By Kristy Wagner

Staff Writer

 Kennebunk selectmen on Dec. 27 interviewed four potential at-large members for the two positions available on the Regional School Unit 21 Cost Sharing Committee.

Arundel, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport must each form a three-member committee to work together to renegotiate cost sharing for the district. Each committee must consist of one member from the RSU 21 Board of Directors and two at-large members from the town.

Candidates for Kennebunk cost sharing committee were Ed Karytko, John Sharood, Richard Smith and Jeff Cole. A selectmen vote determined Smith and Cole will be at-large members on the cost sharing committee.

Smith is a member of the Kennebunk Planning Board and Sharood was a member of Kennebunk’s past RSU 21 Cost Sharing Committee. Karytko frequently attends selectmen’s meetings and Cole is a Kennebunk resident.

The RSU 21 Board of Directors voted Dec. 5 to re-open the cost sharing discussions to allow Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel to revise the cost sharing formula that determines how much each municipality pays into the school district. Cost sharing has been an issue since 2009 with the formation of RSU 21 and the question of how much each town’s taxpayers pay for whatever the school district needs funded.

“This entire discussion is about money,” Albert Searles, chairman of the Kennebunk Board of Selectmen, said at a Dec. 13 meeting. “It’s not about the quality of education or what the school needs or what the school wants and I think we need new representation and I think the other towns should consider new representation too.”

Searles said he wants to see representatives on the new cost sharing committee who have never been involved with RSU 21 or any associated committees. He said he wants to avoid “rehashing” issues that “(RSU 21 municipality committees) have argued about already three times.”

In light of recent renovations to the Middle School of the Kennebunks and the school district’s plans to renovate Kennebunkport Consolidated School and Kennebunk High School, residents of Arundel complained to the Arundel Board of Selectmen and the RSU 21 Board of Directors that Arundel pays more than its fair share into the district.

Arundel residents said they feel their town and students will not benefit as much as residents and students of Kennebunk and Kennebunkport from future renovations of the high school.  Most Arundel students attend Thornton Academy in Saco.

Arundel residents in December also approached the Arundel Board of Selectmen about their wish to begin the process of withdrawing from the district.

At a Dec. 22 meeting, Kennebunkport selectmen said they disapproved of the school board’s decision to re-open cost sharing discussions and were concerned about the district not investing enough money into renovation of Kennebunkport Consolidated School.

Kennebunk selectmen interviewed their at-large cost sharing candidates publicly at a Dec. 27 selectmen meeting. Each candidate had different views on how cost sharing should be handled and why each felt he should be chosen to represent the town of Kennebunk on the cost sharing committee.

Selectman David Spofford opened the group interview by asking the four candidates why they wanted to represent the town of Kennebunk on the cost sharing committee.

“My reason for wanting to do this is because I consider this an important piece of unfinished business and it’s something we need to do in order for the school district to work properly for all three towns,” Sharood said.

Sharood said the current cost sharing formula is not fair and “if it’s not fair, it isn’t going to last.”

He said if the school district does not hold together it will hurt the education of Kennebunk students.

“There’s got to be a fair formula that works for the taxpayers,” Sharood said. “I want to get that done right; that’s why I am volunteering to do this.”

Karytko said he has “no hidden agenda” and his aim is to offer the committee “accurate information” about cost sharing in RSU 21.

Cole said he knew “very little about present cost sharing arrangements.”

“What prompted me to throw my name in the hat is that I attended two of the last three forums that the facilities committee had conducted and I was struck very forcefully by the notion that an elementary school had to be present at each one of the district’s towns in order for that town to have a certain identity,” Cole said.

Smith said he feels that since RSU 21 was formed in 2009, Kennebunk “has gotten the short end of the stick.” 

He said Kennebunk representatives on the RSU 21 Cost Sharing Committee in the past did not fight hard enough for the town in discussions about the cost sharing formula.

“If we place you on this committee, who exactly is it you are representing: the RSU board or the taxpayers?” Searles asked all four candidates.

Each said he would represent the town of Kennebunk while serving on the cost sharing committee.

“I think the only group that any of us can represent is the town of Kennebunk. That’s our job, that’s why we’re here,” Sharood said.

Each candidate expressed a very different opinion about the school district’s current plan to invest $50 million into school building improvements throughout all three municipalities.

“I think before we sign on the dotted line to spend $50 million we ought to decide whether or not there is a real future for (RSU 21),” Smith said.

Cole said the high school building issues “definitely need to be addressed.”

“I think that it is time there are sound economic decisions made in concert with what’s in the educational best interest of the three communities and the children,” he said.

Karytko agreed with Cole that fixing the high school’s building issues is an important investment for the district. He also agreed that decisions on elementary school building improvements need to be looked at in terms of all three towns together instead of each separately.

Sharood said Arundel residents need to decide whether they will stay in the school district before decisions on building improvements for the high school are finalized.

After the interview, selectmen voted on each candidate for the two at-large positions.

The only other cost sharing committee candidate interviewed by Kennebunk selectmen was for the one slot open on the cost sharing committee for a Kennebunk member of the RSU 21 board of directors. Kevin Knight was the only school board director in the running for the spot and was immediately placed on the committee.

Staff writer Kristy Wagner can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 233.