By Suzanne Hodgson
Staff Writer

Arundel parents will begin to see more mail coming from the RSU 21 school district, even if their children don’t attend any of its schools.
If more parents and students understand the new school system they may be more likely to enroll their children in the district instead of attending Thornton Academy in Saco or heading to another high school, say school board members. The monthly school newsletter, now mailed to all parents in the district, is one way to inform students who attend schools outside of RSU 21 of educational opportunity inside the district.
While it may seem less expensive to bus students to Thornton Academy rather than keep those students in the district,  RSU 21 Business Administrator Jim Barnes said that’s not necessarily the case.
RSU 21 currently is working with a consultant from Harriman Associates on a facilities study to determine what schools need work and how much space is available in each school for better efficiency.
Taxpayers now pay approximately $10,084 per year for RSU 21 to educate each student in its classrooms, about $1,000 more than it costs to educate high school students outside the district, Barnes said.
There are 140 middle school students from Arundel that are enrolled at Thornton Academy at the cost of $7,675 per student.
Whether more Arundel students should attend district schools is still open to debate for those interested in where Arundel children are educated, as well as those who foot the bill.
It could be difficult to calculate the savings or cost for middle school and high school students who return to RSU 21 if the district ends its relationship with Thornton Academy Middle School, Barnes said.
“We’re looking at a lot of different cost calculations,” Barnes said.
The cost per pupil for high school students attending any school outside the district is $9,066, or $1.38 million for 145 students, which includes a $65,729 fee that is paid in lieu of building maintenance or supplies, known as an Insured Value Factor. According to RSU 21 budget information, that fee increased $8,000 from last year.
According to the Maine Department of Education Deputy Commissioner of Education, Jim Reir, Thornton Academy is charging les than the $8,553 average cost per pupil, but has an increased maintenance fee.
The move to alert Arundel parents of in-district educational opportunities comes before a review of the Arundel’s contract with Thornton Academy that will explore of the cost of adding students to the new consolidated district Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel compared to busing them outside RSU 21.
 “It will be the most interesting thing happening in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel in the next six months. We want to get as much public input as possible. There’s a whole lot of people with a whole lot of opinions,” said Arundel resident and RSU 21 School Board member Jack Reetz about the upcoming facilities debate. “At the end of the contract if all 150 students move in to Kennebunk Middle School and we have the space, which we do, the facilities cost would be incremental.”

At the center of the debate is the school district consolidation that merged one school system that does not have enough room for its students, Arundel, with another district that has too much.
“[Mildred L.] Day [which served Arundel students in kindergarten through eighth grades] was bursting at the seams with kids,” said Reetz about Arundel considering building a new middle school for grades sixth through eight seven years ago.
However, the state wouldn’t support cost of building a new school, so the district had to look elsewhere, he said.
Officials at Thronton Academy, which serves solely as a high school told the district it could accommodate Arundel middle school students in an existing building, so Arundel continued to pay transportation and tuition for its students.
Thornton Academy used $3 million to fix up one of the school’s older buildings and build a bus loop for the middle school drop-off, said Thornton Academy Finance Director Paul Kelly.
At the same time, school officials in Kennebunk and Kennebunkport have been debating what to do with several schools left underused by declining enrollment.
“It was an emotional choice,” said RSU 21 School Board member Pamela Richard-Wuerthner about last November’s 2-to-1 vote to consolidate the school districts, when much of the concern centered around the possibility of school closuers.
She has an eighth-grade student at Thornton Academy Middle School but has not decided what school her child will attend next year.

While any decision to amend or terminate the middle school contract could effectively force Arundel parents to send their children to a school inside the district, state law prohibits RSU 21 from forcing students to attend Kennebunk High School.
Arundel students and their parents are free to choose to attend any high school. The creation of Thornton Academy’s middle school reinforces students’ preference to continue attending through high school said school board members.  Currently, 137 Arundel students attend Thornton Academy and 59 attend Kennebunk High School. An additional eight students attend other schools such as Waynflete in Portland and The New School in Kennebunk.
RSU 23 Superintendent Michael Lafortune said his district, which educates children in Saco, Old Orchard Beach and Dayton, sends roughly 900 to 1,000 students per year to Thornton Academy and pays less than $9,000 per student because “we have a pretty good contract. Obviously when you send that many kids there are benefits.”
Kelly says Thornton Academy is only legally allowed to charge the state average amount for high school tuition unless citizens vote otherwise. Thornton Academy’s true cost of education versus the average tuition means the school needs a little help with funding from its trustees.
“They made a contribution of about $500 per student,” Kelly said.
During the past year RSU 21 has seen a $178,000 increase in tuition it pays to other schools such as Thornton Academy, however that doesn’t mean students who come back into the district are educated for less cost to local taxpayers.
 “It’s comparing math to a product [education] and I don’t think that’s a fair initial comparison,” Barnes said.
RSU 21 School Board Chairman Maureen King said after the vote last November it seemed early to discuss bringing students back into the RSU district. “Until we have definite answer, it’s premature to discuss. I don’t feel this is the time, it’s a hot potato. We’re trying to be politically sensitive.”
 “Obviously it would make more sense if it was cost effective,” said Richard-Wuerthner.
    Over the next few months, RSU 21 will review findings in the Strategic Planning Committee looking at space utilization and efficiency. The district will have an opportunity at the end of next school year to review the middle school contract with Thornton and make any changes to the contract at that time.     

Staff Writer Suzanne Hodgson can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 233.