[Local-Maine-Schools] Question about Reality Check

[Phil Worden]

I'm hoping to write a letter to Hannah Pingree opposing the plan from a Tremont perspective but I'm not sure I understand the plan accurately.  In Reality Check under "Cost Allocation Solely By Student Population" it explains that we will lose the subsidy we get from rich summer people's property in Mount Desert and it says that this will result in Bar Harbor's share of costs rising by $880,000.  In the next section about the 2 mil minimum it says that Mount Desert's share will go up by "an extra $1.2 million, also resulting in budget cuts beyond even those required by the bill."  It says that the "surplus [is] shared among the other members of the RSU."  How can it be that both Mount Desert's costs and Bar Harbor's costs go up?  And if that is true so an extra $2 million ($1.2 from Mt Desert and $800 K from BH) goes into the school budget, why would that extra $2 million require budget cuts beyond those mandated in the bill?  Does the State's share go down by even more?  Has anyone crunched the numbers for Tremont?  I grasp the educational and local control issues but I don't feel I understand the economics yet.  I'm hoping someone out there who understands this stuff better than I do will have the patience to explain it to me.  Thanks for any help I can get.  Phil Worden