to that intent,” he said. He, Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS) 98 Superintendent Eileen King and Edgecomb Eddy Principal Lisa Clarke had dug' into the budget process to figure out a path moving forward for the school. “What we have here tonight is two different options.”

The first option, a proposed Pre-K program, could bring in students and tuition revenue, said Abello. The school committee has talked with Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit 12 Superintendent Howard Tuttle about establishing a short-term contract sending all Pre-K students to Edgecomb Eddy. RSU 12 serves Alna, Chelsea, Palermo, Somerville, Whitefield and Westport Island.

“Lisa (Clarke) and I have looked diligently at bringing in their Pre-K students,” King said. She noted that Wiscasset is also competing for these students. King has worked out a route for those students to be picked up at points along Route 218 and transported to the school. In lieu of hiring a new instructor, Edgecomb Eddy instructors would be re-assigned.

The school committee submitted two totals to the budget committee. With the addition of Pre-K, the total for the 2017-2018 budget comes to $2,520,482. Without the program, the total comes to $2,462,178, a difference of $58,305.00. The approved 2016-2017 budget was $2,385,178. Without the Pre-K program, the budget would increase by $76,588. With it, the increase is $134,893. King pointed out, part of the increase is due to changes in health insurance and a $10,000 drop in state subsidy.

Clarke has wanted to add Pre-K to the school for a number of years. “Over the years, families with young children looking for homes in the area have called and asked if we have such a program. It's a way to boost enrollment, but it's also a way to support families and bring the children into a structured educational environment earlier,” she said.

If the program was adopted, each Pre-K student would bring in a tuition revenue between $10,000 and $10,500. But King said there are many unknowns. When asked for a projected number of Pre-K students, she said, “Realistically, three to five. The problem is, we don't know for sure.”

If RSU12 decided to sign a contract sending all its Pre-K students to the school, King believes siblings would follow, upping enrollment numbers. “We're asking for a couple of years to get this running so it could become a revenue source,” she said.

After studying the school committee's budget figures, budget committee member Joe McSwain said,“We're caught between the selectmen and you folks. We've been charged with trying to get an overall reduction in this year's budget of five percent. And you folks are the elephant in the room, in that the school makes up three quarters of the budget. We can't keep going like this because the taxpayers are going to have something to say, shortly, and there are already rumblings. I can see that down the line it's going to come to a head.”

Abello agreed. “That's a conversation we've been having as part of this. The numbers don't look good, long-term.”

Five percent is about $120,000, which would mean a fundamental, structural change in how the school runs, Abello continued. “You're talking about, at a minimum, two teacher positions. If we were to head in that direction, that's a conversation we don't want to have with parents and the townspeople.”

Budget committee member Janet Blevins said, “If you can't cut, and we all agree that education is crucial, you've got to make money somewhere else. You've got a beautiful facility. Is there a way to use that facility and earn money when it's not being used for students?”

Suggestions included using the school as a town office, allowing residents broadband access there, holding adult education and Midcoast Senior College classes in the evenings, and using the building and grounds for summer activities for students.

“We've worked hard to keep the Pre-K budget as low as possible, but we won't know unless we give this a chance. And I worry about the Edgecomb school if you don't give this a chance,” King said.

McSwain asked, “You're worried about layoffs? Closings?”

“I worry about schools getting small and I don't want to embellish on that,” King said.

Heather Sinclair, a Wiscasset teacher and the mother of an Eddy first grader, told all present that she moved to Edgecomb for the school. “It has that level of reputation. What it does is really special. Someone mentioned it's the heart of the town. When you lose the school, you lose the community. This is a fight you have to figure out how to win.”

After the meeting, Brennan said: “While we all want the Eddy school to thrive for many years, we have to exercise fiscal responsibility in our deliberations to achieve this goal. To that end, we trust that ongoing discussions between the budget and school committees will benefit Edgecomb and her citizens now and in the future.”

Edgecomb's final scheduled budget meeting is Monday, March 13 at 5 p.m. at the Town Hall.